900 lb bull

[Big Cheese]

I feel like you should be fine with this bull. Being 900 pounds he should be just fine breeding cows here and there. Like you said...He is just a fill in until you find the one you really want. Mongrel or not if you have good cows then the calves should be good calves. I got my family back in the cows business with a bottle fed heifer and about a 650-700 pound bull calf that got into a neighbors pasture when we sold out a few years ago. He bred a full grown cow about a month after we got him so he might have weighed 750 pounds by then. Just using him as a fill in will be fine. Really sounds like a good plan to save you some time to find the exact bull you want and to get your money in order. You never know....you may like what he grows in to and like how his calves grow and you may keep him a while. We kept ours about a year and would have kept him longer if he hadn't of been crazy. Then you save a lot of money by not buying a $3000 or more bull.

What color is this bull if you don't mind me asking?

 

[M.Magis]

I think some are focusing only on whether a smaller/younger bull can physically breed cows, and missing the point that many others are making, without a BSE it's a 50/50 shot. Around here I think it's about $40-$50 for a BSE. Seems like money well spent.

 

[Big Cheese]

There used to not be BSEs back in the day and people got by just fine. Everything in cattle is a 50/50 shot until there is a calf on the ground out of that bull or momma. BSEs and EPDs are just numbers....don't get me wrong most of the time they are right but you still never know until that calf is on the ground. Not trying to bash anybody here so I hope I don't upset anyone by saying this.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

We just completed a BSE on Friday on a June 2nd bull calf (so just shy of 10 months old) . He passed with flying colors, 36 cm scrotum, 91% motile normal sperm. Now, he weighed 956 pounds, but I bet he is just too short to get up to a cow just yet. The guy that bought him is not using him until June, but I do not like selling young bulls without a complete BSE.

 

[dun]

We just completed a BSE on Friday on a June 2nd bull calf (so just shy of 10 months old) . He passed with flying colors, 36 cm scrotum, 91% motile normal sperm. Now, he weighed 956 pounds, but I bet he is just too short to get up to a cow just yet. The guy that bought him is not using him until June, but I do not like selling young bulls without a complete BSE.

The only bull we have sold without a BSE was a just weaned calf.
BSE and EPDs are just numbers, but so are paychecks. In the pre BSE days we would sometimes end up with open cows that shoudln;t have been or with multiple bulls calving was spread all over the place. It's a tool, not expensive to use but can be really expensive to not use.

 

[3waycross]

A BSE is only good for that day. Very few bulls can't breed, same as humans. There's a lot that shouldn't be able to breed, same as humans.

With all due respect you are wrong. It is good until he has a catastrophic event in his life that would preclude him breeding a cow effectively...

Case in point; my bull that got sick after our PAP testing program produced an incredible amount of viable sperm but only 15% were swimming. He had had 2 shots of dex in 10 days and a 104 fever. What we found out was that he was not fertile that day HOWEVER all other things considered the Vet felt that if we check him in 45 days he will be 80% or more motility...and I will BEFORE I ever let him go home with anyone, because I don't sell bargains and don't want to deal with those looking to buy bargains, cuz sooner or later somebody's gonna pay.

Second scenario...the OP buys this bull knowing absolutely nothing about him and does not do the test............he still knows absolutely nothing about him....he does do the test and he tests just like my bull...he still knows nothing about him except that he came cheap and is not fertile enough to pass the test.......

....and yes it is possible to go broke buying bargains.

worst case scenario $50 ranch call + $50 BSE....$100 dollar insurance policy vs the los of income for 7 to 10 cows @ $1500 per calf...........buy that's a tuff call if I ever saw one.

 

[randiliana]

im tighter than bark on a tree and im looking for a new reg beefmaster bull now.ive been getting prices from $4500 to $6500 for bulls worth buying.every1 was wanting me to buy a young 15 month reg bull and kick him out.but i wont do that.cant risk blowing a young bull up.

BB, what's wrong with buying a 15 month old bull? We ran 4 of them last year. They bred their cows, and came in looking pretty good last fall. Now they're 2 year Olds and looking pretty good.

 

[3waycross]

im tighter than bark on a tree and im looking for a new reg beefmaster bull now.ive been getting prices from $4500 to $6500 for bulls worth buying.every1 was wanting me to buy a young 15 month reg bull and kick him out.but i wont do that.cant risk blowing a young bull up.

BB, what's wrong with buying a 15 month old bull? We ran 4 of them last year. They bred their cows, and came in looking pretty good last fall. Now they're 2 year Olds and looking pretty good.

a rare condition called idon'tknowmyassfromaholeinthegrounditis

 

[Jake]

im tighter than bark on a tree and im looking for a new reg beefmaster bull now.ive been getting prices from $4500 to $6500 for bulls worth buying.every1 was wanting me to buy a young 15 month reg bull and kick him out.but i wont do that.cant risk blowing a young bull up.

BB, what's wrong with buying a 15 month old bull? We ran 4 of them last year. They bred their cows, and came in looking pretty good last fall. Now they're 2 year Olds and looking pretty good.

a rare condition called idon'tknowmyassfromaholeinthegrounditis

Ok I about fell out of the chair laughing at that one.

 

[Rahe Family Belties]

23 cow is too much to expect a young bull to do in a short amount of time.

Expect your calving window to go to 6 months or more.

 

[randiliana]

23 cow is too much to expect a young bull to do in a short amount of time.

Expect your calving window to go to 6 months or more.

Depends how young he is. We run 15 month old bulls with around 20 cow in a 6 week breeding season regularly.

 

[randiliana]

23 cow is too much to expect a young bull to do in a short amount of time.

Expect your calving window to go to 6 months or more.

Depends how young. We run 20+ cows with a 15 month old bull in a 6 week breeding season regularly.

 

[Rafter S]

There used to not be BSEs back in the day and people got by just fine. Everything in cattle is a 50/50 shot until there is a calf on the ground out of that bull or momma. BSEs and EPDs are just numbers....don't get me wrong most of the time they are right but you still never know until that calf is on the ground. Not trying to bash anybody here so I hope I don't upset anyone by saying this.

I'm not upset, but I would disagree with you on part of that statement. While it may be true for EPDs, a BSE is not "just a number." It is a Breeding Soundness Exam, in which the vet will use a number of factors to determine whether or not the bull is suitable for breeding (physically capable).

 

[ANAZAZI]

23 cow is too much to expect a young bull to do in a short amount of time.

Expect your calving window to go to 6 months or more.

23 cows in a short breeding season is fine with a yearling bull. This bull is possibly younger than one year, but there is no short breeding season, it is a year round calving scenario with most cows already bred, and when those calve the bull is not as young as he is now. Expect therefore to have year round calving as usual.

 

[highgrit]

I bought a 900 lb bull today , I had to sell a bull 5 weeks back (fence jumper) and haven't found a replacement till today , Ideally I would like a long yearling bull but haven't been able to locate one in my price range . I felt like he'd be better than nothing till I find what I want ?? He's in a pasture with 8 springers and 15 pair . Most of the pairs should be bred back . So he would just need to breed the remaining cows as they calf . He a hard calf been off milk and has the leg to get to it I think, jumping everything at the barn today . I gave 175.50 for him and feel like I could get my money back and some in 4-6 months worst case scenario and buy some time to find a replacement bull I really like .

Do you think he can get the job done ? I calf year around too

I can't see where it was asked if he needed to get a BSE done. And a BSE doesn't guarantee he can or can't settle a cow. I've personally seen 3 nice yearling bulls fail a BSE, and then pass it less than 2 weeks later. And I've sold 5 bulls to folks that wanted to get their cows bred and all 5 bulls have been getting the job done. No BSE no guarantee but they're making money on the calves and will when they sell the bull also. Maybe we should take bets weather BobbyLummus1 sale barn bull will get his cows pregnant, I'm all in.
What's a 50-50 chance? The bull is fertile over 99% of the time. We as humans screw them up trying to push them on hot rations. The ugliest bull out there is probably the most fertile, just put him with your prized heifers and see.

 

[3waycross]

I bought a 900 lb bull today , I had to sell a bull 5 weeks back (fence jumper) and haven't found a replacement till today , Ideally I would like a long yearling bull but haven't been able to locate one in my price range . I felt like he'd be better than nothing till I find what I want ?? He's in a pasture with 8 springers and 15 pair . Most of the pairs should be bred back . So he would just need to breed the remaining cows as they calf . He a hard calf been off milk and has the leg to get to it I think, jumping everything at the barn today . I gave 175.50 for him and feel like I could get my money back and some in 4-6 months worst case scenario and buy some time to find a replacement bull I really like .

Do you think he can get the job done ? I calf year around too

I can't see where it was asked if he needed to get a BSE done. And a BSE doesn't guarantee he can or can't settle a cow. I've personally seen 3 nice yearling bulls fail a BSE, and then pass it less than 2 weeks later. And I've sold 5 bulls to folks that wanted to get their cows bred and all 5 bulls have been getting the job done. No BSE no guarantee but they're making money on the calves and will when they sell the bull also. Maybe we should take bets weather BobbyLummus1 sale barn bull will get his cows pregnant, I'm all in.
What's a 50-50 chance? The bull is fertile over 99% of the time. We as humans screw them up trying to push them on hot rations. The ugliest bull out there is probably the most fertile, just put him with your prized heifers and see.

the only way to quantify that is a BSE everything else is just plain old conjecture.

 

[fitz]

im tighter than bark on a tree and im looking for a new reg beefmaster bull now.ive been getting prices from $4500 to $6500 for bulls worth buying.every1 was wanting me to buy a young 15 month reg bull and kick him out.but i wont do that.cant risk blowing a young bull up.

Was just looking at two seed stock breeder's sales books for this month. The oldest Bull listed will be around 14 months old at sale time. Often sales will have senior Bulls listed. I've bought 18 months and older Bulls from breeders but most times it was something left over that didn't move in a sale.

 

[Dave]

My experience is that a 900 pound sale yard bull will breed everything in sight and some that are not in sight. In fact he will breed ones you don't want bred. If this is really a fill in while you look for the bull you want, what the heck. You already own him, turn him out. The real question is how quick do you think you will find this bull you really want. If it is a month or two what is the worse thing that can happen. You have a cow or two who are a month or two late next time around. If he is filling in for 6 months or a year. I would be thinking twice about the wisdom of counting on him. So my opinion is you already own him so use him for now. But get serious about finding that bull you really want breeding your cows. There are lots of decent bulls out there. You just need to be willing to travel and pay for them when you find them.

 

[gus2121]

I bought a 900 lb bull today , I had to sell a bull 5 weeks back (fence jumper) and haven't found a replacement till today , Ideally I would like a long yearling bull but haven't been able to locate one in my price range . I felt like he'd be better than nothing till I find what I want ?? He's in a pasture with 8 springers and 15 pair . Most of the pairs should be bred back . So he would just need to breed the remaining cows as they calf . He a hard calf been off milk and has the leg to get to it I think, jumping everything at the barn today . I gave 175.50 for him and feel like I could get my money back and some in 4-6 months worst case scenario and buy some time to find a replacement bull I really like .

Do you think he can get the job done ? I calf year around too

was he in with open cows at the sale?? What is the worst that could happen?? Trich comes to mind, that will sure mess things up for a long time.

 

[Toad]

Just put a helper bull in with him and get the job done right.............. :cowboy: :lol: :hide: