bizybeehill":2q7balgc said:
Ok,
What precautions or special needs does keeping a bull with your herd create ? Do you need to seperate him from your cows when calving time comes or do you need special fencing....etc. As I am learning it appears that the eventually I will have to decide to buy a bull or AI my herd as I grow. Any thoughts from the experienced ????
A lot depends on the type of cattle & bulls you are running as well as the degree of "risk" you are willing to take when it comes to fencing. Bear in mind that any BULL that wants to service a heifer or cow (or get to another bull) CAN crash any fence that is not 5.5 to 6.0 feet high made out of welded pipe. Ok...negative stuff aside...lol. We also have 2 bull pens (50 x 75') of welded pipe & rod, 5.5 foot high with a loafing shed which we use for about to calf cow...as well as put bull in with her.
Bulls should only be selected that are relatively mild-mannered and manageable; otherwise they need to be ground beef.
We are running 3 service age bulls in our registered Longhorn herd. Each bull services certain females, depending on everyone's pedigree and traits.
All of our fencing here is barbed wire and T-posts (steel corner posts) and is 5.5 foot high with 7 wires. Such "excellent" fencing makes our insurance company very happy (and we sleep well at night). Additionally, each of our bulls with their females are separated in pastures by a 14 foot wide alleyway so they can't challenge each other up close.
When the cow/calf pair is doing ok and cow comes into her next heat, we put a bull with her. The bull doesn't bother the baby calf--mama sees to it and bull doesn't perceive baby calf as a threat.
When we A.I., we wait 2-3 weeks and then put a "cleanup" bull in with her in the remote chance the A.I. didn't take. And, if cow doesn't come into heat with the bull with her, that is pretty much a "guarantee" the A.I. took.
I might add that all of our bulls are easily managed, gentle, and very respectful of their females and our fences. As long as a bull has something nice to eat and has girlfriends of "his own" in their pasture he isn't very interested in jumping the fence and going down the road to the neighbor's.