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O.T. - Back To My Roots

Mar 6, 2014, 3:44 AM

For the next couple of days I will be hanging out with my brother at the Calgary Bull Sale. This is the longest running bull sale in North America and my brother, a serious cattleman, is in a buying mood. Buyers come from all over the world for the chance to buy into western Canada's best beef bloodlines. Quietly and stealthily live cattle prices are going through the roof, hitting all time highs almost daily.

I love hangin' with these guys. Among all the buttoned-down corporate cattlemen there is always some old grizzled, shit-on-his-boots farmer with a gleam in his eye as his prize bull enters the sale ring.

These higher live cattle prices will translate into more expensive steaks and burgers for the summer BBQ season. Will any of you guys cut back on spending for your SC habit to support your beef-eating habit?

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crazyjoe11 years ago

I bought a quarter of a corn and grass fed cow last summer. Hay prices were out of sight and I knew prices were going to go way up.

motorhead11 years ago

One thing I have always wondered about...

Most folks use the US traditional pronunciation CAL -gury Emphasis on Cal and gury rhymes with jury

But some folks (hockey players?) say Cal-GARY emphasis on Gary, like the man's name

farmerart11 years ago

@motorhead,

Neither pronunciation is correct.

Universal pronunciation of the city's name by its inhabitants makes it a two syllable word with accent on the first syllable:

CAL-gree

georgebailey11 years ago

Fascinating. I'm always learning. Thank you farmerart.

steve22911 years ago

Omaha!

ATACdawg11 years ago

No bull, art, have a great time. Just steer clear of castrated bulls! ;-)

SlickSpic11 years ago

@Art-Sounds like good times. I already get beef from a rancher around SLO. Tasty Brangus.

jackslash11 years ago

My strip club spending dwarfs my food spending. Beef prices could double or triple without making any impact.

I like beef, but steak is not a favorite.

shadowcat11 years ago

"Eat mor vag".

deogol11 years ago

Between selling last year in the drought and more food stamps in the US...

jabthehut11 years ago

Why go to a bull sale when you can get so much bull here for FREE!

farmerart11 years ago

I bought a Hereford bull at this sale.

My brother wants to introduce a new bloodline into his herd of purebred Hereford cows and this particular bull should be perfect (if he performs well). If the bull's progeny are good animals my brother and I could be making some serious coin selling straws of the semen in a few years. After three years of calves' sales, I will be entitled to 25% of the calves' sales prices. If the bull's semen turns out to be marketable my brother and I will split that profit 50-50. Brother does all the work.

This is an interesting business. Holstein bulls can be real moneymakers if their progeny are superior milkers. A straw of semen from such a bull can easily sell for $300. Consider that each ejaculation from a bull can produce enough semen for 1000 straws. Also consider that prime bulls can ejaculate many times each day. Further consider that these straws of semen are frozen and can be used long after the death of the bull providing the semen.

Sadly for bulls such as these, the poor boys never get to experience the tight sweetness of a sexy heifer. All the semen is collected in artificial vaginas.

ATACdawg11 years ago

Bummer, art. Glad that I'm not a prime bull!

Just out of curiosity, why not? Would the bull having experienced the real thing "refuse to donate" in the artificial bag?

Prim011 years ago

That's all the bull semen I need to read about for a life time! Are you going to help collect it?

motorhead11 years ago

Am I mis-remembering? Isn't there a TUSCL member that drives around with bull semen in his trunk. . No joke. His job. But I can't remember who.