hereford bull to pick on

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herfdog":2iuewsa5 said:
Kingfisher":2iuewsa5 said:
The bull looks kind of feminine to me........maybe he is just hungry?

I have 3 bulls that I am feeding they are not pushed vary hard. They are around 800 lbs I am guessing. They get 10.6# grain mix (9# cracked corn 1.6# full energy soybean) each per day.
And they eat around 25# dry hay. That's around 1.3 percent of body weight in grain.
Last year's bulls gained 3.4 # per day off this ration.

A question from a novice(me) about raising bulls: Why would you want him to gain 3.4 lb/day? Why feed him grain at all? Are you prepping him for a show or contest?

I bought a "show" heifer last year about this time. My heifer really "fell apart" in my grass rotational grazing program. She finally realized her lunch wasn't coming in a bucket anymore/rumen transitioned or ... and has since started looking really good on my herd's forage/good hay diet but it took quite a while for her to make the transition.

From my experience with this heifer and as suggested above, it seems like it might be a bit dangerous to suddenly take this bull off of grain and at the same time expect him to breed a large group of cows.

Why all that grain?

Jim
 
SRBeef":3ntdwvfv said:
herfdog":3ntdwvfv said:
Kingfisher":3ntdwvfv said:
The bull looks kind of feminine to me........maybe he is just hungry?

I have 3 bulls that I am feeding they are not pushed vary hard. They are around 800 lbs I am guessing. They get 10.6# grain mix (9# cracked corn 1.6# full energy soybean) each per day.
And they eat around 25# dry hay. That's around 1.3 percent of body weight in grain.
Last year's bulls gained 3.4 # per day off this ration.

A question from a novice(me) about raising bulls: Why would you want him to gain 3.4 lb/day? Why feed him grain at all? Are you prepping him for a show or contest?

I bought a "show" heifer last year about this time. My heifer really "fell apart" in my grass rotational grazing program. She finally realized her lunch wasn't coming in a bucket anymore/rumen transitioned or ... and has since started looking really good on my herd's forage/good hay diet but it took quite a while for her to make the transition.

From my experience with this heifer and as suggested above, it seems like it might be a bit dangerous to suddenly take this bull off of grain and at the same time expect him to breed a large group of cows.

Why all that grain?

Jim
Thre grain or no grain for young bulls is the quandry I find myself in right now. We're developing one bull that is out on pasture with the bred cows with no supplement. I don;t think he's growing near as fast as I woudl like but don;t know if he needs graining or not. The middle of next month he'll get dry lotted until breeding season so maybe I'll grain him a little then.
 
SRBeef":38aav7oj said:
herfdog":38aav7oj said:
Kingfisher":38aav7oj said:
The bull looks kind of feminine to me........maybe he is just hungry?

I have 3 bulls that I am feeding they are not pushed vary hard. They are around 800 lbs I am guessing. They get 10.6# grain mix (9# cracked corn 1.6# full energy soybean) each per day.
And they eat around 25# dry hay. That's around 1.3 percent of body weight in grain.
Last year's bulls gained 3.4 # per day off this ration.

A question from a novice(me) about raising bulls: Why would you want him to gain 3.4 lb/day? Why feed him grain at all? Are you prepping him for a show or contest?

I bought a "show" heifer last year about this time. My heifer really "fell apart" in my grass rotational grazing program. She finally realized her lunch wasn't coming in a bucket anymore/rumen transitioned or ... and has since started looking really good on my herd's forage/good hay diet but it took quite a while for her to make the transition.

From my experience with this heifer and as suggested above, it seems like it might be a bit dangerous to suddenly take this bull off of grain and at the same time expect him to breed a large group of cows.


Why all that grain?

Jim
I feed grain to give them moderate condition for breeding cows.
I don't think they are being pushed feeding 10#, 1 % body of body weight in grain.
A lot of bulls are getting 2% body weight 20# of grain a day.
I start cutting back a couple months before turn out, the last month before they get no grain just hay. They have done fine with that. One of last years yearling bulls ran with 35 cows, and he lost a little condition but not much.
They should be around 1000# like noted in a later post thanks
 
IF you live where there is good grazing year round, go for it. If not, you better feed your bulls. I see no issues with feeding bulls grain, or even pushing them a little with grain. Most buyers look to buy well conditioned cattle first, they will do this before they look at epd's, actual data, pigment, and dam appearance. If you feed a bull correctly they shouldn't "fall apart", besides I prefer for my bulls to lose fat before muscle when being worked hard. Usually the weight loss is minimal, but in the end it takes me less inputs to get that bull ready to breed again the next year. I don't have grazing year round, and even if I did I would still feed the bulls an energy source or a protein source to make up for whatever might be lacking in the grazing.
 
"The dam's udder is not perfect". That is a gross understatement. A cow with an udder like that should be culled and no son should ever be used for breeding. I don't mean to offend but that is my honest opinion.
 
seth":d2u1jr77 said:
"The dam's udder is not perfect". That is a gross understatement. A cow with an udder like that should be culled and no son should ever be used for breeding. I don't mean to offend but that is my honest opinion.

Sure better than some that have been used by big outfits that sell semen on their bulls.

I think her udder is functional but not perfect. I would not hesitate to keep a daughter. I dont know about using a bull from her but I might.
 
Talk of single trait selection, EYE PIGMENT , has to , well it allways pops up.?????? Why not eye pigment on Char's ???

I like you animals, I would use them, after all I only raise meat out of most BA coos. So on my BAH calves i get a 10 % pink eyed calves, they all eat the same...
 
Black Coos":40rqeg28 said:
Talk of single trait selection, EYE PIGMENT , has to , well it allways pops up.?????? Why not eye pigment on Char's ???

I like you animals, I would use them, after all I only raise meat out of most BA coos. So on my BAH calves i get a 10 % pink eyed calves, they all eat the same...

Because the hereford breeders has been so cocksure in the hereford heyday that they ignored their customers needs and never worked on solving the problem.
 
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