Thoughts on these bulls

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With no consistency in your cows, and beefmaster being one of the least consistently "typy" beef breeds, you may be getting a hodgepodge of different looking calves.

But otherwise, as mentioned by others, the red one has a lot of sheath. The brockle faced one looks more masculine and meaty in the front and the red looks more meaty in the rear... but it's hard to really tell from the pics which is the better bull. It may be the way the red one is standing that makes it's rear look better.
The Hereford bull does look short. It also makes him look long, which is good. If he's seven and serviced cows for five years without injury he might be the best choice.
Personally I wouldn't buy a bull to service five cows. Synchronize them and breed all of them at the same time and done. This way you get to choose a specific bull to complement the individual cow, but you can breed them all within a specific breed for more consistency. Sell anything that didn't breed or call the AI tech back to do it again. If one doesn't breed by then, sale barn her.
I'd really rather AI but I figure it will cost me $100/head with semen and everything and they might not stick, still might go that route though and burger anything that won't stick.
 
The red white one is the better bull. He'd be 22 mos old when yo used him. Breed the 5 cows til August and sell him. He'd be 2 yr old and will have grown a lot by then, and you can sell him and get your money back, or close to it, maybe even make a profit. No way would I want to keep a bull year round for 5 cows, especially if there are other cows within smell or sound of your place.
 
I'd really rather AI but I figure it will cost me $100/head with semen and everything and they might not stick, still might go that route though and burger anything that won't stick.
AI is always an option, but for me I've seen too many fails to put anymore effort into it.
If you can do it yourself or have a tech that is willing to make multiple trips and breed them after observed heats I've found that works much better. Like if you see them in standing heat of s morning breed them that evening, or evening breed the next morning.
To me doing the timed AI and breeding them all at one time is a waste of time and money and just puts otherwise good cows farther out on calving if they aren't in the right stage of heat no fault of their own.
 
AI is always an option, but for me I've seen too many fails to put anymore effort into it.
If you can do it yourself or have a tech that is willing to make multiple trips and breed them after observed heats I've found that works much better. Like if you see them in standing heat of s morning breed them that evening, or evening breed the next morning.
To me doing the timed AI and breeding them all at one time is a waste of time and money and just puts otherwise good cows farther out on calving if they aren't in the right stage of heat no fault of their own.
That's what worries me about AI, too many variables, if a bull is good and the cow don't breed they need to go but I'd hate to butcher a cow because she didn't take AI no fault of her own.
My plan is to gather up 5 cows pretty reasonable and after a few years seeing how they perform start saving my own heifers from the ones that work well here and cull the cows that don't work as well. Like that black cow in my "new cows" thread, she was thin and cheap and has thrived on less than desirable forages, there's other boxes she's gonna need to check before I'd save heifers from her but she's checked that box already.
Unless I get a lease on some more ground 5-10 cows is all I'll ever have because finishing cattle out and selling freezer beef is my bread and butter so keeping all my calves 18-20 months takes up pasture plus I'll buy in a few others to finish here and there. I've got 60 acres at my house but about half is harwoods and I've got another place I can run about 7-10 stockers on.
 
The red white one is the better bull. He'd be 22 mos old when yo used him. Breed the 5 cows til August and sell him. He'd be 2 yr old and will have grown a lot by then, and you can sell him and get your money back, or close to it, maybe even make a profit. No way would I want to keep a bull year round for 5 cows, especially if there are other cows within smell or sound of your place.
That's kinda what I was thinking, at that price and age unless something happened to him no way I would lose money. He's gonna get bigger and next fall people will be looking for bulls to breed their fall calving herds so might could sell him for more and start over with another young virgin bull at a similar price and do it again.
 
That's kinda what I was thinking, at that price and age unless something happened to him no way I would lose money. He's gonna get bigger and next fall people will be looking for bulls to breed their fall calving herds so might could sell him for more and start over with another young virgin bull at a similar price and do it again.
That's exactly what I would do!!!:cool:
 
I'd really rather AI but I figure it will cost me $100/head with semen and everything and they might not stick, still might go that route though and burger anything that won't stick.
I've been out of the game for a while so maybe costs have risen... but $100 a cow bred to exceptional bulls is still a lot less than $1100 for a bull to breed six cows and taking a bigger chance on whatever you get.

But I'm really not here to convince you. Just to give cheap advice since you asked.
 
I like Beefmasters, and pretty much any mainstream Brahman crosses.
I would be concerned about the first solid red one. I bought a Beefmaster bull a few years ago that had a sheath like that, and he got injured apparently on his first try, and had to sell him for half what I paid for him.
The second brockle face bull looks good to me.
I've always heard people say Brahman and Brahman cross beef was not good quality, but they were all Angus breeders so they may be just parroting some line.
We processed a Hereford sired steer from a Hereford x Beefmaster, ( very little Brahman influence). It turned out great, kind of contradicted those that I'd heard say no percentage of Brahman would ever marble.
I agree here, to me, the first one looks too much like a nice looking Heifer. If choosing between the two, I would go with the second. We run a brangus herd and sell beef. Regarding the tenderness issues mentioned above. We tend to hang on to heifers in the herd that have a little more angus in them, and our bulls lean a little more on the brahman side. We end up with a very good mix and very occasionally have a leaner steer show up, but for the most part our beef would grade as prime. We have few calving issues and our calves fatten up easy, even in rough conditions.
 
I agree here, to me, the first one looks too much like a nice looking Heifer. If choosing between the two, I would go with the second. We run a brangus herd and sell beef. Regarding the tenderness issues mentioned above. We tend to hang on to heifers in the herd that have a little more angus in them, and our bulls lean a little more on the brahman side. We end up with a very good mix and very occasionally have a leaner steer show up, but for the most part our beef would grade as prime. We have few calving issues and our calves fatten up easy, even in rough conditions.
You meant you run an Angus X Brahma herd? Brangus is a breed developed from Angus x Brahma..5/8ths Angus and 3/8ths Brahma. The books have been closed for decades, and Angus or Brahma cattle can not be bred to a Brangus and the offspring be registered. Brangus cows and bulls do not "lean more toward" one breed or the other. They have the same amount of Angus and Brahma blood..5/8ths and 3/8ths.
 
My thoughts were with buying at this price I could always sell the bull after I breed mine and come out on the deal. And if I can't sell him I can burger him out and get my money back.
That gives you your money back on the bull. What about lost revenue you could have gotten with progeny from a better bull you could use longer?
 
I see someone noted the malformed sheath, but no one said a thing about the extremely short scrotum on the bull on the left. That bull should go in the frying pan, and not ever be used as a breeding bull. Epigenetic birth defects can be passed on and usually are.
 
I see someone noted the malformed sheath, but no one said a thing about the extremely short scrotum on the bull on the left. That bull should go in the frying pan, and not ever be used as a breeding bull. Epigenetic birth defects can be passed on and usually are.
But should he check him for an underbite?
 
But should he check him for an underbite?
Actually that is an excellent suggestion, if he was actually considering buying that bull. All birth defects caused by epigenetic changes can be passed on to several more generations without those animals again being exposed to what caused the first generation to have the birth defect, so you do not want to have a bull with birth defects breeding your cows.
 
By the way, around 94% of white-tailed deer spleens tested for imidacloprid in Minnesota had concerning levels. Cattle spleens tested for imidacloprid had around 10 times higher levels than the deer. Imidacloprid is the insecticide that was shown in a published study to cause deer fawns to be born with underdeveloped facial bones, some with short premaxillary bone/underbite and some with underdeveloped lower jaw forward of the premolars/overbite. If the cattle, sheep, goats or camelids can't bite off foliage efficiently, which they can't with underdeveloped jaw bones, it costs the owners a great deal of money because of less weight gain or otherwise poor condition. Equines are also born with underdeveloped facial bones now, but the issues for equine owners are different than for ruminant livestock. Both the negative effects on the animals and the negative effects on the livestock owner are of significant concern to me. Too bad this is not of more concern to everyone.
 

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