Nice forum/rude forum

[regolith]

Fertility - huge number of things that can impact on it. Possibly one big one that you can fix and it's all good, possibly twenty little things all combined.
I've had bad runs using two healthy young bulls working together (35 cows mated, five calved) and went 100% AI within two years of that, and in part because of that.
Right now mating is over and in the last three weeks the number of cycling cows has been nil. Great, 100% in-calf!!! but I know it isn't that many, because it's hot and dry and that's enough to prevent cycling till we get some decent rain, and what is going to really annoy me is if some of the cows that should have cycled in the last two weeks of mating then start cycling again, because they could have had another chance.

I don't reckon I'd trust a 'virgin bull' to not be infected - at least in this area, people call them that if they haven't been run with a herd of cows. Doesn't mean they've never had access to cycling females.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Interesting point about the neighbors' bulls, thanks.
Still, though, even if you leave a bull in year-round, you're testing the bull (or watching for issues); culling those cows that aren't calving after 11 months (or whatever your cut-off is); and hitting the panic button if you have a bunch not calving at (say) 11-12 months, right?

I was running a brangus and a char bull. It was easy to tell who sired who.

As far as the cows go, bad genetics were culled long before. When cows are worked they are checked. Teeth checked etc too.

Running two bulls keeps your neighbor's bulls in check.

I had a neighbor who shot another neighbor's angus bull. We were all sick of that thing. I thought I would get blamed for it but the neighbor who shot that bull owned up to it. That bull would jump cattle guards, gates etc.