bull size

[TSR]

if you can put one of those show bulls out on a herd and they dont melt you have a good one. the bulls you see are feed nearly 25lbs of grain a day to keep up there size. a good bull to me is one that holds up on a herd.

There is an argument to the so-called "meltdown" of bulls on cows.

In my opinion, bulls that "melt" faster possess a higher incidence of libido and lose weight faster because they are busy servicing cows more than the easy keepers.

Sometimes their urge is so strong they won't eat for days.

It's not because they have been fed grain either.

If I put a bull in with cows and he doesn't lose some weight, he is gone from not doing his job in a timely manner.

Now when they get older and learn the ropes, they won't breed any one single cow so many times and have the susceptibility to keep more flesh.

But a virgin 2 year old should be expected to lose weight.

I understand what your saying Mike, but I believe its the degree of "meltdown" that's important here. What if you did have a bull in with say 35 cows and they all calved the following yr within 45 to 60 days and the "meltdown" was minimal during the breeding season? I would say you had an easy keeping bull. I have a bull in my field thats been on round cornstalk bales for a month with no grain and he's staying in pretty good shape, understand the cows are already bred. But in the past, I have had bulls that wouldn't be doing very well after a month on nothing but cornstalk rolls and trace mineral salt. JMHO

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Frame score means absolutely NOTHING without weight. It is a single feature that you need to fit into a whole picture.

 

[MikeC]

Frame score means absolutely NOTHING without weight. It is a single feature that you need to fit into a whole picture.

The "whole picture" nowdays is a fed animal that will hang a 950-1000 lb. carcass that is a Yield grade 1 or 2, and grade choice, with a good feed conversion rate and a fast rate of gain.


Overall, that just can't be done with a Frame 4 or 5.

At least I haven't been able to accomplish it.

 

[dun]

Overall, that just can't be done with a Frame 4 or 5.

At least I haven't been able to accomplish it.

And that is exactly why the smaller cow size concept doesn;t always work out. A calf from 6 - 6.5 cow with muscle bred to a bull of about the same size with muscle is what my customers (feeders) want.