Bull critique

[herofan]

This is a picture of the registered Gelbvieh bull we used this time. How does he look? He is around 4 years old.

 

[TexasBred]

Get a couple of better pics if you can. ;-)

 

[highgrit]

Looks kinda of wimpy for a 4 year old to me. Might just be the pictures though.

 

[herofan]

He's not in much of a modeling mood today, but here's a couple of more. I threw in a week old calf too.

 

[herofan]

Please go ahead and post what you feel. With 115 views, surely somebody has a comment. I'm braced. I'm already accustomed to the fact that nothing I have is positive. I have poor soil, poor hay, poor pasture, and my cows look like circus animals instead of farm animals. So, let it fly.

 

[3waycross]

Please go ahead and post what you feel. With 115 views, surely somebody has a comment. I'm braced. I'm already accustomed to the fact that nothing I have is positive. I have poor soil, poor hay, poor pasture, and my cows look like circus animals instead of farm animals. So, let it fly.

He's no NWSS champion but for a commercial operation he's not a dog either. He is a little cowy and could use some a$$ but with that set of nuts you could probably keep a heifer or two and not hurt yourself..

 

[double v]

concur for a comm operation probably will do the job look like he had a good base under him, is he homo blk ? he could use a few more groceries

 

[cow pollinater]

We've seen a lot worse posted. He's not really doing anything wrong but he could be a lot more right. ;-)

 

[HOSS]

I've seen a lot worse for sure. He could use some depth, muscle and hind quarter. Not as masculine as I like to see. Positives: he appears to have good length, straight top line, big scrotal and he is obviously fertile. He should work until you found something better. There are a lot of really nice gelbvieh bulls out there and a bit of looking would pay off.

 

[artesianspringsfarm]

HERO,

Just looking at him, I would agree with Hoss and the others. Not laughable, but not spectacular phenotype. But here's 3 questions for you:

1. Whats he getting for groceries?

2. Why did you choose him? Are you looking for replacements or scale masher calves or what?

3. Do you know anything about his breeding and is this what you would expect from his sire and/or dam?

 

[herofan]

HERO,

Just looking at him, I would agree with Hoss and the others. Not laughable, but not spectacular phenotype. But here's 3 questions for you:

1. Whats he getting for groceries?

2. Why did you choose him? Are you looking for replacements or scale masher calves or what?

3. Do you know anything about his breeding and is this what you would expect from his sire and/or dam?

He's grazing and has access to loose mineral. We have him because a friend bought him and asked if we wanted to use him too. We are a very small operation. we don't own a bull, so that was a great help. The friend says he is doing a good job for him, that's about all I know.

I'm not skilled in how a cow's or bull's body looks, whether he's funnel butted and all that stuff. I'm never around anyone in my area that discusses things like that; I believe they just go for one that's healthy and doesn't look like ET. The guy that borders my friend runs a bigger operation of around 200 cows and he has asked to use the bull as well, so I didn't figure he was too bad.

I guess I'm in just a different operation than most here. Sometimes I feel like I'm running a lemonade stand and asking questions on a forum run by Donald Trump. Thanks for the comments everyone.

 

[FlyingLSimmentals]

Don't know if he will better your herd any but you'll probably still make good money with his calves. Doesn't take a great bull to get good money at the stock yards. I agree with everyone else not really good but not really bad neither. The phenotype just isn't too good. Face and head is just to plain needs more eye appeal or expression. Calf looks pretty nice from what I can see, though.

 

[herofan]

Don't know if he will better your herd any but you'll probably still make good money with his calves. Doesn't take a great bull to get good money at the stock yards. I agree with everyone else not really good but not really bad neither. The phenotype just isn't too good. Face and head is just to plain needs more eye appeal or expression. Calf looks pretty nice from what I can see, though.

For me, that's the bottom line. I'm just trying to raise calves that make money. I'm not showing them in contests or building a reputation for registered animals that people come from all over to buy. I'm just raising calves, and at a certain point, I haul them off to the sale barn. The friend that we borrowed him from said his last group sold extremely well.

 

[tistis]

He ok everyone bull could be better ...

 

[fitz]

I've never owned a Bull I was completely satisfied with. I can always find something about mine I don't like. In the end, if I can get a decent calf out of my cow I'll get by. By the looks of your calf you're doing fine.
Camera angle often makes a world of difference.

 

[branguscowgirl]

I guess I'm in just a different operation than most here. Sometimes I feel like I'm running a lemonade stand and asking questions on a forum run by Donald Trump. Thanks for the comments everyone.

Herofan, I think that there are a number of folks here that do as you do. (Take a bull where ever they can get one, and get healthy calves on the ground.) What I am saying is, I do not think that you are alone in the way that you run your operation.
It makes sense that the only people that comment to these type of threads are the really experience cattle men/women that can give sound advise on improvement.
We are all here to share and learn. (Everyone at different levels.) The goal is to keep learning and improving. Most people do not jump right in with "the very best" stock. They work up to it.

In my opinion, no one is better or inferior. Just running at different levels at the time.

 

[herofan]

I guess I'm in just a different operation than most here. Sometimes I feel like I'm running a lemonade stand and asking questions on a forum run by Donald Trump. Thanks for the comments everyone.

Herofan, I think that there are a number of folks here that do as you do. (Take a bull where ever they can get one, and get healthy calves on the ground.) What I am saying is, I do not think that you are alone in the way that you run your operation.
It makes sense that the only people that comment to these type of threads are the really experience cattle men/women that can give sound advise on improvement.
We are all here to share and learn. (Everyone at different levels.) The goal is to keep learning and improving. Most people do not jump right in with "the very best" stock. They work up to it.

In my opinion, no one is better or inferior. Just running at different levels at the time.

Sure, and I really do appreciate all the advice. By no means do I consider myself a slacker or somebody who just wants to scrape by, but I often wonder if the top of the line way of doing things always applies to me, and if would enhance anything.

I remember reading something a few years ago that has stayed with me. It went something like this:
A writer said that some people will double their work load just to make something 10% better, and that 10% is often just superficial and has no measurable bearing on the situation. He used Martha Stewart as an example. He said she would spend half an hour showing people how to make little decorations for their dining room table. We all sit, watch and marvel at her results. Then we spend the time to do it; however, we could probably stop by Wal-Mart and purchase an already finished product for our table that would get just as many raves as doing it her way, and nobody would really know the difference.

I've thought that can apply to many situations in life, regardless of what is going on.

I often discuss things from here with my brother that i farm with. He asked me to post the bull picture to see what everyone thought. Personally, I know very little about good vs bad body types of cattle. Unless they have a tail growing from their nose or look like a giraffe, all i recognize is healthy or unhealthy.

So, I guess my next question is, if I had a bull that looked like a champion and was producing calves, would that make a big difference at the sale barn?

 

[branguscowgirl]

So, I guess my next question is, if I had a bull that looked like a champion and was producing calves, would that make a big difference at the sale barn?

In your situation, I think that it is all about how many pounds he can put on those calves. As said here many times, "the bull is half the equation". The bull can enhance or break your cows with the resulting cross. If he is not genetically capable of adding those pounds, he is not helping you.
Now if you are raising replacement heifers from your cows, you have a whole lot more things to consider.

 

[Rafter S]

So, I guess my next question is, if I had a bull that looked like a champion and was producing calves, would that make a big difference at the sale barn?

A bull that produces better calves than the one you're using now, or at least heavier calves in the same time frame, can definitely make a difference at the sale barn. Especially with current prices. However, it will take a sharp pencil, depending on how many cows he'll be used on and what you'd be spending on the bull, to determine how much you can pay for the bull to get those better calves. There are other factors to consider, but those are two of the biggest.

 

[HOSS]

I think as cattlemen we should always be striving to improve all the time. Most of us can not afford to go out and plunk down 15k for a bull. We improve our herd one step at a time and over time we develop some pretty nice stock. We all started somewhere with less than stellar cattle. You are doing the right thing in asking opinions. Put those critiques in your mental bank and the next time you buy a bull you will improve over this one. When you hold back heifers or buy replacements you will improve there as well. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither are good herds.