Not sure where this goes->Question about having 2 bulls.

[CowgirlUpNY]

The guy that owns the cows we just bought the yearling heifers/bull from runs two bulls together.

He claims he wouldn't do it any other way because when he needs to go in the pasture, they are to preoccupied with each other to be concerned with him.

Does anyone have any experience with running two bulls together? Good or bad??

 

[randiliana]

The guy that owns the cows we just bought the yearling heifers/bull from runs two bulls together.

He claims he wouldn't do it any other way because when he needs to go in the pasture, they are to preoccupied with each other to be concerned with him.

Does anyone have any experience with running two bulls together? Good or bad??

We usually run our bulls by themselves. Do that more because we want certain cows bred to certain bulls than for any other reason. If you have to worry about the bulls when you go in a pasture then you should probably get rid of them. I don't think running 2 bulls together would lessen any interest they could have in you. Maybe for the first little while, when they are figuring out the pecking order, but after that if they wanted to cause you trouble having another bull in there wouldn't save you.

Pros of running 2 (or more) bulls together at breeding, is that if one bull didn't do his job, the cows would still get bred. If you are running on a large pasture it would lessen the chance that a cow could be missed on her cycle.

Con's would be that there is a higher likelihood of one or more being injured due to fighting, or if one pushes another off a cow while breeding. Sometimes they will get so occupied fighting that they don't breed the cow that is in heat. Also, you are never certain which bull bred which cow, unless using 2 distinctive breeds.

 

[Wewild]

They seem to sort things out amongst themselves ok. We haven't had a bad time this way. We had one with a bad leg and another with a broke pecker that I can recall in the last 20 years. I don't recall anything from before that but my mind may have been lookin at other things back then. We don't know for sure what caused the injuries.

Most folks around here run 2 bulls on their pastures when the number of cows requires it.

 

[Bez>]

The guy that owns the cows we just bought the yearling heifers/bull from runs two bulls together.

He claims he wouldn't do it any other way because when he needs to go in the pasture, they are to preoccupied with each other to be concerned with him.

Does anyone have any experience with running two bulls together? Good or bad??

We have owned as many as 25 bulls and had most of them in the field in groups of 4 or more with the cattle.

Lots of places do this - very common and not a problem. They soon sort out the pecking order. It's not an all day fight - but it is interesting to watch. In fact quite entertaining at times.

Our community pasture required 1 bull to every 25 -30 cows on the place. Some of those herds were pretty large. The boys were too busy to worry about fighting.

Wintered them all together in about a 100 acre field - never had too many probs - just the odd wrestling match between the boys when they got wound up - give them space and they get along most of the time.

Stay out of the field when they start though - they stop for nothing.

Bez>

 

[Sir Loin]

Re:

broke pecker

I run 4 bulls with my main herd and never had a problem, but its not as hilly as where my other three herds are located.

Our bull are all kept together in the same field when not in service so when they are put in service the pecking order has already been established.
I've seen my bulls hit about a 400 lb bull calf harder, for trying to mount a cow, then they ever hit each other. I've seen them flip a bull calf 6 feet in the air.

I lost two good bulls last year to broken tools and they were by themselves.
Last year right during breeding season we had a lot of rain, a lot of mud and it was all on steep sloped ground. We attributed both broken tools to lose of footing and slippage by either the bull or cow that caused the injuries.
SL

 

[alftn]

I kept a calf out of a good cow and bull mating a few years ago ( BLACK ANGUS ), to use on my cows..He was not kin to anything else.. At about 2 1/2 years he had breed the cows I wanted , and need to get him away from some young heifers... I move him to a friend of mind pasture who had a young 3 yr. old hereford(polled)..Both at the time of introduction were quite tame could handle them (always with caution, I do not trust and bull).. Them boys had a great time together,pushin and a shoving each other for the next six or eight months.. After they were taken apart they both had a whole lot more attitude, and I watch them both a lot more closer....I think keeping bulls together makes them a lot more aggressive ....

 

[msscamp]

The guy that owns the cows we just bought the yearling heifers/bull from runs two bulls together.

He claims he wouldn't do it any other way because when he needs to go in the pasture, they are to preoccupied with each other to be concerned with him.

Does anyone have any experience with running two bulls together? Good or bad??

We have ran two bulls with cows, and didn't have any problems. We have also rountinely penned all the bulls together during non-breeding season, and had no problems with that either. They will usually sort it out, and be fine.

 

[IL Rancher]

We have ran as many as 8-10 bulls in a group towards the end of a breeding season.. Have run as few as 1 and used to run about 4 at a time, never have run just 2.. Some oldtimer, probably and old farmers tale but who knows, always told me to never run just two because otherwise they might spend all the time fighting over one cow.. With 3 of them out there the 2 will fight and number 3 will sneak in... Don't see it though as generally the bulls harem up pretty quick out there and one bull will herd his 3 or 4 ladies of the day and the other ones don't bother with him as they have other ladies to chase.

 

[TREY-L]

I can only offer limited knowledge, as I have only owned cattle for around 3 years. My father in law, however, was in the cattle business for over 40 years and always kept around 80 brood cows. He always ran 2 bulls together and in the 10 years which I spent around his cattle I never once saw a serious fight, just minor shoving matches. I have personally witnessed one of the bulls breed a cow and the other bull watch, and fifteen minutes later, the other bull breed the same cow and the first breeding bull watch, with no aggression expressed between them. He said he always bought bulls that were raised together and never had trouble with them injuring each other. I currently own 2 bulls which were raised together ( I raised them, both are 2 year old reg. Charolais), and in two years I have never witnessed a fight between them. I spend time with my cattle every day. They know which of the two of them is the boss. My father in law has always had Charolais cattle, as do I, so maybe it's just the breed. He never had a defined calving season, and I also don't separate my bulls and cows (plan to in the future), maybe this has something to do with it, I don't know. Maybe we've just been lucky.

Trey

 

[Limomike]

I have ran two bulls together with about 70 cows; never had a problem with them. They do tend to sort things out for themselves, and the main reason I did it was to make sure the cows definitely got bred.