Levi Kosmicki of Wyoming has supplemented his 300-350-cow cow/calf operation near Yoder with a high stakes game over the past 12 years.
He works as an independent agent for ABS Global selling bull semen to producers and genetic companies.
Bull semen is a major driver of rising prices, and the industry is booming.
The reason is simple: artificially inseminating a heifer with genetic insemination produces more profitable cows.
Valuable genetics coupled with high demand continue to drive prices up and can make a bull with desirable traits more lucrative.
A recent yearling bull sale at a ranch in the Nebraska Sandhills resulted in a bull selling for $110,000. The California company that purchased the bull will use the animal for its semen and will likely recoup the money through the sale of the semen alone.
All about Genetics
Bull semen is important for its genetic potential.
It makes scouting bulls as important to the cattle industry as talent scouts are to professional sports.
ABS collects semen from bulls in two regional locations – DeForest, Wisconsin, and Billings, Montana.
The sperm is collected and packaged, then sent to producers or wholesalers like Kosmicki.
Kosmicki said that among the most desirable traits is calving ease, the mud in which the semen is packed increases the chance of a calf being born unassisted.
A single bull can produce thousands of doses of semen, called “straws,” that can be sent around the world.
From the production side, buying these straws is cheaper than buying a bull. And when the breeder has some control over the genetics, choosing a semen sample over the animal itself can be a win-win, Kosmicki said.
On the other hand, a genetically superior bull, such as the bull that recently sold for over $100,000 in Nebraska, becomes an attractive investment because it will produce sample after sample that will sell for top dollar.
“We can supply one bull and transport his semen anywhere in the world,” Kosmicki said.
Six Bulls
The fourth-generation yearling bull sale at the Connealy Ranch in Whitman, Nebraska, resulted in the sale of 564 bulls, for more than $9.2 million, with the average bull selling for $16,343.
The bull that sold for $110,000 was the highest price for the 2026 sale, but did not set a record, said the bull’s previous owner, Jerry Connealy.
The farm record for the highest selling bull was $500,000 in 2022.
“(Clients) are fully committed to collecting sperm from him,” Connealy said.
Regardless of the price, the Connealys’ high-dollar bulls always sell for their breeding ability, he told Cowboy State Daily.
“That is the intention, is that the bull grows up to be a breeder and they collect his seed and sell it nationwide, if not worldwide,” he said.
Profit is the name of the game.
“In short, we’re trying to keep our customers profitable,” Connealy said. “That means, in terms of genetics, we want to make sure that the bulls that leave our area are genetically engineered to give the customer the benefit of all the different conditions.”
‘White Gold’
For that to happen, the Connealys themselves rely on what they call the “white gold” of the cattle industry.
The Conneally Ranch has relied on artificial insemination (AI) for its cattle since the early 1960s. Connealy said his father was one of the first AI experts in the country.
By artificially inoculating each cow, the Connealys can determine what DNA traits they have – traits they know will be sought after by cattle buyers.
“From that location, we go into the industry and try to buy the best seed we can,” Conneally said. “We keep our customers profitable.”
Speaking of their top prospect for 2026, Connealy said, “All the stars are looking for that bullpen.”
Connealy said the bull was “12 o’clock: as close to perfect as you can get.”
He added: “He was very attractive, precise, muscular, with a good attitude.” “His DNA came back very positive.
His lineage is based on the fact that we have generations of cows behind him that we have selected in the same way.
Although no one understands the value of bull semen better than Connealy, he said he is always surprised when an animal sells for more than his top dollar bulls.
But, he said, “It only takes two people who really love animals and have deep enough pockets to ride a bull.”
Bulls are sold at auction, which means they go to the highest bidder.
“It’s a capitalist market,” Connealy said. “Someone sees something they really like and thinks they can make a profit by selling sperm.”
A Growing Industry
Kosmicki said he doesn’t believe bull semen is being used nearly as much as it could be. But every year, he said, “there is slow growth” in the industry.
“You can breed all your cows to one bull above,” he said. “And, you can do it at a fraction of the cost (of buying a bull).”
Artificial termination is cheaper than releasing a bull on the farm and waiting for heifers to conceive.
Bulls with high quality traits and bright offspring command high prices at auctions, driven by their ability to produce sought-after semen.
However, Kosmicki said, manual labor is required, and that can be a big problem for some farmers.
He said: “Everybody is short of work. And you still have to catch cows to be artificially inseminated.
Kate Meadows can be achieved at kate@cowboystatedaily.com.
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