Sell or Trade my Bull?

[jmorrison0722]

Pretty new to cattle, taking over for father-in-law who passed recently. I take care of some cattle on a neighbors land. Here's my question...

Have 9 cows, 2 heifers and 1 Bull. The heifers are the Bull's offspring.
Should I sell the bull so he doesn't mate with his own offspring? If so, do people in similar situations ever just trade bulls, rather than taking them to auction and buying a new bull?

If that weren't enough, here's one additional wrinkle I didn't mention above... 2 of the cows recently gave birth to bull calfs. How does this change things?

Thanks for your responses in advance!
Jeff

 

[J&D Cattle]

It wouldn't bother me to breed that bull back to his heifers. With so few head you might not be able to justify purchasing another bull when that one is paid for.

I wouldn't do any trading unless the bull you were receiving had a BSE and Trich test.

Those new bull calves won't affect a thing. I'd recommend castrating them as steers typically bring more money.

 

[jmorrison0722]

castrating them... how would I get that done... would I have to carry them to someone for that, or should I be able to find someone locally that can do that?

Thanks so much for the info!

 

[J&D Cattle]

If you have facilities to work cattle most large animal vets will come to the farm to do that. Some vets have facilities at their office that you could take the calves to. Most people just do it themselves to be honest. Call the local sale barn or feed store in your area and ask if anybody works calves for hire if you don't want to do it yourself.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I band bull calves at birth or a few days after birth. There is lots of discussion in these threads about it. Differing opinions.

I agree with J & D cattle on breeding the bull back to his heifers. Don't double dip tho.

Bull calves becoming steers is my profit margin. I sell them. I sell most heifers too.

 

[angus9259]

It wouldn't bother me to breed that bull back to his heifers. With so few head you might not be able to justify purchasing another bull when that one is paid for.

I wouldn't do any trading unless the bull you were receiving had a BSE and Trich test.

Those new bull calves won't affect a thing. I'd recommend castrating them as steers typically bring more money.

X2.

If the bull calves are young enough to catch and band you could do that yourself. How old are they? If too old and you can't catch, you could just sell like they are sitting there this year when weaned and get ready to band newly born bulls next year.