Standing the test of time, Nebr. Bull Test turns 60
CENTRAL NEBRASKA - In our ag economy, crop producers and livestock producers support each other. For 60 years, that relationship has been part of the success of the Nebraska Bull Test.
1963, Nebraska Bull Test began in Ogallala. Over the past six decades, it’s had several homes for both the feedlot and the sale. On March 22 of this year, the 60th Nebraska Bull Test sale took place at the Broken Bow Sale Barn, which has hosted the sale for at least 20 years.
Nebraska Bull Test is an organization of small breeders who feed, weigh, test and sell their bulls. For 120 days, young bulls are weighed and tested and all information is recorded. At the end of the test period, the bulls are offered for sale.
“This is a good place to find out if genetics are doing what they’re supposed to do,” Shane Rohde said. Rohde of Mason City has been the Nebraska Bull Test feeder for the past 12 years.
He says the bulls go through the chute at least ten times for each test. “I figure bulls must have gone through the chute here at least 10,000 times (in the past 12 years),” he commented.
Bulls entered in the test must be born between Jan. 1 and March 31 and are delivered to the feedlot in October. All are fed the same ration: a mix of distillers, corn, corn stalks and hay that is designed to allow for a 3.5 pound average daily gain.
The bulls are weighed on the first and second day and the average weight becomes the beginning weight. They are weighed again at 60 days and 90 days. In February, at 119 days and 120 days, they are again weighed with the average being the finished weight. In March, they go to sale.
It’s not only weight that’s checked. The routine includes ultrasounds to measure for ribeye and back fat, a fertility test and continual health checks. “It’s a 120 day test to track weight, daily weight gain, and see how they perform,” Rohde said.
In the beginning, the bulls were fed at the Mueller Feedlot of Ogallala and sold at the Ogallala Sale Barn. The feedlot is now gone with a Walmart and a Holiday Inn Express on the site. According to retired Nebraska Extension cattle specialist Jim Gosey, there was a test site in Schuyler as well. “The idea was
to have one in the western part of the state and one in the eastern part of the state,” he said.
Veterinarian Dr. Charles Baltzell of Ogallala was involved in the beginning in western Nebraska. “I took care of the health of the cattle for 20 years,” he told the Chief. “I checked them every day for health.”
In the beginning, Baltzell explained, the bulls were not to be clipped or cleaned up. They were to be presented just as if they came out of the pasture. These days, some clean up is allowed, but the idea is to present them as the herd bulls they are destined to become.
Baltzell said. “The information buyers had access to was a good selling point. Rate of gain, feed conversion and so forth; all these factors give a pretty good background on the animals.”
Bob Neben, a long time consigning breeder with Nebraska Bull Test, tried to recall some of the early participants. With apologies on spelling, he listed Kermit Paxton, Charlie and Clyde Licking, Bill Roach, Marvin Beaumont (Hereford), Ted Christiansen (Hereford), Fred Ratzlaff, Roger French (Charolais), Red Salter (Shorthorn), Frank Lathrop and Vern Domeier.
The University of Nebraska (UNL) Extension was heavily involved in the first decades. Gosey, who retired 15 years ago, commented on his involvement, saying, “My predecessor, Dr. Dell Dearborn, helped organized the original effort. The bulls were brought together as weanlings and yearlings and offered for sale. A lot of people didn’t have the facilities or scales. This was a convenience for the breeder.”
That convenience is a large part of why many breeders participate. “A lot of us are small breeders,” Jim Boyles said. “We don’t have enough to have our own sale.”
Nebraska Extension’s involvement eventually ended. Gosey said, “After I retired it was considered a mature project and it didn’t need UNL guidance any more.”
Both Rohde and Boyles recall seeing the Nebraska Bull Test in Ogallala when they were young. Boyles, who has participated in the test as a consigning breeder for at least 20 years, remembers going to the sale in Ogallala as a youngster. Rohde recalled driving by the Ogallala site. “I remember when I was 14 years old and going to AI school in Scottsbluff. We’d drive by the Ogallala Nebraska
Bull Test,” Rohde said. “Now 30 years later, I’m feeding for that same test.”
Neben said when the Muellers in Ogallala decided not to feed cattle anymore, the test was moved. “The sale was in Lexington at one time and the bulls were fed around Oconto. Now it’s at Shane Rohde’s near Mason City,” he stated.”
In piecing together the history, there were - and still are - gaps. Dr. Baltzell said the last test in Ogallala was 1997-98 and then the sale moved to Eustis for a year or two.
That fits with what Boyles remembers. “2001 was when it (the sale) started here in Broken Bow,” he said. “That was the first year here.”
Paulsen Feeders on Callaway River Road was the feeder for a couple years. Lawrence Paulsen said, “It was in the 1990s. I had it for two years.”
Sometime after that, Mike Weverka was the feeder three miles east and three miles south of Broken Bow.
“It was quite the experience,” Weverka said. “I was raised on the other end of the process, buying the bull and putting it in the pasture. I learned a lot. It was a pretty unique look at the process.” He added, “Everyone I worked with was awesome. We set the a record for rate of gain. I hold onto those memories even if I can’t remember the exact years!”
After Weverka, the feeder location moved to the current location near Mason City. A challenge of being the feeder, Rohde said, is absorbing ideas from all the consignors. “Each one has different ideas. Each one has a different way of doing things, so I do a little bit of everything.”
In the early years, Neben said Gosey and others would go to the office after weighing to work with the data. “If you waited long enough, you got results before you went home,” Neben said. “Otherwise, they’d mail out the reports.”
These days, data is available on the website, www.nebraskabulltest.com. Throughout the 120 days, breeders are very involved, managing the bulls on weigh days and working the day of the sale. Neben is retired and living in Florida so he assists in other ways. “I can’t be at the weigh days,” he said, “So I run the website,” he said.
There have been a lot of changes over the past six decades. Boyles points out that ultrasound was not part of the test in the beginning. Now technology plays a big role in testing, evaluating and recording data such as birth weight, average daily gain, calving ease, ancestry and more. Videos are made of each sale animal and posted online. DVAuctions live streams the auction and online bidding is an option. “Some people come to look at the bulls then watch the sale while working,” Boyles said.
Rohde said making the videos and getting the bulls to walk back and forth to show them at their best is one of the biggest jobs. “Over the years, we’ve probably had only one real ornery bull,” he said. “I had left a hay feeder in the pen and the person taking the video jumped in the hay feeder. Now we leave a hay feeder there, just in case.”
Too much orneriness, however, is something that will get a bull disqualified. “We go for disposition, daily gain, fertility and ultrasound,” he said.
The past six decades have also seen a very positive change in the cattle.
“The quality of cattle has changed a lot,” Boyles said. “There are quality cattle in this country. We have some of the top bloodlines in the country.”
“We have better bulls now,” Rohde said. “The genetics come out.”
This year Rohde fed about 130 Angus, Red Angus and Simmental Angus bulls. Asked if there are one or two that rise above the rest, he replied, “It’s hard to pick one this year. I usually follow one or two. This year it was difficult. There are a lot of good bulls.” He said the top gainer this year gained “just shy of six pounds a day.” That’s even with the harsher winter. “We went through a lot of bedding,” Rohde stated. “But the bulls never missed a meal.”
As for what buyers are looking for, Boyles explained, “Bulls with light birth weight for calving ease that gain good weight.” He also said all breeders offer guarantees on their own bulls.
Members of Nebraska Bull Test expressed appreciation with the Broken Bow Sale Barn. Boyles said, “The sale barn has been pretty accomodating. They treat us pretty good.” Neben echoed those sentiments, saying these days breeders bring the bulls in the day before the sale. “The sale barn treats us good,” he stated. “They bed them down with hay and water.”
Todd and Wanda Eberle of Burwell, Warren and Karen White of Texas and Gumb Land and Cattle of Burwell (Lin Gumb and Brett Gumb) purchased the Broken Bow Livestock Market in the summer of 2019. General Manager Todd Eberle said the Nebraska Bull Test sale was going on at that location and they continued it. “It’s a great showcase to display the types of bulls we have in Nebraska,” he said. “It’s quite a deal. People should check it out.”
Boyles also gives credit to the time and effort the breeders put into the test.“After 60 years, we still get people to participate and to buy bulls. Some buyers have been with us a lot of years. This all goes on because of the help the breeders give. We show up on weigh days, for videos and the sale. It’s a lot of free labor.” Over the years, he surmised that he has seen perhaps a total of only 10 bulls actually sell. “I’m out back. Most consignors are out back doing a lot of the work,” he said.”
Both breeders and buyers continue to find value in Nebraska Bull Test. Gosey said, “It was the first step to convince more and more breeders to use performance records for their cattle. Credit goes to the breeders who have stepped up. They get a lot of data on their bulls.”
Though there have been some lean years, Nebraska Bull Test has lasted 60 years. Neben was asked how it has withstood the test of time.
“That’s a good question,” he said. “I think it’s because we’ve always had a following of breeders who want tested bulls and they know they can get them through Nebraska Bull Test. Buyers can buy with confidence. I really think that’s what the breeders who started it wanted.”
Though the 60th sale has come and gone by the time this is being read, mark your calendars for March, 2024 when Nebraska Bull Test will hold its 61st sale.
“People like to buy bulls that have been tested,” Neben said. “If they’re looking for a high-gain bull, he’s there to bring home.”
Congratulations, Nebraska Bull Test on 60 years!