Show your bull(s) - Put a pic up

[Muddy]

Let's give B.C some slack, folks its only his first year.

 

[3waycross]

Nice looking stock Ricebeltrancher and wacocowboy.

I agree

+2

 

[Gelbvieh 5]

I hope somebody can post some better Charolais.

If you think there is something wrong with our Charolais bulls then you obviously don't know what a good bull looks like.

Doesn't it seem strange to you that there is a general concensus that there is little if any bull power in any of the pictures you have posted.
They are weak in two ways. The first is definately conformation and the second is in nutrition.
I feel bad for you to the extent that this may just be the first time anyone has given you an honest opinion of your bulls. That doesn't mean that I do not agree with the others.
The thing to remember is that you don't need to stay weak in this area but if you keep buying bulls like that "black angus" you will never improve.

Now please feel free to go ahead and let me have it too.

 

[highgrit]

Big Cheese got what he paid for. He said he only gave $3,000. for each bull. Heck that's what slaughter bulls sell for in Georgia. Top of the line bulls where I'm at start at 5-6k and go up rapidly. I don't use top of the line bulls, and won't unless it's out of a straw.
What do you get if you put crappy bulls on crappy cows?

 

[Jessica06]

Thanks everyone. Hopefully we'll have some heifers to show off before too long.

 

[Jessica06]

Get many feet problems?

We've had a couple of footrot cases over the last several years, but we REALLY learned what it was this year. Thankfully no bulls, just cows.

 

[LRTX1]

I worry about it here some. When we get wet I try to keep them out of the lower pastures and on higher ground, that doesn't last long as most of my grass is in low areas. I guess I've had enough dry ground to get by.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

BC, don't be so defensive. You can learn a lot from the folks on this forum.

 

[dieselbeef]

derailed....

back on topic.

when you say a bull calf needs to be pushed on feed to gain a certain amt a day or month how do you do that. mine have free choice creep and all the grass they want.

 

[Alan]

BC, don't be so defensive. You can learn a lot from the folks on this forum.

X2, big cheese lots to learn from very knowledgable folk here, relax and listen. I think this is my only second post on this thread (36 pages). Do a search for barn blindness.

 

[Jessica06]

If you have them on free choice creep, I'm not sure what else you can do to push them more. We have ours on Accuration limiters out of a self feeder after they are weaned, but we don't creep. There are different formulas to control somewhat how much they eat, but for growing bulls between weaning and yearling we just leave them on #1. We want to let them grow as much as they can, and then let them sit on pasture until they are either used or sold. That has been working really well so far. For us, we are wanting to see what they can do, rather than shooting for a certain number. 3#/day is our minimum. The group we just finished with was doing 4-5.5#. We tried hand feeding for a couple of years, but got a sour taste in our mouths after we lost 2 bulls in a week to different, but definitely feed related issues. They were getting about 2-2.25% of their bodyweight a day, plus hay and grass, and were doing around 2-3#/day. At the MOST, we were spending $4/day on these here at the end, but with the gains they were doing our cost of gain was only about 80 cents/pound. Pennies, when you think about how much a good bull is worth. I figure from start to finish we put about $2.50/day in them at the most.

 

[Jessica06]

I worry about it here some. When we get wet I try to keep them out of the lower pastures and on higher ground, that doesn't last long as most of my grass is in low areas. I guess I've had enough dry ground to get by.

Yeah, sometimes there's only so much you can do. Some days, the road was the only high spot the cows had to get out of the water. We had to feed a lot of hay this year, since most of the grazing was either under water or covered in mud. But hey, it's looking greener every day.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I worry about it here some. When we get wet I try to keep them out of the lower pastures and on higher ground, that doesn't last long as most of my grass is in low areas. I guess I've had enough dry ground to get by.

Yeah, sometimes there's only so much you can do. Some days, the road was the only high spot the cows had to get out of the water. We had to feed a lot of hay this year, since most of the grazing was either under water or covered in mud. But hey, it's looking greener every day.

Add food grade iodine to their feed no more foot rot. I have the amount per ton somewhere around here
it is not much per ton, I want to say it cost 12 dollars. Less than the drugs you are using to treat it.
Move their haying locations and often and spray down with 10% Clorox and water solution on the old one.

 

[Caustic Burno]

BC I am going to give you one last piece of advice from a Crusty old man.
You think you are being picked on and are taking things personal .
You are a young man and I think it is fantastic for young people to get in this business as the average age of a cattleman
in Texas today is 60+.
Their are a lot of personalities on this board and everyone of them is welcome to sit at my table
and eat.
You are Pasture Blind and it is going to ruin you.
This is the part I hate the most we have enough battles to fight in this business to survive,you are fighting all
of them as well as yourself.
By the pictures you posted your pastures need a lot of work no other way to put it.
You get back what you put in take care of the pasture and it will take care of you.
This is about being a grass farmer and converting grass to cash using a bovine that will mash the scales bringing a premium.
When you drive down the road in your area and see superior cattle you need to stop and ask what is that person
doing different from me.
Because he is the getting top dollar for his calves and what you get docked the order buyers are putting your money in his pocket. .

 

[Commercialfarmer]

thanks..yeah its the first time i ever kept one of my own for a herd bull. be nice to see how it works out

its the dang waitin that kills me

I wonder if it doesn't take at least 3 years before you really know what you have. Started keeping a few home raised bulls for the just in case events... Sold one of them as a 2 year old last year. We don't feed grain. Maybe that's part of it. He might not of turned everyone's head here, but he sure looked okay. Between 2 and 3 years of age, he turned into a very nice looking animal. Probably wouldn't of let him go had he stayed another year.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

CB, what time is supper?

 

[dieselbeef]

yea what time we eain?

i think 2-3 is about right also to see best results..seems like most sales are about that age. we need him before then so he will working by 18 mos probly

 

[fitz]

thanks..yeah its the first time i ever kept one of my own for a herd bull. be nice to see how it works out

its the dang waitin that kills me

I wonder if it doesn't take at least 3 years before you really know what you have. Started keeping a few home raised bulls for the just in case events... Sold one of them as a 2 year old last year. We don't feed grain. Maybe that's part of it. He might not of turned everyone's head here, but he sure looked okay. Between 2 and 3 years of age, he turned into a very nice looking animal. Probably wouldn't of let him go had he stayed another year.

I kinda think the same. For me the ones that are going to, seem to really bloom after they get thru those terrible two's.

 

[tistis]

30 weeks and bagging up

 

[M-5]

I'm sorry he is so thin he's been with the cows since August of 13 I started him working at 16mths old.
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