kylemadigan
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- Dec 9, 2008
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First, I apologize for asking this simple question that I'm certain has been asked many times before; but I have a horrible time trying to search -constantly gives me the "sorry try again later" routine.
Raising a very small herd of registered beefmasters (6 cows). Several were bought last year, bred already with very good pedigrees. Now the calves are here, and perfect of course (seriously, have a bull calf that is really thick, correct, and clean that I don't want to castrate). In reviewing some of the posts on weaning, looks like anywhere from 6-8-9 months is discussed. To add to the mix, I want to wait a while to breed this year (had been Fall calving the way I bought them, but Sping will work much better for me), so, the calves will be a little older by the time the cows are rebred this summer. I know I'm wasting some time not having the girls rebred sooner, but I think it would be better to get on track now before we begin to grow. My nice bull calf is already about 2-3 months old. If I keep him with his mom and the others until this summer, he'll be reaching the 7-8 month age. Shouldn't I be concerned that as time goes on and he gets bigger, and the cows go unbred, and the other young heifer calves grow, he'll be taking intrests in them and possibly breed them. My question is, when/should I seperate the bull calf and his mom from the herd to avoid any potential problems? Any risk in him breeding his mom later on? Guess I'm wondering what age a bull can breed? Sure would be easy, with such a small group, to just keep all of them togehter to move through the rotation and do all of the separating at one time. Thanks in advance for any suggestions and guidance.
Raising a very small herd of registered beefmasters (6 cows). Several were bought last year, bred already with very good pedigrees. Now the calves are here, and perfect of course (seriously, have a bull calf that is really thick, correct, and clean that I don't want to castrate). In reviewing some of the posts on weaning, looks like anywhere from 6-8-9 months is discussed. To add to the mix, I want to wait a while to breed this year (had been Fall calving the way I bought them, but Sping will work much better for me), so, the calves will be a little older by the time the cows are rebred this summer. I know I'm wasting some time not having the girls rebred sooner, but I think it would be better to get on track now before we begin to grow. My nice bull calf is already about 2-3 months old. If I keep him with his mom and the others until this summer, he'll be reaching the 7-8 month age. Shouldn't I be concerned that as time goes on and he gets bigger, and the cows go unbred, and the other young heifer calves grow, he'll be taking intrests in them and possibly breed them. My question is, when/should I seperate the bull calf and his mom from the herd to avoid any potential problems? Any risk in him breeding his mom later on? Guess I'm wondering what age a bull can breed? Sure would be easy, with such a small group, to just keep all of them togehter to move through the rotation and do all of the separating at one time. Thanks in advance for any suggestions and guidance.