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Cows and Bulls

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PureCountry

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Had to take pics for a package of females we're selling so I took pics of most of the herd and some turned out not too bad. Don't think I'll try being a photographer anytime soon.

Purebred Galloway yearling bull, Boughbaron Flash 31A. He is for sale. Got 5lbs per day of show ration in January and February while I was home and halter breaking him. Otherwise been on straight hay while I've been away working.



And his Momma, 31R


Another purebred Galloway yearling, Boughbaron Titus 59A. Same story as the black bull.


Momma of the dun bull

Daddy of the dun bull, Boughbaron Titus 11T.



This guy is the paternal grand-Daddy of the black bull. He is leaving us tremendous daughters and lengthy, growthy bulls with all his mass as well.


 
we get about 4 years average. depends on the size of your operation and if you keep heifers every year. when I first started I changed bulls more often but now we are bigger and we can keep a bull longer because the heifers go further away. we sold a bull this year that was 8 yr old, usually once they get to be 5 or 6 they are too much trouble getting out, fighting, foot problems, etc. we have a 5 year old that will pick up a gate with his nose and go wherever he wants, he wont mess with barbwire, when he doesn't have anything to do.
 
I was going to say from 3 days to 10 years. :eek:

We don't keep many bulls past 6 just because of the hassle of keeping them around. We have more older bulls this year so will clean out a few at the end of the season.
 
We start using bulls at age 2 and they have lasted until they are 6-12 in my experience. There are always those jackasses who find ways to weed themselves out. Those that last just prove that we were right to keep them.

The black herd bull named Titus in the pictures above went down with a stifle injury at the age of 6, his sire bred until he was 9. The red bull in the pictures is 6 now and shows no signs of slowing down, but that can change awful quick with bulls.

How you manage bulls dictates how long they last. We've ran multiple bulls in large pastures with 100 or more cows over the years and had higher losses of bulls. More fighting injuries, broken tools and all sorts of things. Losses have been less when the bull has his own harem and pasture, but it's a real pain in the @$$ separating multiple breeding groups every year.

Nutrition, particularly through the winter is key as well, and it's a mistake I've made in the past - not feeding bulls well enough in the winter and ending up with poor semen tests come spring. Lessons learnt.
 

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