To Begin With…

We suggest you start by just playing around with the Quick Sort program. For example, select the sale location and click on the breed you are most interested in. Look at the “Search” button and you will be able to see how many bulls of that breed are in this sale (number in upper right hand corner).

Now, put in a 4+ for Minimum Disposition. Look at the “Search” button again and you will see how many bulls you lost. Put in a 5 for Calving Ease. Look at the “Search” button and you will see how many bulls you lost. Put in a 4+ for Overall Rating and see how many bulls you lost. These are the three traits most people sort for.

The more things you sort for, the shorter your list of bulls will be. The shorter the list, the higher the average price of the bulls on your list. The higher the number you sort for, the higher the average price of the bulls on your list. In both cases, you have sorted off the lower priced bulls.

The average for most traits will be a 4. A 4- is below average — and a 4+ is above average. Your budget will determine how tight your sort can be. We will tell you what we think the average price will be for each sale season. If your budget is below that number, you may not be able to sort for more than a 3+ or 4 for most traits. If your budget is above that number, you should be able to sort for a 4+ or better for most traits.

If your sort does not produce any results, it was either too restrictive or you incorrectly entered some of your sort criteria. If you need help getting started, call the PCC office at 800-311-0995 while you are sitting at your computer with your Quick Sort program opened up. The best way to match your sort to your budget is to let us work a Quick Sort with you. We can sort for any budget from $3,000 on up.

Let Us Help…

Most people have a tendency to over-complicate the process of selecting bulls. In most cases, they are trying to work with too many variables. This is the primary reason we suggest you allow us to help you get started with our unique Quick Sort program.

Most people have the ability to sort for our very best bulls. That’s okay if they have the budget to purchase those bulls. However, it doesn’t do much good to sort for $10,000 bulls with a $5,000 budget. Everyone would like to purchase a $10,000 bull for $5,000 — but that never happens. This is another reason we suggest you allow us to help you get started with our Quick Sort program. If you need help, call us at (800) 311-0995.

Quick Sort Tips…

We suggest you establish some simple and basic selection criteria. In other words, DON’T sort for too many things. Use our Quick Sort program to go through the breed(s) of your choice to identify the bulls that meet your selection criteria. Take time to change and re-change and re-change and re-change your sort criteria. Don’t be concerned about having a long list of bulls that meet your sort criteria.

Disposition: If you are only purchasing one bull, we suggest you sort for a 4 or better. Bulls are social animals. They don’t like to be alone. When you pick your bull up, that will be the first time in his life he has ever been alone. However, if you are purchasing more than one bull, you shouldn’t have problems with bulls that have a 3 or 3+ disposition. The 3 disposition bulls will sell for substantially less than the 4 and 5 disposition bulls.

Calving Ease: If you are going to use your bull on virgin heifers, we suggest you sort for 4-star or better. In some cases, we would consider sorting for a 3+. If you are a fall calver, our bulls with 3 or 3+ should work on heifers. Because there is a tremendous demand for bulls with genuine calving ease, our bulls with 4 and 5 calving ease will sell for a premium. Bulls with a calving ease score of 2 and 3 could average $2,000 less. Our 5-star bulls are Guaranteed for Calving Ease!

Limited Budget: It is not difficult to purchase bulls with a relatively low budget, if your sort is not overly restrictive and if your list of bulls to bid on is long enough. We have helped people with Sight-Unseen (SUS) bids that end up having 50 to 100 bulls on their list to bid on. There is nothing wrong with that if you want to purchase bulls with a relatively low budget.

Other Traits: As far as sorting for Fleshing Ability, Thickness, Muscling, Masculinity and Grass Efficiency are concerned, it depends on your personal preference and/or budget (mostly budget). The bulls with the higher scores for these traits will sell for more than the bulls with lower scores. If you sort for a 4, you will be able to eliminate all of the 3 and 3+ bulls. If one of these traits is especially important to you, we suggest you sort for a 4+ or better.

Top-Sort Bulls: If you would like to sort for our very best bulls, we suggest you start out by sorting for bulls with a 4+ or better Overall Rating. You can then see how many bulls you lose by sorting for 4+ Thickness, Muscling, Masculinity and/or Grass Efficiency. It is not uncommon for these bulls to sell for $10,000 to over $20,000.

Hair Coat: Hair coat is very indicative of an animal’s health, wellbeing and adaptability. If you live in a hot, humid and/or fescue environment, I strongly suggest you sort for a 4 or better hair coat. We have never had trouble with bulls adapting to fescue, as long as we sort for a good hair coat.

Udder: When sorting for udder conformation, we suggest you sort for a 3 or better — and then consider cow age. Udder scores and cow age are listed side-by-side on the Quick Sort results page.Udder scores and cow age will only be visible after clicking the “” icon to the right of Overall Rating. While a 3 udder on a 3 or 4-year-old cow isn’t good, a 3-star udder on an older cow isn’t bad.

Scrotal: Testicle size and shape is important — but bigger is not always better. What is the optimum scrotal size for 3 to 4-frame bulls that have been developed on grass? I believe 32 to 36 is big enough — and 40 may be too big. Dr. Robert Morrison, who led the CSU Veterinary School for many years, said, “Most of the problem bulls I see are big-scrotal bulls.”

Resorting and Deleting: You can quickly sort, and re-sort, and re-sort with our Quick Sort program. I like to see what happens when I change a 4 to a 4+ or vice versa. I want to see how many bulls I lose or gain. I will often manually remove all 4- ratings for Overall Rating, Disposition and/or Hair Coat. To do that, I use the delete function. To delete bulls, click the “” icon to the right of the bull that you would like to delete. Make sure you are only deleting the bulls you want to delete. If you delete the wrong bull, click “New Sort” to start over.

Ultrasound Data: Some of you will want to sort for Marbling and Tenderness. However, that should be one of the last things you select for. A 100 for marbling is average, while a 110 is 10% above average and a 90 is 10% below average. If you want to sort for marbling, we suggest you sort for 80 or 90. Sorting for 100 or higher will often remove some really good bulls from your list. The lower the tenderness score, the better. A tenderness score of 26 to 28 on a bull would be considered very good.

Once you are satisfied with your sort…I suggest you spend sufficient time looking for bulls that you would not want to purchase. You can watch video clips by clicking on the lot number. If you find a bull you do not like for whatever reason, take him off your list. Use our delete function to remove bulls from your sort. We would rather you not buy a bull than buy a bull you don’t like. If you need help, call us at (800) 311-0995. That’s what we are here for!