Pulling Bulls out of the Cow Pasture

Help Support CattleToday:

Joined
Sep 13, 2004
Messages
4,571
Reaction score
498
Location
Tennessee
When seperating your bulls and cows in the winter, to keep the calving season short and timed, when you pull your bulls out, do you place your bulls in the same pasture together, or do you place them all in an in pasture of their own? If you place them in a pasture together, do you have much troublebetween the bulls wrestling around if there are no females around them for them to fight over? Do they butt for a few minutes, then get back to eating?
I am going go to start seperating the bulls and cows this year. I hope they can be put togjdd
Chuckie
 
We throw ours together and they snort and butt heads a bit, but no major fighting.

The key is to put a mature bull with young bulls. Always keep a mature bull around to easily establish dominance among younger bulls and no one will fight, but don't put two matures together....two mature bulls take down fences and anything else in their path.

If a bull thinks he can take on another bull and win, he will. Match a 1500 lber to a 2500 lber....and there will be no fighting.
 
Aaron":2av9a6f3 said:
We throw ours together and they snort and butt heads a bit, but no major fighting.

The key is to put a mature bull with young bulls. Always keep a mature bull around to easily establish dominance among younger bulls and no one will fight, but don't put two matures together....two mature bulls take down fences and anything else in their path.

If a bull thinks he can take on another bull and win, he will. Match a 1500 lber to a 2500 lber....and there will be no fighting.

That is probably the best advice. My brother and I have some smaller breeding pastures, thus forcing us to have a couple more bulls than we really need. We end up feeding about 8 bulls every winter. We pair up a mature bull with a younger bull, and there is generally no problems. Also if two bulls run together in the same pasture during breeding season, they should be fine to pen together and feed together. The pecking order should already be established.

Ideally, I believe each bull should have their own pen in my opinion, as long as they aren't mixed with other bulls for the breeding season. You don't want the 2 or 3 bulls fighting to determine a pecking order at the start of breeding season and risk one getting injured. Having their own pen, however, creates a facility and labor issue. Must feed each one seperately.
 
but know this as well.sometimes when you pen bulls togather you might run into 1 bull that loves to fight.an he will fight an challange the dom bull everyday.an if you have a bull like that then he prolly needs tobe penned off to hisself.
 
Or ship the fighter. We had one like that, he would take on the big dom bull who would just look at him. The fighter took out about $600 worth of corral fence.

We put our bulls in the corral, but with the bulls that are used to being together are kept together and the one that has not been with them is kept seperate a few days til he calms down more. Then we put them together and let them settle their differences.
We keep them in a corral because if they smell a hot cow they could just walk through the fence.
 
When we pull bulls, they all come home and go together. They will have the run of a 1/4 section, until the cows come home in October. Then, they will usually run with the cows until we wean and pregcheck. After pregchecking the bull go to a 3 acre pasture where they will stay until they go out with the cows again. This will usually be from about Nov 1 to May 30. They all go together, and we hardly ever have any major problems. They might push and shove each other a bit, but they have enough room that they can get away from each other when they need to. I don't have the pen space to separate them into small groups, so they have to learn to live with each other.

Right now, we have 4 bulls, 2 4 year olds, 1 3 year old and a 2 year old. Have 3 new ones coming in the next month or so 2 2 year olds and a yearling, they will go together with the ones we already have and learn the pecking order. Much easier on fences when they all know each other BEFORE breeding season.
 
Good information everyone.

Randilana, I appreciate you telling me when you take your bulls out and when you put them back in with the cows.

When do the rest of you take your bulls out and when do you turn them out with the girls?
I am not happy with the method we have been using and am pushing hard to change over to the controlled calving season. So I need a good information behind me to sway 50 years of doing it one way!!! I pretty well know what is going on.
Chuckie
 
Chuckie":9hu3bjk7 said:
When seperating your bulls and cows in the winter, to keep the calving season short and timed, when you pull your bulls out, do you place your bulls in the same pasture together, or do you place them all in an in pasture of their own? If you place them in a pasture together, do you have much troublebetween the bulls wrestling around if there are no females around them for them to fight over? Do they butt for a few minutes, then get back to eating?
I am going go to start seperating the bulls and cows this year. I hope they can be put togjdd
Chuckie

Bulls usually went out around the first of June, were pulled around the first of August, they all went in the same pen, and we had very few problems as far as fighting, and no pen damage. We had anywhere from 2 to 14 bulls - of varying ages - from yearling to 6 year olds - in the same pen with no problems.
 
I turned in the bulls on the 20 May last year, think I'll go with the 1st of June this year. !st couple weeks of calving was -20 or colder almost every night. To much work. :shock: I separate the bulls 1st of Dec or so, usually after the calves have been weaned off.

I pen the bulls together and don't have unusual problems. It's important to me to select only bulls that have good dispositions and it seems to work. My bulls are real calm. Do anything with them with a bucket and a little grain.
 
Chuckie":2ktv43s1 said:
Good information everyone.

Randilana, I appreciate you telling me when you take your bulls out and when you put them back in with the cows.

Chuckie

Well, I wasn't too terribly explicit. Our bulls go out with the cows around May 25 and we pull them about July 20. When we put them out they each run in a separate pasture. We try to keep them separate for the first cycle, and then let them together. That way if we have one that isn't doing his job, you don't lose that group of cows. And it has happened to us before too.

Once we pull them, they are all together for the other 10 months of the year. I think it keeps them a lot more co-operative during breeding season, as they seem to be less likely to fight than if they didn't know each other. They will usually run with the cow herd from around Oct 1 to Nov/Dec, then will be separated when we have to start feeding. Makes it easier and safer when we are out feeding cows every day. The bulls get a bale in a bale feeder, which will usually last them for a few days.
 

Latest posts

Top