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mind235

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Western NY just left NC
I have a young bull about 3 months +. The pasture he is in is owned by another person kind enough to allow me to keep my guy there. The pasture has right now 11 spring calves 3-4 months old, 1 mature bull to cover the 13 cows. I want to suppliment the little guy so he can be a big guy. Challange is all of the herd is on pasture and "wild" . I can't use creeper since they all can get in and he does not care to do what I want to with my guy.I expect it will be a real fun time to pull him from the herd often and he is hard to cut from the rest of them, all the calves are stuck together like someone glued them together. Also every time the herd sees me even when I step out on the porch they start howling and bunch up since they think I am on this earth with no other purpose than to let them into the "better" pasture I rotate them just about every day unless I am trying to leep them out of one to let it replenish better. So the only option is to catch the little guy and put him in a stall inside. If I put him in the stall how long should I keep him in there to feed him some supliment to put on some weight. The pasture is kind of stressed right now with the addition of the good crop of spring calves and the mature bull. So how long to keep him in and then let him back out to momma. How long to keep him away from momma before she can't or won't feed him? The farmer seems to run his cattle totally different than most of all the info I have read on the boards and the other 5 guys with cattle in the area all have different 2 cents to add. I probally will put him in thestall when weaned for a couple months though the winter unless he gets rid of all the hefs before they become available. Is it better to raise the bull to be the herd bull in the stall or turn him back out after supppliment time or rotate him in and out through say 6 months through 10 months?

Its early after a late night hope this makes sense since nothing else does except the coffee pot right now. The property owner and I just had a long discussion that is what brought on he post so????

I will finish the rest of the book at a later time. LONGGGG winded.

Thanks to all you fine experienced folk with all the knowledge sure helps to see some of your replies.
 
If the cow is milking good, no suppliment is necessary. When you think the cow is not doing her job, and the calf is suffering (weight wise) it is time to wean him.
I would NOT recommend locking him up in a stall. He needs exercise. Locking him up temperally to wean him is fine for a short period of time (week) til he will respect a fence to keep him seperated.
Ideally, you would wean when he is about 6-8 months of age, provide a shelter with an outside lot for exercise. Provide hay, grass and or grain to keep gaining around 2-3# per day.
Also, very important, he and all the cattle should be receiving loose granular mineral year round supplimented with Selenium for New York.
 
Jeanne - Simme Valley":1vk3zwq3 said:
If the cow is milking good, no suppliment is necessary. When you think the cow is not doing her job, and the calf is suffering (weight wise) it is time to wean him.
I would NOT recommend locking him up in a stall. He needs exercise. Locking him up temperally to wean him is fine for a short period of time (week) til he will respect a fence to keep him seperated.
Ideally, you would wean when he is about 6-8 months of age, provide a shelter with an outside lot for exercise. Provide hay, grass and or grain to keep gaining around 2-3# per day.
Also, very important, he and all the cattle should be receiving loose granular mineral year round supplimented with Selenium for New York.

Well, not being from NY I dont know about the Selenium, but I agree completely with everything else in the post. You cant really have a different feeding program for different animals in the same herd.

If you think you have to supplement feed you will have to seperate the momma and calf from the rest. Being you have more than one pasture you might be able to do this, but cows being herd animals you might be causing yourself a lot more work.
 
Thanks,

Just moved him into the house he and the dogs fight over who gets to sleep on the sofa each night and he gets mad when the dog goes after his feed in the morning
 
mind235":na521ynl said:
Thanks,

Just moved him into the house he and the dogs fight over who gets to sleep on the sofa each night and he gets mad when the dog goes after his feed in the morning

Wait. Did I miss something?
 

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