pulling bull out of pasture

[Anonymous]

What is the reason that some people pull their bulls out of the pasture instead of letting him run with the herd. I would feel that the longer the bull is in the better, please expand
thanks
jeff

 

[D.R. Cattle]

Controlled breeding seasons.

 

[Anonymous]

yeah but shouldnt the bull controll the breeding season by getting the cows bred when they come in anyways, the cows should all be bred at the same time if you pull the bull or leave him in right???

 

[D.R. Cattle]

In a perfect world yes. I tried it that way in the early days. It worked OK, but I like to move my bulls and tighten things up. Also, I introduce heifers every year and they are a bit more of a question mark. I'd rather they skip a season than calve out of season. If your bull is up to par and a cow doesn't calve in season, then something is wrong with her. I cull ruthlessly so she will probably disappear after I've checked the other possibilities. Many people do leave the bulls in year round, so don't take just my opinion. Do what works best for your particular scenario.

 

[Campground Cattle]

In a perfect world yes. I tried it that way in the early days. It worked OK, but I like to move my bulls and tighten things up. Also, I introduce heifers every year and they are a bit more of a question mark. I'd rather they skip a season than calve out of season. If your bull is up to par and a cow doesn't calve in season, then something is wrong with her. I cull ruthlessly so she will probably disappear after I've checked the other possibilities. Many people do leave the bulls in year round, so don't take just my opinion. Do what works best for your particular scenario.

Agree do what works best for you, I run my bull year round with the ladies. This works for me, not everyone, we have a mild climate I'm not upset if a heifer misses and I have a winter calf.

 

[Craig-TX]

Agree do what works best for you, I run my bull year round with the ladies. This works for me, not everyone, we have a mild climate I'm not upset if a heifer misses and I have a winter calf.

We do the same. Always have. Not staying we always will, but it's the best deal for us at the present time.

Craig-TX

 

[hillbilly]

Guest, Do you live in the southern half of US or where, I'm in SW missouri. We can calve year round without too much trouble, if we choose to do so. My dad came from Iowa He said most Jan. & Feb. calves up there [northern Iowa] didn't make it.
A couple of benifits to year round calving are;
You can pickup 1 to 2 calves over the life of your cow.
You will have calves to sell in different seasons, not always Nov-Dec. like everybody else when calf prices are at their lowest.
But I'm just a dumb Hillbilly.

 

[jt]

Agree do what works best for you, I run my bull year round with the ladies. This works for me, not everyone, we have a mild climate I'm not upset if a heifer misses and I have a winter calf.

We do the same. Always have. Not staying we always will, but it's the best deal for us at the present time.

Craig-TX

same here.. year round.. i may be missing something here though.. i have no problem understanding wanting a tight breeding season, but it seems to me that if i was going to cull a cow because she didnt breed in this tight breeding season, i would rather let her breed late and then cull her. she would be worth more bred (most of the time) than open. i've never fully understood pulling the bull, but this is just something i have often wondered about..

sometimes a cow that is late this year will catch up next year too. also price is a factor. sometimes you take a terrible beating if you sell and open cow.. i cull open cows and cows that breed later than i like, but i try to cull them based on several factors.. performance, prices, time of year, etc.. if she is open it seems to me that your options are more limited.. but jmo and each must do what fits his/her situation.

jt

 

[D.R. Cattle]

I like to make management decisions based on the entire herd. To do that you need a little uniformity. Uniformity in age of calves, stages of prenancy, etc. Works for me.

 

[D.R. Cattle]

Guest, Do you live in the southern half of US or where, I'm in SW missouri. We can calve year round without too much trouble, if we choose to do so. My dad came from Iowa He said most Jan. & Feb. calves up there [northern Iowa] didn't make it.
A couple of benifits to year round calving are;
You can pickup 1 to 2 calves over the life of your cow.
You will have calves to sell in different seasons, not always Nov-Dec. like everybody else when calf prices are at their lowest.
But I'm just a dumb Hillbilly.

How can you pick up 1 to 2 additional calves over the lifespan? My cows calve at least every 12 months or adios. The herd is a group of employees. If they can't do their job and they have all the tools to do it, they need to hit the unemployment line at IBP.

 

[cherokeeruby]

One of the Brahman cows we started our herd with would calve every 10.5 months.

According to our records we did pick up an extra calf.

Over a nine year calving period if she had been held to every 12 months we would have had 9 calves.

At 10.5 months she produced 10.

Exceptionally fertile cow, haven't had another one to match that but her blood runs deep in our herd and the fertility is excellent in her descendants.

 

[lazyhill]

We are part-time ranchers and that is why I like defined breeding seasons. If a bull is out for three months and the cow didn't breed, I need to know why she didn't breed. Maybe we are having nutritional problems, she may be having problems, etc. For me to go out every day and check for calves or have to worry year round about it, is too much hassle for the time I have to devote to my herd.

Also, we find benefit in taking care of the bull when he is not in with the girls. Gives us a chance to ensure he has the proper body condition. Gives us a chance to spend some time with him hand feeding without all of the girls crowding around. And so on.

Works better this way for us.

 

[D.R. Cattle]

One of the Brahman cows we started our herd with would calve every 10.5 months.

According to our records we did pick up an extra calf.

Over a nine year calving period if she had been held to every 12 months we would have had 9 calves.

At 10.5 months she produced 10.

Exceptionally fertile cow, haven't had another one to match that but her blood runs deep in our herd and the fertility is excellent in her descendants.

The key word is "at least every 12 months."

 

[txag]

I like to make management decisions based on the entire herd. To do that you need a little uniformity. Uniformity in age of calves, stages of prenancy, etc. Works for me.

we also like the uniformity. if all the calves are within a few months of age, they're all at the same stage of management. they can all be worked and vaccinated at the same time & then weaned at the same time. less times for the cows (& calves to go through the chute) & less work for us.

also, we raise registered animals & we send in performance data on our calves. to do this, you must have enough animals within a certain age group to compare against each other. if you send in weaning weights on only one or two calves, there's really not much of a comparison between their individual performance or the cows' performance.

 

[Arancher]

I noticed that most people that season breed have large herds. They like having all there calves to sell ready at the same time. That gives a more uniform crop. These people usually sell over video, internet ect. and when the buyer loads them up you don't have some 300lbs to 600 lbs. calvws. The buyers want equal size calves. Also in my area farmers and ranchers are the same, use the same land for crops and cattle.When they are ready to plant they don't want to deal with 100 calves. They just move the moma's to the cow pasture's , the calves are gone and after the harvest the cows clean up what's left.

 

[CattleAnnie]

Up here in the north, we pull our bulls due to a variety of reasons.

1. Controlled calving season. It's a hectic time calving up here with our harsh winter environment, so we try to go with Feb start and Apr finish so that we're not checking or getting suprise arrivals in Dec or Aug.(Although thanks to BSE and it's fallout, we've kept some late calvers that normally would have been sent to town. Expecting to finish calving by the end of June this year. Groooooooan! All I want is a full night's sleep...the joy of calving, at least it's not snowing again. Just got through another spring squall last week. Gotta like the moisture though.)

2. I hit the fields to start haying in early July, and by the time the last bale is wrapped, it's usually third week of August. There is no time to be pulling calves, working with the cow who decides she doesn't want to raise both twins, etc. Then it's getting to be fall, and all the hay needs to be hauled home. We got the last of it home just before the snow fell last year, so it's just not feasable to fuss with new babies.

3. As stated previously, it's nice to have a fairly uniform bunch of calves when we sell them in late October. It's a buyers market, so may as well do the best we can to get the biggest return for our time and money.

4. Where we run our cattle, turn-out on grass is June 1, and it's no place to send an expectant cow. The wolves do well eating the occasional older calves and mature animals. Any new babies would just be 'Scoobie snacks'.

Hope this helps shed some light on controlled breeding seasons, or at least provides another point of view.
Take care.

 

[hillbilly]

D.R. Cattle
Posted: Wed May 12, 2004 11:41 am Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

hillbilly wrote:
Guest, Do you live in the southern half of US or where, I'm in SW missouri. We can calve year round without too much trouble, if we choose to do so. My dad came from Iowa He said most Jan. & Feb. calves up there [northern Iowa] didn't make it.
A couple of benifits to year round calving are;
You can pickup 1 to 2 calves over the life of your cow.
You will have calves to sell in different seasons, not always Nov-Dec. like everybody else when calf prices are at their lowest.
But I'm just a dumb Hillbilly.


How can you pick up 1 to 2 additional calves over the lifespan? My cows calve at least every 12 months or adios. The herd is a group of employees. If they can't do their job and they have all the tools to do it, they need to hit the unemployment line at IBP.

Dr. Cattle,
In reguards to how we pickup extra calves, Most will gain 1 month per year if you let them breed back as soon as they are able...thats 1 calf.
The other calf is from the cow that breeds back late, don't like it but it happens to the best of them on occation. we get a late calf and keep our cow, hopfully she will get back on track. Two late calves in a row and we sell her as a pair. You on the other hand sell an open cow.
Keep in mind I am just a dumb Hillbilly[/quote]

 

[D.R. Cattle]

D.R. Cattle
Posted: Wed May 12, 2004 11:41 am Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

hillbilly wrote:
Guest, Do you live in the southern half of US or where, I'm in SW missouri. We can calve year round without too much trouble, if we choose to do so. My dad came from Iowa He said most Jan. & Feb. calves up there [northern Iowa] didn't make it.
A couple of benifits to year round calving are;
You can pickup 1 to 2 calves over the life of your cow.
You will have calves to sell in different seasons, not always Nov-Dec. like everybody else when calf prices are at their lowest.
But I'm just a dumb Hillbilly.


How can you pick up 1 to 2 additional calves over the lifespan? My cows calve at least every 12 months or adios. The herd is a group of employees. If they can't do their job and they have all the tools to do it, they need to hit the unemployment line at IBP.

Dr. Cattle,
In reguards to how we pickup extra calves, Most will gain 1 month per year if you let them breed back as soon as they are able...thats 1 calf.
The other calf is from the cow that breeds back late, don't like it but it happens to the best of them on occation. we get a late calf and keep our cow, hopfully she will get back on track. Two late calves in a row and we sell her as a pair. You on the other hand sell an open cow.
Keep in mind I am just a dumb Hillbilly

[/quote]

If I'm culling a cow it doesn't really mean a whole heck of a lot whether she's bred or not. If she's getting culled, she's going into the food chain, not back into someone else's pasture. But that's just me.

 

[hillbilly]

When I cull a cow all I want for her is every penny I can get.
We don't gain when we cull, we just cut our losses.
but thats just me

 

[D.R. Cattle]

When I cull a cow all I want for her is every penny I can get.
We don't gain when we cull, we just cut our losses.
but thats just me

Pass on your culls as breeding stock?