Bull Development

[Angus Rocks]

I have 4 bulls that I kept this year and what is the approved way to develope bulls? They have been with some bred cows and were getting silage, hay, corn ration but now we sold the cows so it's not hardly worth it to fire up the tractor to mix a ration for 4 bulls.

 

[Franke]

We do a little corn with free choice hay and mineral. It's worked out for us pretty good, just don't start giving them too much corn.

 

[elkwc]

Ours got some short wheat pasture along with free choice hay. And for the last month it has been hay and some 20% cake everyday. I want them to develop but not get fat.

 

[Angus Rocks]

Ours got some short wheat pasture along with free choice hay. And for the last month it has been hay and some 20% cake everyday. I want them to develop but not get fat.

We raised some out of commercial cows a couple years ago and they didn't get any grain and I wasn't very happy with how they developed.

How much does the feed make a difference in what a bull looks like and what his offspring look like?

 

[elkwc]

Ours got some short wheat pasture along with free choice hay. And for the last month it has been hay and some 20% cake everyday. I want them to develop but not get fat.

We raised some out of commercial cows a couple years ago and they didn't get any grain and I wasn't very happy with how they developed.

How much does the feed make a difference in what a bull looks like and what his offspring look like?

IMO feeds just determines at what rate a bull develops. The coming 2 y/o I have weighed 1,000 even at 8 months so felt he needed to slow down some. He then bred cows all summer as a yearling and was brought in about 7 weeks ago. He was put on short wheat for a month and then they were shut up due to no where to put them and have been feed free choice hay and a little cake. I don't feel that how fast I develop him will make a difference in his calves.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Ours got some short wheat pasture along with free choice hay. And for the last month it has been hay and some 20% cake everyday. I want them to develop but not get fat.

We raised some out of commercial cows a couple years ago and they didn't get any grain and I wasn't very happy with how they developed.

How much does the feed make a difference in what a bull looks like and what his offspring look like?

There's a old saying of good genetics ""its bred in,,,not fed in"""but you won't really realize their genetic potential without proper nutrition...I've seen Bulls that had to fend for theirselves, become eye poppers and sire great calves...but the Bulls looked ragged till they matured...you'd hear he's ugly, but he's calves look great..

 

[SPH]

It all really depends on the environment you are in. I envy the guys further south that can graze year round with minimal inputs. The further north you get it is impossible to graze anything once you get a good cold stretch in November and some snow on the ground plus having to deal with winter elements. We don't have the facilities on our property to winter weaned bulls we want to develop and sell or keep for ourselves so we rent a lot just down the road and sort them off in December to manage. They have free choice hay and a managed ration of corn and oats with protein supplement added. It's a dirt feedlot so grazing is non-existent and there is no shelter structure to take cover from the winter conditions so they have to be able to rough it through any extreme temperatures or winter storms here. We want them to clean up the feed ration they get before adjusting it as we don't want them to get fat and leaving feed in the feed bunk because they are too full.

The best thing you can do when buying a bull is ask questions that are important to you. If the seller can't answer them to your satisfaction there there is reason to be concerned about how confident you can be with a purchase. Anyone who develops bulls should be able to show you some kind of performance data and weights and be able to answer any questions you have on how that animal was raised and managed.

 

[farmguy]

"The further north you get it is impossible to graze anything once you get a good cold stretch in November and some snow on the ground plus having to deal with winter elements."

I hate to contradict anyone but I am in central Minnesota and we graze stockpiled warm season grasses and cover crops all winter. farmguy

 

[Ebenezer]

If you are dealing with local folks who know you, the cost of feeding is sometimes a waste. You can show them cows, older bulls and then the sale bulls to see where they will be headed with a bull and daughters in a few years. But we linebreed on some cattle so there is more consistency to offer anyway.

 

[Angus Rocks]

It all really depends on the environment you are in. I envy the guys further south that can graze year round with minimal inputs. The further north you get it is impossible to graze anything once you get a good cold stretch in November and some snow on the ground plus having to deal with winter elements.

I have a friend in NW North Dakota that grazes his cows pretty much year around he has a video on YouTube of his cows grazing thru snow and and not having to give his cows much water because of eating snow. I believe it's all in mentality.

We are trying to use cover crops to graze but we are so dry we didn't have a lot of grazing from them this year so having to feed a little more then I like. The bulls we developed a year ago one of them is Mom died in the summer and winter left it out on pasture and so it didn't do as well as the other one. How old is a bull to be full grown?

 

[SPH]

Not afraid to admit that I can be wrong as 2 of you guys just proved to me that it's not impossible to do. Unfortunately we do not crop farm nor have the acres to set aside for a winter cover crop so once pasture is all used up and winter hits the hay comes out for the main cow herd and the coming yearlings get hay + some grain until pasture is ready to graze again in the spring. Don't see hardly anyone grazing cover crops around here even if they do crop farm. May be because most of the crop fields don't have adequate fencing and/or water source I would guess. If they do put a cover crop in it's usually winter rye which usually they will harvest or chop for silage in the spring before putting in some late soybeans. There is a pretty big commercial operation just down the road from us that stockpiles silage and will truck in some distillers or other byproducts and liquid additives to mix a feed ration in with the hay and cornstocks they grind up. They do winter rye on some of their crop fields but they usually it for the reason I mentioned above. Everyone has their own way and management practices based on the resources they have available to them. As long as you are honest with answering questions with your management practices with the people doing business with you then you should have nothing to hide or worry about.

 

[JSCATTLE]

I've always fed my replacements some. Bulls or heifers . I generally pull them off the cow in the fall. I planted 6 acres in rye grass and poured the fertilizer to it. From November to about Jan 1 I fed them 16 percent creep and free choice good hay. Jan1 dump them on the rye grass. By may the heifers would be around 850 lbs . If not they went in someone's freezer. My cows had a hard life once turned out because I want them to make it on grass. I fed a little cake in the winter but that's it. So I felt like the young ones deserved a little help getting to their potential.

 

[Angus Rocks]

Our heifers don't get any grain they have to tough it and if they can't survive they either go to someone's freezer or get wheels under them.
I was talking to a long time seedstock producer last Saturday and he said their bulls have gotten better as the years go by and I would have taken from what he said his maternal genetics have gotten better not necessarily his ai sires.

Here is the video for what it's worth

https://youtu.be/ww0LN2LJRqA

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

SPF, I find the same here. I haven't seen anyone supposedly grazing stockpiled pasture out here, but I know a farm claims to. You have to decide if you want extra cows or extra land. Plus, many winters or part of winters, the snow is so deep OR so crusted over, they cannon break thru to eat.
Different areas different management works.