DETERMINANTS OF PUREBRED BEEF BULL PRICE DIFFERENTIALS

Bulls are an important investment for commercial beef cattle producers since, over time, bulls introduce most of the new genetic attributes into typical beef cow herds. Therefore, heritable bull traits determin e bull prices. Bulls possess a large number of traits to consider in p ricing. In recent years, new measures of bull qualities have been intr oduced in the form of expected progeny differences (EPDs). This study estimates market values associated with specific bull attributes, rece ntly introduced EPDs, and bull sale marketing efforts. Important bull price determinants include bull color, polled, conformation, muscling, disposition, age, birth weight, weaning weight, milk EPD, birth and w eaning weight EPDs, sale location, order bull was sold, whether the bu ll had a picture in the sale catalog, and whether a percentage of seme n rights were retained by the seller.