15 month old bull calf didn't get he job done...

[raykour]

Char Bull belongs to a friend. Bull was a yearling in March, turned in with 10 cows in May. 5 of those cows (all 6 year olds) were taken to the sale barn 2 weeks ago and of those 4 were checked as open. The other 5 cows have not been checked, but minus the open 4 that is 60% open.

He is now out with my cows, I have a few that could be fall calvers if he could get the job done. I agreed to winter this bull if I could use him next spring. I had a hard time joining him up with the herd he would have rather stayed up here snugging up to my steers Finally got him out with the ladies, several of which are open and cycling. Found him 48 hours later with my horse herd, nearly 1/2 mile away from the females. Got him joined back up again and he has stayed with his own kind.

He is 18 months old now. To me, his scrotum/testicles look small. Maybe he was just too young to breed all 10 cows in a 70 day period (most of the cows had calved in March, so they were cycling for the full 70 days) but this additional behavior has me concerned. I don't want to winter a queer bull. Should I fertility test him or is 40% open for a young bull a common occurence.

 

[bpwagner115]

Well I think assuming the last 5 are bred would be a mistake. Right now he is 1 for 5. Thats only 20%. It would worry me if he is not staying with the cycling cows. Someone once told me a bull should be able to handle as many cows as his months of age.

 

[raykour]

They aren't my cows, so I can't decipher. I would have thought all of them should have been bred, but I don't know much about this breeding business and I have always used 3 and 4 year old bulls.

The ones I thought could fall calve are just yearlings, so it isn't a big deal if he odesn't get them bred. But, I certainly don't want to hold onto him for the spring and then have a whole herd that is only 20% bred!

 

[Isomade]

I run Char bulls and they don't seem to take to breeding at a young age like an Angus. They seem to need a season to figure out what they are doing. I have a Gridmaker 104 son that I turned out with 15 cows a couple years ago as a two year old virgin. He didn't breed a single cow for 6 weeks then got them all but one on the last cycle. Now he is a machine. This could be totally unfounded but I don't turn virgin Chars out by themselves any more.

 

[angus9259]

Should I fertility test him or is 40% open for a young bull a common occurence.

It's not common. Could be the bull, could be the cows, could be VD, could be the heat.

Fertility test every bull every year at turnout to avoid just this situation. Cost is $50 in my area. Cheap info. It doesn't guarantee he'll actually breed, but at least that part of the mystery is removed.

 

[1982vett]

Could be the bull, could be the cows, could be VD, could be the heat.

Fertility test every bull every year at turnout to avoid just this situation. Cost is $50 in my area. Cheap info. It doesn't guarantee he'll actually breed, but at least that part of the mystery is removed.

Could be he sent a boy out to do a mans job..... :idea:

 

[Cattleman200]

The first thing I would have done was semen test him before he went in with the cows. I have used several 12-15 months old to breed heifers here with no problems. If his nuts look small at 18 months that should be an indication of a poor breeder. Its just always a good practice to check them like angus 9259 stated in this post. I never sell a bull to anyone without a valid semen test.


Circle H Ranch

 

[raykour]

Thanks all, I appreciate the input.

Thankfully, I did not (and never planned on) purchasing the bull. Just borrowing him. I think that the guy that owns this bull raised him from one of his cows....sent her off to be bred to a different bull or something because the bull he was using that year was maybe her son or some close relation. So he didn't put a big sum of money into buying this guy.

I will see about getting him checked here in the near future and about acquiring another bull for the spring months if necessary.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Any yearling bulls we've held on to that were used for breeding 1st calf heifers were turned out at 14 months old. Our LH bulls know what a female is and can't wait to get with his harem! Upward and onward (no pun intended)...lol.

 

[fitz]

My experience is sometimes a real young bull may spend too much time with the first cow he breeds. He may miss a few due to this. My older cows are larger framed and that has created a small challenge at times. I'm more comfortable starting a Bull around 18 months of age.
fitz

 

[angus9259]

My experience is sometimes a real young bull may spend too much time with the first cow he breeds. He may miss a few due to this. My older cows are larger framed and that has created a small challenge at times. I'm more comfortable starting a Bull around 18 months of age.
fitz

yup. seen all this myself.