The bull thread...
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jrn28
Well-known member
Only thing I hate about my current bull is it takes forever to get him from point A to B. Unless he smells a cow in heat, he gets very agile then. I rotate the herd through my fields a lot.
skyhightree1
Well-known member
Yea , When my bull has nothing to do he gets destructive he has knocked over my shooting house messed it up pushed creep feeders turned them over etc. I HAD one that didn't respect electric fences. Yea, Every bull I had no matter if you were bringing treats to the cattle or whatever they did everything on their own time not yours. We had a sim bull growing up he was a mean nasty dude . He would stick his head under bottom strand and life the pole out the ground and walk out like he was opening a door. He wouldn't go up the ramp to the back of the old cattle truck with wood sides we had was a chevy c70 and we put a rope around his neck and pulled him on the truck with a tractor aiming to go sell him for slaughter however he had another idea and broke the sides down off the truck jumped off ... However he didn't win against that .270 round. 
M.Magis
Well-known member
The only issue I ever had with my last one was exactly like jr28 said. He took his sweet time moving unless there was a cow in heat. Then he was as nimble as a deer. He spent his last winter with only four bred cows as company, but never gave me one reason to worry. Never challenged a fence, stood back while I fed, all in all a great bull. I never really trusted him, but only because I don't think any of them should be trusted. However, we had some bulls in the past that were good incentive to find an AI tech. I have a love/hate relationship with them. I love how effective they are at getting cows bred, and enjoy watching them from a distance. On the other hand, I hate the idea of having one around and sleep a little better when they're gone.
wacocowboy
Well-known member
They do get annoying. I like my bull but at times I wish I had just gone AI for awhile.
fitz
Well-known member
I only run one at a time. To look at him the one I have now isn't near the Bull he replaced. He has a much better temperament and that's always a good thing. I get a lot of foot traffic with family walking around here. They were all terrified of the last one and probably should have been. It was hard to tell when he was bluffing.
If mine aren't busy, they love to stand and smack the mineral barrel empty. That gets to be a pain and expensive.
If mine aren't busy, they love to stand and smack the mineral barrel empty. That gets to be a pain and expensive.
Rafter S
Well-known member
I saw one once that had somehow managed to get completely inside a hay ring. That was one of the funniest things I've ever seen.
Typical Hereford guy right there.
cow pollinater
Well-known member
I have two herefords that are going to the sale in about a week. I've rebuilt the same hundred yard stretch of fence three times this year and I have three years worth of daughters out of one of them and two out of the other and that's enough white faces for now. They're still pretty gentle to work with but one of them will shove a horse out of his way and I can't get him on the backside of that place where I need him so he's to bully to get to stay.
In a different year I'd probably keep them both and put up with them but this year I don't have any valley pasture for them(I'm not irrigating pasture in this drought) so they'd be on hay all summer and I don't want to feed that much bull with cull prices being what they are and hay prices being what they are especially when I already have that many daughters already.
In a different year I'd probably keep them both and put up with them but this year I don't have any valley pasture for them(I'm not irrigating pasture in this drought) so they'd be on hay all summer and I don't want to feed that much bull with cull prices being what they are and hay prices being what they are especially when I already have that many daughters already.
Backbone Ranch
Well-known member
Our herd bull is always looking for females. We learned this once he turned 13 months old. It was mid-April and I decided to drive down to check our group of steers and bulls for the second time that day. As I drove into the pasture, I noticed that something wasn't right. We were missing Tony (our current herdsire) and 4 steers. I could not find them anywhere. I even walked the heavily wooded area at the far end of the pasture; we had never lost an animal there before. However, I did find a down spot in the fence in a dense thicket. It was an old game trail, and to my surprise there were fresh cattle tracks in the dirt. I followed the tracks through dense brush for about 3 hours; by this time, they had gone onto a neighbor's property. After about 2 miles, the tracks had finally left the dense brush and I lost the trail. They had walked out of the river bottom and onto top land. I headed back to the house; I knew that it was only a matter of time before a neighbor called. And sure enough, an hour later, we got a call from a man who runs close to 300 head of Brangus cows. He told us that our silver bull was in with his herd, and trying to breed one of his cows. With this man's help, we were able to cut Tony out of the Brangus group, and load him up on a trailer to take him home. We fixed the fence before putting him back in with the steers and other bulls.
Since then, he has scaled a cliff that no other bull, cow, or calf has challenged in over 40 years. He was in the river bottom with a few heifers at the tail end of the breeding season, and our cow herd was up on the top land.
I can think of another story about Tony. He was 9 months old. Our neighbors had a group of heifers that broke out of their pen; they run a cutting horse operation. Those heifers went through a few more fences and wound up on our place. We had Tony, a 4 year old bull, and a 2 year old bull running with our steers. Once those heifers came in contact with the bulls, the bulls picked their heifers and went to opposite sides of the pasture (This first part happened during the night). When I went down to check the steers and bulls the next morning, I found that the 4 year old bull had 15 heifers running with him at one side of the pasture. The two year old bull also had a few heifers with him, but Tony was missing. Tony had walked up a rocky draw with a washed out water gap that was put in place decades ago; I did not even know it existed. He then got up on the top land, walked down into the other river bottom, and joined up with our cow herd. So, the 4 year old ended up with 15 heifers, the two year old bull got two heifers, and Tony who was 9 months old got 20+ cows and heifers.
I have one last story about Tony. He was 20 months old, and he was in with a handful of heifers. Tony is a smaller bull; he was a frame score 3 as a two year old. Our neighbor's run Brangus bulls that are much larger than Tony. However, Tony has an extremely deep bellow; he has had one ever since he was 6 months old. He got in a bellowing contest with a bull across the creek. They could not see each other due to the trees and blackberry bushes. Tony's bellow was extremely deep while the other bull had a much higher pitched bellow. Within a few minutes, the neighboring bull's bellows got further and further away from Tony. By the sounds of it, Tony sounded like a massive 2000+ lb that the other bull did not want to mess with.
Sorry if I rambled too much.
Since then, he has scaled a cliff that no other bull, cow, or calf has challenged in over 40 years. He was in the river bottom with a few heifers at the tail end of the breeding season, and our cow herd was up on the top land.
I can think of another story about Tony. He was 9 months old. Our neighbors had a group of heifers that broke out of their pen; they run a cutting horse operation. Those heifers went through a few more fences and wound up on our place. We had Tony, a 4 year old bull, and a 2 year old bull running with our steers. Once those heifers came in contact with the bulls, the bulls picked their heifers and went to opposite sides of the pasture (This first part happened during the night). When I went down to check the steers and bulls the next morning, I found that the 4 year old bull had 15 heifers running with him at one side of the pasture. The two year old bull also had a few heifers with him, but Tony was missing. Tony had walked up a rocky draw with a washed out water gap that was put in place decades ago; I did not even know it existed. He then got up on the top land, walked down into the other river bottom, and joined up with our cow herd. So, the 4 year old ended up with 15 heifers, the two year old bull got two heifers, and Tony who was 9 months old got 20+ cows and heifers.
I have one last story about Tony. He was 20 months old, and he was in with a handful of heifers. Tony is a smaller bull; he was a frame score 3 as a two year old. Our neighbor's run Brangus bulls that are much larger than Tony. However, Tony has an extremely deep bellow; he has had one ever since he was 6 months old. He got in a bellowing contest with a bull across the creek. They could not see each other due to the trees and blackberry bushes. Tony's bellow was extremely deep while the other bull had a much higher pitched bellow. Within a few minutes, the neighboring bull's bellows got further and further away from Tony. By the sounds of it, Tony sounded like a massive 2000+ lb that the other bull did not want to mess with.
Sorry if I rambled too much.
ALACOWMAN
Well-known member
Don't hate my bulls antics. As much as i do neighbors who don't understand bull antics...
We had one years ago that turned out to be a real good jumper. Angus bull, threw real nice calves. First year he was OK. Second year he started jumping. We kept putting him up and adding strands of wire, and then taller posts. We got up to about 6 feet and he would still get out. I didn't say he could clear a six foot fence, but he could clear enough of it that he ended up on the other side. He would put his chin up to it and then back up and get a running start, jumped like a deer. Last time we just gave up and left him with the cows. Then he started going to the neighbors place. We loaded him on an old truck and brought him back and unloaded him on a ramp. The next time we just made him jump off the back out in the field, figuring that he could handle that just fine. The trip after that we backed up to a sinkhole with a rockpile in it. Hoped maybe if he twisted an ankle it might help him not want to jump so much. He was just fine. The next time we put him on the truck we went to market. That taught him.
We raise bulls, they are a pain in the arse, but a necessary pain, since bulls are a huge part of our business. My pet peeve is bull holes, they dig to china! Mid summer the grass will grow up around the bull hole and I will hit the dang thing while bush hogging I am convinced they are trying to kill me with the dang holes. They also fight, about the same time each day a major battle will occur, it's gonna happen when you have a bunch penned together, you just hope and pray no serious injuries occur. Last year we had a coming two year old ready to go to a consignment sale, took him for his BSE he passed got them home and one ended up with a broken back leg. Two year investment in time and feed, we were blessed we were able to get him to the butcher for salvage. We actually has a roast out of him for dinner and he was quite tasty.
Gizmom
Gizmom
Supa Dexta
Well-known member
My simangus is a bit of a hot head towards other bulls, but he and that charolais I posted earlier got next to one another one night, and they ripped up and down a fenceline, and trenched the ground all night long - but would not touch that fence. Just a 2 wire electric, and I doubt it had a whole lot of power on it at that time. Could have been a mess if they got at each other though. Now the big simang is penned next to 3 yearling sims and he hardly even knows they are they, not big enough to bother with yet I guess.
Aaron
Well-known member
AllForage":3hxxvosm said:
TennesseeTuxedo":3hxxvosm said:
I love my bulls. Always been a pleasure to be around. They do bust the odd board or bale, but I don't mind - they have never hurt anyone or tore down fences - it could be much worse. I never fear of having someone walk into the paddock with them.
The old bull's latest trick is flipping the rings off the bales after I put them over. Been doing it the entire winter. I make him clean up what he tosses around and he seems to have no problem with our arrangement. One day he did manage to flip the ring over with him in the center - he knew he was screwed then. Nothing more fun than a bull with horns. Lots of cheap entertainment watching them get creative.
Can't give them crap for things I would do if I was a bull. Get a kick out of the deer hunters in the fall, relatively 'city'-fied who spend several moments every day at the gate to the bull pen (right beside the hunt cabin) and imagine how grand life would be if they could all be bulls. I tell them 'all the women you want for 45 days, and then sit on your ass and eat like a king the rest of the year.' Some of the older guys just can't handle such truths. :lol2:
We really don't have problems with bulls getting out.....unless someone leaves a gate open. Last year we put in a swimming pool, not something I had ever wanted before...but now with grand kids we have a pool. Ronnie's had been out working in the heat (August in Florida) so in his defense he was heat stressed. He moved the bulls into a new pasture, and closed the gate, the problem was the new pasture had two gates, one being up by the house. Yep they found it all 18 of them, and of course not until the next morning did we find them bedded down in my flower beds. I think the good Lord was with us because their was bull poop all around the pool ( fence had not been installed around it yet). But none took a swim. Ronnie and Gabby put then right back into the pasture. The flowers took some serious blows some did not recover.
Gizmom
Gizmom
Our Hereford bulls have always been easy going too. We've maybe only had 2 bulls that caused us any kinds of troubles but neither were terribly bad. One bull liked push hay rings around the lot once the hay got eaten down far enough that he could push it over the top of the remaining hay. Always tried to put the heaviest ring we had in his lot. Sold him to a commercial breeder a few miles away, the next time we checked up on him the guy told us "boy he sure loves to play with hay rings huh?" the guy wasn't annoyed by it, he found it funny actually and said out of all the bulls he had in the pen with him he was still the best behaved as one day they had broke a gate open and caused some trouble but he was the only bull that stayed in the lot.
The other bull was one we had bought that used to be a show bull. Was a big puppy dog when you had a halter on him but without the halter he liked to "show off." Would always paw the ground or grunt and make noises whenever someone was in sight. Would also not want to turn our back on him in the lot as if he got up by you and got his head low he'd try to butt you and if you didn't see it coming would probably knock you off your feet and put you in a compromising situation. Wasn't scared that he'd charge you but all those things got him a trip to the sale barn as 1 guy came out to look at buying him after we were done with him and told us he's too old to be putting up with him making all those noises and showing off that he'd probably lose his patience 1 day and shoot him.
The other bull was one we had bought that used to be a show bull. Was a big puppy dog when you had a halter on him but without the halter he liked to "show off." Would always paw the ground or grunt and make noises whenever someone was in sight. Would also not want to turn our back on him in the lot as if he got up by you and got his head low he'd try to butt you and if you didn't see it coming would probably knock you off your feet and put you in a compromising situation. Wasn't scared that he'd charge you but all those things got him a trip to the sale barn as 1 guy came out to look at buying him after we were done with him and told us he's too old to be putting up with him making all those noises and showing off that he'd probably lose his patience 1 day and shoot him.
I should add that I have had several Bulls on hand last few years due to my breeding program. I run them together and even in tighter quarters for wintering. Other than a little tough guy cr@p after coming off the cows they are all buddies. Older Bulls play with the younger guys and the are all content.
It is more about bred lines than breed, but there are some general qualities.
With all these rude Bulls around I guess I can see why AI becomes more attractive. Personally I hate steers more than any other class of cattle.
It is more about bred lines than breed, but there are some general qualities.
With all these rude Bulls around I guess I can see why AI becomes more attractive. Personally I hate steers more than any other class of cattle.
wacocowboy
Well-known member
Speak of the Devils my neighbors bulls are so loud tonight I thought they were in my yard.
