Bulls Near Calving Heifers

[Bassett Lake Ranch]

Grew up on a dairy farm, YEARS AGO. Bought a small ranch 2 years ago and decided to raise cattle. Leased a bull and bred 8 yearling heifers. We've left the bull in with the heifers until now.
Is it safe to leave the bull with the heifers when they begin calving? Will bulls attack or harm calves? Do we need to separate the bull from the heifers? Since it has been so long since I have lived on a working ranch I forgot a lot of what I knew so I'll be using your site a lot! Any info you can pass on to a fairly newcomer would be most appreciated.

 

[rattler]

Our's stay in year round haven't had any problem's

rattler

 

[msscamp]

Bulls don't generally attack or intentionally hurt calves, although they might provide a little unwanted distraction at calving time, and some of them make very good babysitters even. :lol: Worst case scenario I can think of is your heifers could be rebred on their first heat (or not), and your calving season might be all over the map.

 

[TxCoUnTrYbOy]

Bull is with cows here all the time. If anything, it seems like the bull and my heifer would protect the calf right when it was born. All that day, when the momma would lay down and rest, the others would stand guard. After testing the water and figuring out momma didnt mind people around her calf (she was an old show cow, so more tame than most pasture cattle), when I would walk near the calf, the bull and other heifer would both just go up and stand in between me and the calf. If I walked away, they would move. When I came back, they moved right back in the way.

 

[fit2btied]

I have seen bulls try to mount cows that were trying to calve. That could lead to some problems. We had one that would not let one cow lay down long enough to have the calf. He chased her around for nearly an hour. When we finally got him penned she had it within 10 minutes. Ours have never bothered the calves until the cows started cycling again and then anyone or anything near one in season had better keep a really close eye on him. If he thought you posed any kind of threat, he would help you vacate the immediate area. We only keep ours with the cows for 75-90 days now.

 

[dun]

I have seen bulls try to mount cows that were trying to calve. That could lead to some problems. We had one that would not let one cow lay down long enough to have the calf. He chased her around for nearly an hour. When we finally got him penned she had it within 10 minutes. Ours have never bothered the calves until the cows started cycling again and then anyone or anything near one in season had better keep a really close eye on him. If he thought you posed any kind of threat, he would help you vacate the immediate area. We only keep ours with the cows for 75-90 days now.

Besides the possibilities of these problems, the cows may get bred back a whole lot earlier then you would like. We had the bull sharing the fence with the cows and their calves and starting at day 22 post calving the cows started coming in to heat. Pedro has found him a new home for a couple of months so I don;t worry about him hopping the fence and breeding anything this early.

dun

 

[Stepper]

I had a cow that was tring to have a calf (calfs feet were out & water broken) while she was laying down. The bull tried to mount her and when she tried to get away from him he continued to follow her until i put him in another pasture.

 

[Clodkicker]

We put our heifer in a pen beside our yearling bull; she had just had her calf. He came into his pen and started calling and she got so nervous she forgot where her calf was and stepped on her. We immediately got him out in the pasture away from her and both settled down. I know that we won't be keeping him anywhere near our calving mamas.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Whether the bull is a problem during calving or not, the biggest thing is if you run a bull with your females all year long, you have no idea when they are going to calve. When you put it in with the yearlings last year, he may have bred all of them in a few weeks - or one or more might not have been bred (or slipped their pregnancy) for 4 months. You could have a calf a month all year long. Not likely, but if you don't have an "in and out" date, you can expect calves year round.

 

[dun]

Whether the bull is a problem during calving or not, the biggest thing is if you run a bull with your females all year long, you have no idea when they are going to calve.

We have experienced this for the firs time this year. First time we've had a bull. A number of heifers and cows had missed heats so we just ran them with the other cows and the bull to simplify managment. We now have 5 that haven;t calved yet and all appear bred, but they were scheduled from their AI dates to have calved a month ago. Under normal conditions, if we catch one in heat that has skipped she would go to the kill pen at the sale barn. Now we've wintered over 5 head that won;t calve till who knows when. As soon as they start to spring they'll feind new homes. Would have been cheaper to have sold them over the winter when they showed up open.

dun

 

[Bassett Lake Ranch]

We've since separated the bull and put him in with a heifer that
has given birth many times... She was trying to steal the new
borns as she hasn't had hers yet. So, we kind of had a double
threat. We'll put her out the minute she shows signs of giving
birth. We are going to keep the bull penned until mid June to
avoid untimely pregnancies. We want to keep our breeding on
a schedule. Since my last posting, we've delivered another and
it appears we've got another heifer going into labor, so things
are jumping around here. We have sheep on 40 acres and the
cattle on the other 40 and are raising alfalfa on the other 80.
We have I don't know how many sets of twins with the sheep.
They're multiplying rapidly! No twins yet with the cattle, thank
the almighty! We're having enough problems with single births
w/ the yearling heifers. From the begining of signs of labor,
how long can it take for the birth (usually). The heifer that
delivered last Saturday took nearly 4 hours from the first signs
she was possibly in labor till the calf emerged. Is this normal?
However, after she laid down and got serious about things, the
calf was born within an hour. I've been told that from the time
the feet appear that if the calf isn't completely delivered in
30 to 40 minutes that there are problems. Is this correct?

 

[sjr725]

I agree that usually a bull wouldn't intentionally hurt a calf or bother anything - BUT, your heifers will come into a short heat about 5 days after calving and again every 21-28 days or so after. If you are like most, and want to keep all your cows calving pretty much at the same time, and at a specific time of year - you won't want them bred back at that time.
We calve out in Feb - so we'll be putting the bulls in with the cows about the 25th of April - so we'll be confining our calving season to about a 6 week window from late Jan through Feb.
The bulls should be out of "work" by the first of June - just in time to send cows and calves up to the mountain pasture for the summer.
So, neither the bulls or cows would probably mind if they were together all year - but it could mess up your timing. Also, if you only have 1 bull -- he might get hard to keep in if he gets lonely - we have lots so they all go in together after breeding and they generally stay nice and quiet. A bit of fighting usually right before they go to the cows and a little right after they come back - but generally pretty peaceful for the most part.

 

[dun]

However, after she laid down and got serious about things, the
calf was born within an hour. I've been told that from the time
the feet appear that if the calf isn't completely delivered in
30 to 40 minutes that there are problems. Is this correct?

You wach for progress. But if the calf isn;t born to a cow (I notice you have all heifers, even those that have calved before) in a half hour there is generally somehting amiss, 1 hour for a heifer (that hasn;t calved before).
The key is progress.

dun

 

[Bassett Lake Ranch]

We've had all the heifers give birth to a calf save one....if she doesn't drop a calf within the next 30 days....she's on the truck. I want to let every one know how much I appreciate all your input. It has helped immensly. This is a great site that I plan on using and reading on a fairly regular basis.

All the ones that were born were absolutely PERFECT! None of the remainder of the heifers have had any problems. I have found that once you're back in the saddle it all seems to come flooding back. Only had to pull one and that was because it was her first and she was smaller than the rest. With assistance, she delivered the finest little bull calf you've ever seen! I don't foresee her having problems in the future.

We have separated the bull. I took him out of the pasture and put him in the corral when he chased the first newborn out of the fence line trying to stomp him. The old biddy heifer went in with him until two days before she gave birth to her calf. Since the first one was born, he's settled down a bit. He's a yearling Black Angus and so far, we're more than pleased with his performance. Anyway, we want to control the time of year when the calves are born due to our elevation. We had 3 inches of snow here last week, off and on and will have hard frosts until Memorial Day...however, we also have traditional Indian type summers here that last well into October. We have decided to put the bull back out with the heifers in June to assure the calves all come at the same time. Yeah, he's lonely, but, he's been visiting across the fence and he doesn't seem to mind not having to share his feed with the girls. Next year about a week before the calves start to come, we'll pull him from the pasture and he can corral up on his own for a while again.

Once more with feeling! THANKS!

 

[sjr725]

Basset Lake - just a FYI , not trying to be smart alec or anything like that but in general a bovine is considered a heifer only until her 3rd calf - then she's officially a cow. But that terminology might depend on what part of the country you're in? Here we'll usually say 1st calf heifer or 2nd calf heifer but after their 3rd they're all cows. Glad your calving season went well - best of luck.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Great to hear calving went well & you were able to assist on the one delivery.
JFYI - if you leave the bull with the girls until they are due to calve, there is a chance you may calve at any time during the year.
Under normal circumstances, the bull should have them bred easily within 60 days. BUT, if one doesn't settle or later aborts/absorbs a pregnancy, he will breed her again & you may have a very late calf. The only true way to know you have cattle due within a certain time frame is to have the bull with the cows for only that certain length of time (60 days is the norm).
If you don't care when they are due, it is easier to let him run with the girls.