President of Express Ranches, Jarold Callahan has been busy preparing for the Express Ranches Annual Spring Bull Sale coming at 12 p.m. this Friday, on March 3, at the ranch in Yukon, Oklahoma. Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, had the chance to catch up with Callahan, and talk about spring bull selection.
“A good-looking bull has to have a really good phenotype, he has to have good feet and legs, he has to be gentle, have good docility, and then along with that, I think you want a low to moderate birth weight, then you want really rapid growth from birth to weaning and from weaning to yearling,” Callahan said. “To go along with that, then we need to have good carcass measures because eventually, their progeny is going to enter the food chain and there is awfully good premiums for the upper two-thirds of the choice grade, as well as prime, and the premiums have been really, really good on those cattle and so I think you want good carcass characteristics as well.”
With good common-sense, science and “cowboy logic,” Callahan said at Express Ranches, they select for the best genetics, prioritizing a good phenotype with structural correctness and good feet and legs on the bulls.
“We also try to use the technology through DNA and through the performance information that is supplied to make sure that they have got EPDs, which is a prediction of what that bull is going to transmit to his progeny,” Callahan said.
As the nation prepares to build back the cow herd, Callahan said high-quality cattle will be in tremendous demand.
“As you look at the product we are selling now, the demand for the high-quality product is really high, and I think that is true in the meat, but it is also true in the live cattle sector,” Callahan said. “Everybody has become more discriminating, and I think that when we build back it will be with higher quality genetics.”
As the calf crop is going to be smaller for the next two or three years, Callahan said he sees a chance to make a good profit in the cow-calf sector, even with those high input costs.
“The ones with quality are going to be in the driver’s seat,” Callahan said.
Callahan also talked about the stock that will be available in the 2023 Express Ranches Spring Bull Sale coming up.
“Friday morning, we have got about 450 Angus bulls in it and about 58 Hereford bulls in it,” Callahan said.
The ranch is selling a combination of fall-born bulls, Callahan said, some 20 months old and others 14 months old.
“We are really proud of this year’s offering,” Callahan said. “We think it is, if not the best one we have ever had, it is certainly one of the best offerings we have ever had.”
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