The old timers used to say as long as a bull hasn't bred anything they are fine. I start selling breeding bulls around their first birthday. If I still have one left by mid summer thats generally who we eat. Even though he has been off grain for a while he is still in a pen so he hasn't had a lot of excercise. I like them better than a finished steer, there is not as much fat, yet still well marbled and tender---but thats just me. If you look back in history, before cattle feeding started, steers were usually not killed until they were 3 to 5 years old.
