In south-western NSW, cattle breeders are looking at the bull sales coming up with some nervousness.

They’re not nervous of the bulls or the people that breed them, but rather the fact that some of their cows are in light condition, and there’s not much money left after the feed bills are paid.

As usual it’s important to make sure any bull you buy this season is worthy of the money you pay for him.

That means a really good assessment of his ability to get heaps of cows in calf quickly, and his ability to improve the herd genetics.

A thorough look at the bull, an assessment of what he has been checked for, and a systematic examination of his Breedplan figures is vital.

It’s also vital to know what you want the bull to do.

A breeding plan for your herd helps you identify the traits that are important to you, and the ones you want to improve.

It also identifies which traits are the more important ones, so you can concentrate on looking at the sale bulls that excel in these.

Don’t compromise on fertility, structure and temperament, and use the genetic data available to help you make decisions.

Breedplan figures now sit side by side with DNA gene marker test results and both are useful in helping you select the right bull.

Be aware the Breedplan figures are estimating the performance of the bulls’ progeny and are calculated from actual measurements of the bull and his relatives for the traits in question.

The genes identified by the marker tests have already been taken into account by the way the bull exhibited the trait: it’s not correct to think a bull with high EBVs for a trait will perform even better because it has tested positive for the relevant gene markers.

Informed decisions take the guess work out of bull selection and make it easier to put a value on what the bull is worth.

There are plenty of bull breeders who have excelled in marketing their cattle.

That’s great but commercial cattle breeders should not lose sight of what is a realistic figure to pay for a commercial bull.