bull condition

[HOSS]

My Balancer bull in his working clothes. He was put in with 30 cows on May 5th. They all appear to be bred. I am surprised that he held his condition well for just turning two this month. Now he can recover on good grass and put his weight back on. This is my first attempt and posting a pic from my BlackBerry.

 

[inyati13]

My Balancer bull in his working clothes. He was put in with 30 cows on May 5th. They all appear to be bred. I am surprised that he held his condition well for just turning two this month. Now he can recover on good grass and put his weight back on. This is my first attempt and posting a pic from my BlackBerry.

Hoss, forgive me. I am about to do something I have never done on this forum. I do it because I want to make a point.

I see others put up a picture of a bull that has that same basic form and the first comment is "He is underdeveloped in the azz".
Then they are going to say his back is uneven.
His sheath is too long.
I recently had a personal experience with this "evaluation" practice and it ended in hard feelings. It is someone on this board who started about a picture of a calf I put up.

My point is this: This bull has flaws. I have a new bull that has flaws. I selected my bull from a lot of 50. I had first choice. I may have not got the best one but I think I got one of the best of the top 10. The producer who is well known sold everyone of those bulls. So everybody got a bull with flaws. How significant is this issue?

 

[goddy]

Never seen a perfect one anywhere

 

[HOSS]

He is not a perfect bull. The picture is not very good either. He had just stood up and was finishing up urinating when I snapped the pic. I was sorta trying to snap a pic with my left hand and hold my dogs collar with the other. He is actually heavy hindquartered. I posted pics and video of him on here after I bought him back in February. Double V has seen him in person and can vouch for his hind quarters.

 

[inyati13]

He is not a perfect bull. The picture is not very good either. He had just stood up and was finishing up urinating when I snapped the pic. I was sorta trying to snap a pic with my left hand and hold my dogs collar with the other. He is actually heavy hindquartered. I posted pics and video of him on here after I bought him back in February. Double V has seen him in person and can vouch for his hind quarters.

I know. I know. Seems like when you take a picture of your bull "a picture is NOT worth a 1000 words".

What I am amused at is when someone can look at a picture and try to tell you more about your bull than you know from being 3 feet from him every day. I think there is a place for strict evaluation and a time to let it go. None of my stock will ever be in a show ring, so what is the significance if the lateral process of the lumbar vertebra are longer than the average bear!

I think some of this form criteria is bullshyt. I have had a good exposure to vertebrate anatomy. My friend tries to tell me if the back is not perfectly straight the bull is going to fail. I don't believe that. If you see some additional mass in the lumbar area don't assume your bull is going to come down with back problems and be in a back brace. My bull is a little fuller in the lumbar area. I have personally fingered out the transverse process of the lumbar vertebra and in my opinion, he just has a little more bone and those more muscle insertion on that bone. Kills me when someone looks at that and makes a hip shot that your bull is going to fail.

 

[Jessica06]

He's in great condition for a bull any age, much less 2. Bravo!

 

[HOSS]

Here is the same bull back in March before breeding 30 cows. Better photography on my part.

 

[highgrit]

His sheath is all I see that would bother me. I really like the shape of his head. Another fine bull.
His sheath doesn't look bad in the last picture.

 

[HOSS]

His sheath is all I see that would bother me. I really like the shape of his head. Another fine bull.
His sheath doesn't look bad in the last picture.

It is not that bad. He was urinating about two seconds before I shot the first pic. The second pic is his normal condition. Like I say he is not perfect but he is doing his job.

 

[gizmom]

30 cows young bull all bred excellent job the young man is going to make you money.

Gizmom

 

[Kingfisher]

His head is big!

 

[HOSS]

His head is big!

:lol: the joys of photography with a cell phone camera. Wide angle lens makes what is closer appear larger. I should have took his pic with his rear closer to me to avoid the light in the azz look :mrgreen:

 

[torogmc81]

Blackberry? Haven't heard that tech word in long time!! I guess the company is still hanging on (I know very little of technology, just that I had a blackberry back when "you're supposed to have one"). Time flies, company dies ...

 

[branguscowgirl]

I really don't think any one can make a sound judgement of a bull based on some of our picture taking abilities and our cell phone shots.
I agree with Inyati, and have said it before, about some folks being over critical of how they appear in photos as opposed to real life.
I also think that it makes a difference on who the poster is.
I have seen some photos posted by certain individuals that looked poorer then others that get tore apart. Yet no one says a word.

 

[glacierridge]

Here is the same bull back in March before breeding 30 cows. Better photography on my part.

Very nice pictured here, quite likable.
Good length, love that.
I wouldn't look too sharp either in a photo just seconds after finishing making water.

 

[wbvs58]

We get paid in cents/ Kg for their offspring and I think that fact is much overlooked.
Ken

 

[inyati13]

Here is the same bull back in March before breeding 30 cows. Better photography on my part.

Hoss, what some people would say is that here "his condition is just covering up the flaws".

This is a nice bull (assuming I know anything about the subject). My motive was clearly not to criticize your bull, on the contrary, I was exposing what seems to be excess obsession with non-substantive "show criteria" in commercial herds. We would like our stock to be perfect but they never are.

Why worry unless the defect in form is going to compromise function?

Branguscowgirl: I don't pay much attention to the stock evalutions but I think you are correct that the scrutiny some people get is greater than others get. I don't evaluate people's stock, first, because I am not qualified and second because I don't like the nature of it. But I can see that if you have a friend on the forum, you are not going to pick his stock apart as much as you would someone else. I also think people have their pet issues. For me it is feet. For some it is sheath.

I am also not being critical of people who aspire to produce excellent cattle. 3waycross has some of the nicest stock I see on this forum and I know he recently said he selects for lots of muscle in the hind end. I respect that. Fire Sweep Ranch is one of my best friends and she does an outstanding job but she shows her cattle extensively.

 

[cowgirl8]

SEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! this is what i got over my bulls. Either someone would have to be insane now to post a picture of their bull or well, be insane... Go back to my thread Big Boy Jr and read what i was told about our bulls and our whole herd.....and the garbage i was told by these same people.... :lol2:

 

[JWBrahman]

Inyati, a lot of the compliments appear to be choreographed theater from where I am sitting. Personally I enjoy the crazy sheeeyit the most. One of my favorites was judging the functionality of a bull through the curls on his head. Entertainment purposes only my friend... :lol2:

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

SEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! this is what i got over my bulls. Either someone would have to be insane now to post a picture of their bull or well, be insane... Go back to my thread Big Boy Jr and read what i was told about our bulls and our whole herd.....and the garbage i was told by these same people.... :lol2:

In all due respect cowgirl8, your "Big Boy Jr" couldn't hold a candle to this one.