Breeding age for bulls

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RICHARDL

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What is the right age to breed a young bull,? And what should a bull @ 12-14 months of age weigh.? Angus. I'm looking into buying a young bull for my (3) 14 month old Angus & Brangus heifers. one is already bred. The other 2 are ready But i'd like to hold off till the bull becomes of age, as long as i can, for a late spring calf. Am i thinkin right or should i hld till May/June to breed them? :cowboy:
 
RICHARDL":2nhik22w said:
What is the right age to breed a young bull,? And what should a bull @ 12-14 months of age weigh.? Angus. I'm looking into buying a young bull for my (3) 14 month old Angus & Brangus heifers. one is already bred. The other 2 are ready But i'd like to hold off till the bull becomes of age, as long as i can, for a late spring calf. Am i thinkin right or should i hld till May/June to breed them? :cowboy:

We sell most of our bulls at 14-15 months old and they have all passed a breeding soundness exam (BSE). They'll weigh 12-1500 lbs. But they've been on feed test and are well grown out. The recommendation on a young bull is to put him with no more cattle than his age in months: 12 month old bull with 10-12 cows; 15 months old with 12-15 cows, etc. Don't buy a bull that hasn't been fertility checked. A well grown out 12-14 month old Angus bull should work for you.
 
Thanks, the one i looked at didn't weight 1000 lbs. I don't think he was but maybe 12 months old and round 800lbs. I don't think he was on feed though. I saw his momma but not the Sire. His Momma looked ok, gentle, an all he was gentle
 
RICHARDL":31pd63yf said:
Thanks, the one i looked at didn't weight 1000 lbs. I don't think he was but maybe 12 months old and round 800lbs. I don't think he was on feed though. I saw his momma but not the Sire. His Momma looked ok, gentle, an all he was gentle

Sold a young one like that last year. 14 months old 880 lbs. no feed just grazing. Tested sound but man was only going to put him with 6 heifers to begin with.
 
THATS pretty much my plan 2 heifers & getting 2 more next month & that's it. not looking for real expensive bull. this one is reg. he wanted 900 , he agreed with me on 800. Been thinking about it all week. he looked solid but i belive he is younger than he was telling me. :cowboy:
 
I've never had anyone run one of my bulls at less than 15 months. The big sales seem to require their bulls not be turned out till 15 months to keep their guarantee in place. I wonder why? A young bull getting hurt trying to breed cows too big?
 
At 14-15 months I would sure hope that the bull would weigh more then 800 lbs. Our heifers on only stockpiled forage and hay will be close to 900-1000 lbs as yearlings and more when we breed them in the spring after they;ve been on good grass. These are heifers that mature into 1300 lb cows, also on strictly pasture and hay.
 
That's what i'm saying. he told me 12 months but he was to "calf looking" to be that old. i was thinking he was \either right under a year old or right at. he was way smaller than my heifers. they'd boss him around. but he's got papers on him. (don't mean that much to me) unless i can see his paw. his momma looked real good though. might have to go for another look
 
RICHARDL":3pek27vv said:
NOT sure i'm following you> :cowboy:

I'm saying I had understood it wasn't necessarily healthy for the bull to breed at less than 15 months - but I'm prepared to be corrected on that.
 
RICHARDL":svu6s070 said:
What is the right age to breed a young bull,? And what should a bull @ 12-14 months of age weigh.? Angus. I'm looking into buying a young bull for my (3) 14 month old Angus & Brangus heifers. one is already bred. The other 2 are ready But i'd like to hold off till the bull becomes of age, as long as i can, for a late spring calf. Am i thinkin right or should i hld till May/June to breed them? :cowboy:


One thing you haven't brought up is what kind of birthweight epd does he have if you are breeding him to hfrs in my opinion if he is a hfr bull you won't want him after this yr if he is not a low BW bull you won't want him this yr ' get your hfrs bred Ai and buy a bull next yr
 
Yes, thought about A.I. Just weighing in on my options. As far as BW Don't know. But from what i've been hearing he comes from very good stock. I know Its a chance & right now no sure what i'm going to do.
 
RICHARDL":3n3l9cde said:
Yes, thought about A.I. Just weighing in on my options. As far as BW Don't know. But from what i've been hearing he comes from very good stock. I know Its a chance & right now no sure what i'm going to do.

There are bulls from very good stock you shouldn't use on heifers. If the stock is that good you should be able to access the EPDs of Dam and Sire and the bulls individual EPDs to get a feel for his calving ease. It's always a chance, but a breeder should have that information available for you to take some of the chance out of it.
 
Yes, and thanks. I called the guy that actully gave me this guys # he is kinda of his mentor. And from what he told me the man that has the bull doesn't feed his cows at all. just grass & hay and that the bull was prolly a year old & no more. And he told me that he does come from good stock and he would buy him in a heartbeat but he is getting older and doesn't need or want to another bull. So with that said he may need to get on feed to develop his full potential. I'm not the most trusting sole. but after speaking to both of these guys. i belive they are sincere. i'M GOING TO TAKE A GOOD hard look when i go back. :cowboy:
 
I UNDERSTAND, all of what your saying. But you do understand that i only have 5 heifers, and not looking to make money on my herd. if they keep my grass down, drop a calf every year or not, i can feed my family and sell the rest to others in my family. or not. So i don't need a $5000 prize bull to kill my budget. If he works out fine, if not i can prolly sell him for what i paid for him plus. And from what i saw he has potential. I can get him in real good shape. if not than he's a goner. I know i don't know much, but i do have eyes to see. Right now he's not on feed and from what i saw he didn't have much grass. I have plenty & will feed. :cowboy:
 
RICHARDL":2u8vguzj said:
I UNDERSTAND, all of what your saying. But you do understand that i only have 5 heifers, and not looking to make money on my herd. if they keep my grass down, drop a calf every year or not, i can feed my family and sell the rest to others in my family. or not. So i don't need a $5000 prize bull to kill my budget. If he works out fine, if not i can prolly sell him for what i paid for him plus. And from what i saw he has potential. I can get him in real good shape. if not than he's a goner. I know i don't know much, but i do have eyes to see. Right now he's not on feed and from what i saw he didn't have much grass. I have plenty & will feed. :cowboy:

Management makes a lot of difference in how a bull will develop. But it doesn't change their genetics. If the bull is registered, take a look at his EPDs. I'd agree that spending $5,000 to buy a bull for a few heifers isn't practical.

Here's the link to the Angus pedigree site. Put in his reg # and you'll get his pedigree and EPDs. The EPDs you're probably going to be most interested in are the CED and BW EPDs. A higher CED and a lower BW mean a bull should be less likely to cause calving problems. Look for a 10 or better in CED and less than 3 in the BW. It sounds like you trust the guy you're dealing with and he's interested in helping you. I hope he works out for you.

http://www.angus.org/registeredangus/
 
RICHARDL":3qdr551h said:
Thanks for the info. i'll do just that. And i belive it will work out.
thanks again

Genetics and price...his present size isn't really going to be a huge factor. I'd rather have him like he is than a big bundle of blubber that he'll lose in 30 days chasing and trying to breed cows. If he weighed 1250-1300 lbs. it would also be reflected in the price. Gotta pay for all that feed that went into him.
 
TexasBred":1qcz3am3 said:
RICHARDL":1qcz3am3 said:
Thanks for the info. i'll do just that. And i belive it will work out.
thanks again

Genetics and price...his present size isn't really going to be a huge factor. I'd rather have him like he is than a big bundle of blubber that he'll lose in 30 days chasing and trying to breed cows. If he weighed 1250-1300 lbs. it would also be reflected in the price. Gotta pay for all that feed that went into him.

Then again, I have a bull with great genetics that should be performing out of this world, but he just ain't gonna cut it. I'd sell him cheap (actually I wouldn't sell him at all).

Just a thought. Look at other bulls instead of just that one and compare feed systems, size, pedigree, AND price. As has been said, the bull is half your herd and is worth the research. After considering everything, you just might be back at that bull, but then at least you'll know. At my place you'd actually see a group of bulls sitting side by side on the same feed program and you could see why one was more expensive than another. Looking at ONE calf doesn't give you that opportunity. Just a thought.
 

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