Florida Bull Test

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jscunn

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I have wanted to give everyone updates on the bull test, but this week was the first week that the website was updated. We took two bulls back in July. One out of Deer Valley All In (select sires), one out of our walking herd sire, Sydgen Process 4846.
both bulls did exceptionally well for us during the entire test finishing 11th (All In) and 17th (Process) overall with test indexes of 117 and 115. Both bulls did well during the feed efficiency portion of the test finishing 2nd (Process) and 9th (All In). The feed efficiency portion of the test ended the day before hurricane Michael devastated that portion of the gulf coast.

Here is some of the details on the bulls
CF All In 711 (reg # 19117541)
DOB 10/13/17
BW 82 lbs
WW 893 lbs
YW 1307 lbs
Starting Wt 1060
Ending Wt 1493
EPDs
CED 7
BW 1.5
WW 75
YW 128
Milk 30
$W $72.27
$B $165.49

CF Process 727 (reg# 19116954)
DOB 11/21/17
BW 96 lbs
WW 781 lbs
YW 1264 lbs
EPDs
CED 0
BW 3.7
WW 66
YW 113
Milk 29
$W $58.54
$B $156.00

The test data is up at https://nfrec.ifas.ufl.edu/florida-bull ... t-results/. The catalog should be up soon, at the same web address, videos will be up on cattle in motion after Christmas. I am looking forward to the videos, to see what the bulls have matured into. I hope that True Grit and M-5 will be there again so we can catch up for a bit.
 
Good results. I'll enjoy looking at the catalog. Two questions if you have the time. Weaning weights - what are the bulls eating until weaning? MM - is 29 and 30 a good range for you to get adequate breed back on cows and are the cows supplemented to use that type EPD range?
Thanks.
 
Congratulations, sounds like your bulls did great in both phases of the test. Hopefully the sale will be good. That area has sure had a rough year. I sure do like your new bull, I was a nosey neighbor and drove over to get a look on Sunday. He is nice.

Gizmom
 
Ebeneezer,
The bulls were on pretty darn good rye grass pasture until mid to late april, and yes they were allowed access to creep feed. Honestly while they were on rye grass they consumed very little creep feed, once they were back on bahia grass the creep feed consumption went up for the last 6 weeks until weaning at end of May. Weaned on self feeders for 2 weeks then hand feed ~10 lbs per head per day until the bull test. The cows are not supplemented during the winter normally. This year for the last week the cows are getting alittle feed 4 lbs/per head/per day to try and save on some hay. Will probably run the cows on this program until after bull turnout (Jan 20th) by then they should be ready for rye grass pasture.

Gizmom,
He is already spoiled, wont eat bahia grass hay. I am having to strip some of the rye grass hay (round rolls) everyday and give him some of that.. :bang: Probably as moderate a bull as we have bought, but he checked the boxes on docility, marbling, phenotype
 
Sale is gonna be tougher than most years Jeanne. That storm has forced liquidations from a lot of the locals there, some may jump back in, some are gonna fold up and quit. I am very happy they did well and are both selling in the first 11 lots (some bulls don't sell ). It will be an interesting day, I think the All in calf will be a bargain for all he brings to the table. (I don't know how he looks). Neither bull is without faults, the all in is bigger than ideal and didn't have enough ribeye, the Process calf didn't marble well at all and has too much BW. I hear the Process really looks the part, don't know about the All In, my source just said he is bigger than she likes.
 
Phenotypically lazy m, me too. The 11 bull has better epds, however. Most people would use 11 on heifers but not 17.
 
Is it just me or do all the bulls seem kind of worked up and flighty in the videos? They may need to evaluate their handling practices..
 
Lazy M":25xag9yo said:
Is it just me or do all the bulls seem kind of worked up and flighty in the videos? They may need to evaluate their handling practices..
Click to expand...

Luke. Fire Sweep has told me that they like to use something to get the bull's attention like a plastic bag to make them look alert. I think they work them up on purpose.

The show folks tell me you don't want your animal to look too laid back. It is better for them to look more on the perked up side.

I think that carries over to the sale videos
 
I think a lot of it is those bulls are raised in groups and then they pull them out as singles to do video work on them. Is there some bulls that have disposition problems there? I am sure, there always is. Are the disposition problems bad enough to pull the bull from the sale, I didn't think so.

As a producer it is sometimes hard to tell how a bull is gonna act once he gets old enough for the sale. You send him over there at 8-9 months of age. On our two according to one of the employees at the test station, one of them is better than the other on disposition but neither are a problem. The other thing she said was this year it seemed like the hurricane spooked them pretty good, because as a whole they were worse after the storm than before.

I try to send bulls that don't get stirred up too easily, (docile cattle tend to gain better). Hard to tell at 8 months if a calf is above avg, avg, or below avg for disposition. It is easy to tell if he is extremely docile or a fool at that age.
 
jscunn":3sfvgoy4 said:
I think a lot of it is those bulls are raised in groups and then they pull them out as singles to do video work on them. Is there some bulls that have disposition problems there? I am sure, there always is. Are the disposition problems bad enough to pull the bull from the sale, I didn't think so.

As a producer it is sometimes hard to tell how a bull is gonna act once he gets old enough for the sale. You send him over there at 8-9 months of age. On our two according to one of the employees at the test station, one of them is better than the other on disposition but neither are a problem. The other thing she said was this year it seemed like the hurricane spooked them pretty good, because as a whole they were worse after the storm than before.

I try to send bulls that don't get stirred up too easily, (docile cattle tend to gain better). Hard to tell at 8 months if a calf is above avg, avg, or below avg for disposition. It is easy to tell if he is extremely docile or a fool at that age.
Click to expand...
Wasn't implying that yours were worse then any of the rest of them, I just noticed that they all seemed agitated and kind of high headed. Could still be spooked from the storm. Maybe the camera man could have let them calm down a little before he began recording. Or like Raven indicated maybe that was what they were going for..
 
As my 80+yr old neighbor says: I like my cattle calm and my women wild!
 
Lazy m,
I didnt think you were talking about mine in particular. I thought mine looked ok, 17 had his head up in the air a bit.. 11 looked pretty laid back. They were both laid back here, the 11 would have been a little better here..
I noticed what you noticed I was just commenting on mine because those are the ones I know.
 

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