off to look at more bulls

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cypressfarms

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This morning I'm off again to look at more bulls. This trip does have some promise, though. One charolais bull that I'm going to see has some real potential - according to a friend of mine. So much so that I'm bringing the trailer with me. I normally don't bring a trailer when livestock shopping - it shows the owner that I'm buying no matter what. This seedstock producer has been raising charolais for many years and I've talked to a few people that have bought from him in the past. Hopefully I won't be let down again. I've already reviewed his epd's and they seem good, but not outstanding. His breeding is good.

So I'll either post back later today with pictures that we can all laugh at, or pictures of a new charolais that I'll use to cross on my longhorns and beefmasters.

Fingers crossed!
 
o.k.,

Went to a few farms, and found this char. boy. He was the best I saw this morning. He's 14 months old, weighs right at 1400 lbs. His epd's are "average", and he passed a BSE at 12 months old. The owner wants $1500 for him. Any opinions?

char1.jpg

char2.jpg

char3.jpg
 
Well of the money your gonna spend...
The breeder didnt spend alot of it on feed.
 
I am no expert by any means, but even I can say thumbs down on this one, at least for now. He does not have enough depth or thickness and comes off way to feminine in my openion. He does have pretty decent length through the rib.
 
Herefords.US":3fdr1w0t said:
Looks to be another one of those "honest" bulls!

I like that, honest! :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

He's actually the only bull I've seen around here so far that does appear to have some potential - he is still basically a yearling for practical purposes. I asked the owner if he was on any feed (trying to hint that he looked a little thin); the owner said no - this bull was in a pen with a bunch of 2 year olds, and they have been in a drought last month like us. Maybe the pics seem like he's somewhat feminine, but he doesn't come off feminine at all in person. The only thing that concerns me about his is his lack of "thickness" in the front. His front legs are very close together.
 
Well, I'm sticking my neck out and I'm sure somebody will be along to hang me shortly.

To cover Longhorn cows, to sell calves at the sale barn, he looks good enough. If he's in a pen of 2 year olds, he's probably been getting bullied and pushed off the better grazing. He isn't gonna make the cover of the Charolais Journal no matter how much feed you pour into him, but he looks like a "working class" bull that has managed to grow his frame pretty well but not his muscle yet, likely due to the limitations of the environment he's in.
 
hard to tell much with those pics, but his hocks concern me more than anything else i see. since you saw the bull, as long as they pass your inspection, that's what counts. he's not a bad calf, though. there are a lot worse bulls out there for a lot more money.

i'm curious as to how you came up with 1400 as his weight?
 
I don't know the standard for Charolais, but he seems to be fairly well put together. His lack of condition doesn't let you see his potential, but it also doesn't hide anything. He is narrow up front, which I generally don't like, but I guess it could help on heifers. I think his hindquarter would be OK with some feed, but I'd like to see some more loin.

Would he be a terminal sire? Would he be used for cows or heifers?

I'd keep looking, but if the pickings that are that slim, I'd put him on your maybe list.
 
He is sound enough, there just isn't enough bull. I want to see guts, butts and nuts, there certainly isn't enough of the first two. Too long fronted and not masculine enough for me too. He spells hard keeping in my book.
 
He spells hard keeping in my book.

1400 pounds at 14 months old with no feed? i'd sure like to run grass yearlings out of some hard keepers like that.
 
KNERSIE":2zxybw4y said:
He is sound enough, there just isn't enough bull. I want to see guts, butts and nuts, there certainly isn't enough of the first two. Too long fronted and not masculine enough for me too. He spells hard keeping in my book.


I agree with you Knersie about the guts and butts. His scrotum was 38cm at 12 months, that's enough nuts for me. You are looking at him in a hard environment. Until about two weeks ago he had little grass due to the drought. I've had such a hard time finding anything but angus and brangus of any quality. The two things that I have to remember when looking at this bull is that he's only 14 months old and the lack of forage he's had. I think some judge a pic of a bull the same whether he's a yearling or a 4 year old, but the yearling won't have matured and filled in. Not exactly what the lack of forage has done, but I did look at his dam, she's in really good shape and a great udder. I looked up his sire and grandsire in the char. association and they were both good bulls. Still trying to make my mind up about this boy - I have plenty of knee high grass, that's for sure, that could potentially let him show his potential. The verdicts still out in my mind.
 
The I guess the only way you are going to find out is bring him home and stick the feed to him, even for a 14 month old he is a little feminine looking. I don't know what he will add to your LH's but if his dam is nice looking, who knows. You should have taken pics of her as well.

Good luck with whatever you decide. You sure are having a hard time finding a quality bull, we have a lot of really great herf and char producers in Alberta, too bad you aren't closer.
 
cypressfarms":26w3fhc5 said:
I've had such a hard time finding anything but angus and brangus of any quality.

Would that suggest that Angus and Brangus are the best suited to your environment?
 

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