New Murray Grey Bull

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townfarmer

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Had this new guy delivered last week. I'm mindfull of a recent post from Doc Harris stating the importance of giving background and operational details when asking for a bull critique. So here goes. We have a small herd of ten commercial highland cows. We plan to sell the offspring as weaners to the local saleyards and if we have a good season grow them out and fatten them on grass. Maybe keep one a year for the home freezer. We plan to buy replacement highland cows so this murray grey highland cross is strictly terminal. We chose a murray grey bull because we want polled offspring that are early maturing and can be finished on grass.
With that in mind what do you think of this bull? Be mindfull that he has come from drought conditions. When I say drought I mean dustbowl drought. I'm new to the cattle industry and eager to learn. My thoughts on this bull and feel free to shoot me down if you disagree. He is small framed, he seems masculine, well balanced and I really like the way he moves. He could do with more depth, width and muscling.
What do others think??

bull_2.jpg


bull_1.jpg


bull_3.jpg


Thanks

Andrew
 
He is adequately muscle, masculine and long bodied. If I have to find fault he could be a touch deeper chested and he could have tracked a little wider although the camera angle certainly isn't ideal to evaluate it. His rear pasterns are also a touch shallow, but not to the extent that I think it would be a problem for the way you intend to use him.

What I don't like is the lazy prepuce, but overall he's a very usefull bull.
 
KNERSIE":2mb78t6p said:
What I don't like is the lazy prepuce, but overall he's a very usefull bull.

I just figured that he was getting ready for action. The way he's covering gorund makes me think he's expecting to get a little very quickly.
Or maybe since he doesn;t have a raincoat to open it's just his concept of "flashing"
 
dun":2u5vx7c6 said:
KNERSIE":2u5vx7c6 said:
What I don't like is the lazy prepuce, but overall he's a very usefull bull.

I just figured that he was getting ready for action. The way he's covering gorund makes me think he's expecting to get a little very quickly.
Or maybe since he doesn;t have a raincoat to open it's just his concept of "flashing"

If you look closely he also has it in the first pic
 
KNERSIE":1gtgxttj said:
dun":1gtgxttj said:
KNERSIE":1gtgxttj said:
What I don't like is the lazy prepuce, but overall he's a very usefull bull.

I just figured that he was getting ready for action. The way he's covering gorund makes me think he's expecting to get a little very quickly.
Or maybe since he doesn;t have a raincoat to open it's just his concept of "flashing"

If you look closely he also has it in the first pic

It falls in to the same category as the eyes on the Hereford bull. Either my eys or my monitor don;t have the resolution to pick it up but I'll take your word for it.
 
You've got a good eye kersie. I hadn't noticed it in the first photo.

lazy_1.jpg


Does a lazy prepuce mean he'll be prone to injury when he's breeding or does it have other health risks? Thanks for the comments everyone as well.

keren I got him from "Ultimate Murray Greys" out at Condamine (http://www.theultimatemurraygreys.com.au/).
I'll find out the details of his breeding for you.

Andrew
 
Nice bull but if you wanted a faster earlier maturing weaners I think you should have gotten a Square Meaters bull that is my ideal cross over the highlanders
 
Nice bull but if you wanted a faster earlier maturing weaners I think you should have gotten a Square Meaters bull that is my ideal cross over the highlanders

I think this guy would almost qualify as a class B square meaters bull. He's on the small side for a Murray grey. But I agree square meaters do produce fast growing well muscled weaners.

Andrew
 
Does a lazy prepuce mean he'll be prone to injury when he's breeding or does it have other health risks? Thanks for the comments everyone as well.

Not really when breeding, but bulls with a lazy prepuce are very proned to get grasseeds or burrs to somehow find their way in between the sheath and the penis and that causes a nasty infection often ruining the bull's breeding career.

The lazy prepuce often gets better with age for some inexplicable reason.
 
KNERSIE":1cfm6uc9 said:
The lazy prepuce often gets better with age for some inexplicable reason.

Maybe the end gets ground off over time
 
I think for a small herd of ten cows, likely on a small pasture you picked a pretty decent bull at [hopefully] decent price. You are going to add lots of beef to those highlander cross calves and polled to. I think you did well.
 
I think you've got a winner there.
In my tiny little mind it's all about: animal x application x environment
You could change the order to suit financial parameters, but working within those three confines, I think you did real good.
He looks like a well better than average representative of the breed, and you've got a well defined goal for him to achive that he should be able to do handily.
Can't wait to see the weanlings.
:clap: :clap:
 
honestly, a lot of our bulls have had a lazy prepuce at one stage or another, I havent seen any problems from it. maybe I've been lucky?

the ultimate have got some great bloodlines in there, monterey in particular. you cant go wrong with monteray.

grad to see I'm not the only one who likes the SMs :D
 
I like him too! I think he looks very good coming from drought conditions. I hope you post some of of calves when they are born and again at weaning.
 
knersie wrote:

Not really when breeding, but bulls with a lazy prepuce are very proned to get grasseeds or burrs to somehow find their way in between the sheath and the penis and that causes a nasty infection often ruining the bull's breeding career.

Just reading an article in the Queensland Country Life about a large cattle producer in the Northern Territory and this quote from the owners caught my attention:

" A tight pizzle is the main criteria of the large number of herd bulls bought each year in a bid to avoid grass seed infection."

Thanks again everyone for the comments and helpfull advice

Andrew
 
A pedulous sheathed bull can lead to injury which can lead to prolapse. Many heavy sheathed Santa Gertrudis bulls were prone to this. Just have a look the next time you go past the holding yards at an abbatoir. If there's any bulls in there see whats wrong with them.
Colin
 

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