Separating the Bull

[tom4018]

I have spring and fall calving cows, so I pull my bull and put him with a few bred fall cows. I mainly only pull him to keep from having calves in January and February. Works for me other than a few calves at odd times in the rest of the year. It really tightened mine up unit I had some bull issues and several got missed.

 

[AldacoCattle]

Pull the bull, wait a month and preg check and then the bull can go back with the cows until calving. That way he's occupied with the herd for a good bit of time.

I think this is the route we want to go that way the bull doesn't have to be separated for too long.

 

[Brute 23]

I think this is the route we want to go that way the bull doesn't have to be separated for too long.

I will just give you a heads up, in my experience, that works better in big country. If you have neighbors with cattle on your fence line regularly it still causes issues. Companionship only goes so far. When an opportunity to breed comes walking down your neighbors fence and he hasn't got a poke in 3-6 months... that river don't look so wide.

I tried that myself and it worked at some places but it turned some good bulls in to fence jumpers too. My bull that jumped the fences recently, went across the FM road, and jumped in with the neighbors heifers was 6 mo in, 2-3 mo past having most all the cows bred. I had him in a pasture with his cows that had an FM road down on the south side, and our pastures on all 3 other sides. That south wind coming from those heifers was more than he could stand.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I've been keeping bulls separated for sometimes up to 10-11 months across 4 strands of hot hot HT fence and never even had one try to get to the cows on the other side.

 

[TCRanch]

that river don't look so wide.

 

[uplandnut]

My bull has traditionally run with the cows all year until the first calf hits the ground. Then I pull him and pen him up separate. When he is penned up he can still see the cows. Then I turn him out when I hit the timeframe I want for breeding and leave him in until the next calving season. Just what has worked for me.

 

[crossbreed]

My bull has traditionally run with the cows all year until the first calf hits the ground. Then I pull him and pen him up separate. When he is penned up he can still see the cows. Then I turn him out when I hit the timeframe I want for breeding and leave him in until the next calving season. Just what has worked for me.

Pretty much what we do now. 3-4 weeks after first calf hits the ground we pen the bull. Usually keep some kind of companion with him. Usually amounts to pen him later end of Feb and May 1 back out. Sell whatever hasn't calved by May 1 to keep window tight.

 

[Travlr]

My bull has traditionally run with the cows all year until the first calf hits the ground. Then I pull him and pen him up separate. When he is penned up he can still see the cows. Then I turn him out when I hit the timeframe I want for breeding and leave him in until the next calving season. Just what has worked for me.

Do you cull the cows that don't breed back in some kind of time frame?

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Do you cull the cows that don't breed back in some kind of time frame?

There's a few around here that do it like he does. They want say a 60day calving window so anything not calved out 60 days after the theoretical first calving date gets shipped.

One downside to that method is your feeding open and late bred cows that are going to get culled. I'd rather know which are open and ship them and not feed them any longer than necessary.

 

[Dave]

What I did over on the coast was about a month after the first calf was born (Feb 1) the bull went into a stout corral with a yearling steer. So about March 1. On April 15 the bull went back with the cows and the steer went on feed. The rest of the year the bull just stayed with the cows. I preg checked the cows in mid October. Anything showing open (they could be real short bred) went to the sale. As I said the cows started calving Feb 1. Any that hadn't calved by May 1 went to town as bred cows. Those late calving cows got to be real rare. I only had the bull penned up for 45 days. In a real stout pen which had a feed bunk.

 

[anewcomer]

We have 30 cows and calving just started last week of march. I want to start at the beginning of march.

Aldaco, if you're trying to back your calving season up by 30 days, that's a very difficult task. I would strongly encourage you to turn your bull in immediately. You should get some benefit of bio-stimulation. You need to have your cows on a very high level of nutrition right now if you hope to back them up. It may take a few years.

 

[uplandnut]

Do you cull the cows that don't breed back in some kind of time frame?

Travlr, I preg check in early December. Open cows go to the sale and anything that is out of my desired calving window stays home instead of going to pasture with the bull that summer. Then sells after weaning the calf. I think the reason I hang on to the ones the vet says are out of my calving window is because I've had them be wrong by a month before. If they calve in my window but the vet was wrong then they are still meeting my calving window criteria and can stick around. I know it could be more cut and dried but I do what works/makes sense for me.

 

[GoWyo]

Travlr, I preg check in early December. Open cows go to the sale and anything that is out of my desired calving window stays home instead of going to pasture with the bull that summer. Then sells after weaning the calf. I think the reason I hang on to the ones the vet says are out of my calving window is because I've had them be wrong by a month before. If they calve in my window but the vet was wrong then they are still meeting my calving window criteria and can stick around. I know it could be more cut and dried but I do what works/makes sense for me.

That is what we have been doing. Preg check end of October. Vet has called some 2.5 months bred that I would ship, but have held on to them through the winter and they calved in the first week of April. It is better to calve them out until I have enough calves or want to be done calving and ship breds.

 

[Travlr]

Travlr, I preg check in early December. Open cows go to the sale and anything that is out of my desired calving window stays home instead of going to pasture with the bull that summer. Then sells after weaning the calf. I think the reason I hang on to the ones the vet says are out of my calving window is because I've had them be wrong by a month before. If they calve in my window but the vet was wrong then they are still meeting my calving window criteria and can stick around. I know it could be more cut and dried but I do what works/makes sense for me.

That sounds like smart management to me.