Beef Bull Selection & Management

Choosing bulls for herd sires is one of the biggest decisions a beef producer makes. It's expensive and has the potential to add or subtract value from the cowherd. These resources evaluate bull selection from economic and genetic perspectives.

Most of these articles include links to podcasts that cover the same information if you'd rather listen than read. You can also search for "BeefWatch" wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Saturday, April 13, 2024: Annual University of Nebraska — Lincoln "Bulls Worth Waiting For" Sale

Click here for UNL Center for Agricultural Profitability calculators and spreadsheets, including one for calculating the value of different bulls and one for the cost of maintaining a bull. 

Bull Selection

• Bull Value Cow-Q-Lator: What is it and how to use it

• Progressive Cattleman: Selection and management of bulls for a successful breeding season, by Kacie McCarthy, UNL Extension cow-calf specialist 

• Finding a balance between biggest and best: Moving a cowherd toward optimum productivity

• Sire Selection FAQs
• Single Trait EPDs vs. EPD Indexes vs. Production Ratios
• Use the Numbers (correctly) this Bull Sale Season
• Selection for Milk in the Cowherd: How Much is too Much?
• National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium Beef Cattle Sire Selection Manual
• Podcast: Using Artificial Insemination in a Commercial Cow Herd – A Producer's Perspective
• Video: Putting selection tools to work (EPDs and indices)

Bull Management

• Managing and developing young beef bulls
• Winter Bull Management and What to Do if Your Bulls Get Frostbite on the Testes

• Winter weather challenges for bulls can affect breeding season

• How Valu-Bull are Breeding Soundness Exams?

• NebGuide: Bull Management – It’s a Year-round Commitment

• Considerations for Maintaining Condition in Breeding Bulls during Winter

• Managing Bull Fertility Prior to the Breeding Season