Clubby bull

[aplusmnt]

does anyone on this board have a clubby bull as their herd sire?
if so how has he stood up in the pasture?

Not sure if my Herd sire would be classified as a Clubby Bull. He is a PB Simmental that I bought with the hope of getting some Club calves out of my Angus and Angus x Maine cows.

Here is what he looks liked when he was displayed at the Iowa Beef Expo and second picture gives you and idea how he has held up in the pasture. He gets nothing but Fescue and Prairie grass.

We have some of his first calves on the ground this year and been pretty happy so far.

 

[jaydill]

Aplusmnt, your bull looks very nice! Got any pics of some calves out of him?

My opinion about club to pasture bulls is a general one. IMO, many of the people on this board do have the eye for cattle to select a bull that while clubby in his show days, will still hold up when put out to pasture. My opnion of clubby bulls in general, though, is that they will not perform as well as their pasture raised or "less clubby" counterparts.

Jay

 

[chambero]

Most of the "clubby" bulls you should be using work just fine for other aspects of the cattle industry. If you go to some of the bigger club calf breeding cattle sales (i.e. Kris Black's), you'll find plenty of bulls that will product show steers and can get around in the pasture for a long time. Our pastures are full of them right now. We had an 11 year old Meyer son that finally ran out of gas this fall. We've got several other from more steer-oriented lines that do just fine in very big pastures also.

Of course there are exceptions. There are several well known club calf bulls that probably can barely stand up, let alone walk. I'll always question whether animals like that should be used for anything. We've had about as many purebred, calving ease Angus bulls that break down for one reason or another at a young age as we've had from club calf lines.

Judges are starting to put more and more emphasis on structural correctness and movement in our steer shows - I thought Houston was a great example of that this year. Crippled up bulls are more likely to raise crippled calves which doesn't make anyone any money. I firmly believe you are just as likely to get a "freaky good" steer from a bull that can move as you can one that can't. And you average calves will be much better and more useful. That great one is always an accident anyway.