Most beef cattle are doomed to the butcher's block. Not Sam 951. A 2,500-lb. Charolais breeding bull, Sam lives in a red-carpeted, maple-paneled building, breathes humidity-controlled air. By pampering him, Owners Charley Litton, 56, and Son Jerry, 29, of Chillicothe, Mo., hope to keep the eight-year-old animal going at assembly-line efficiency for at least seven more years. Like other prize breeding bulls, Sam is big business; this year alone, he is expected to sire more than 8,000 calves by artificial insemination.
What makes Sam particularly valuable is that the Charolais is a...