43.21 does sound a lot better, provided he stays sound for the three years. Let something happen to him in the first year, and the cost per calf goes up significantly... I am sure if there was a "best" way, everyone would be doing it... I appreciate the input so far, and look forward to hearing any additional opinions, as I mentioned earlier, my experience is limited, and I know there are several on here that have been doing this for years. So I am all ears.
As for cutting the fence, it's 9 strands of barbed wire, kinda hard to make it look like an accident.
Glad to see you are at least posting with a keyboard, I figured you were puffing up smoke signals and your neighbor was translating to the computer for you.