H is dead on. There was a study done in Canada a few years ago that tracked the fertility of bulls fed like a fat steer and those ''grown,'' over their lives. The bulls pushed hard had lower fertility and a higher drop out rate over their entire breeding life compared to the bulls ''developed'' in a more common sense manner.
Love Their Bulls!
- Thread starter TizHot
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Mike
Well-known member
leanin' H said:Won't have in calves in the feedlot cause the bulls won't be breeding cows when they are lame or falling apart. :wink: A bulls genetic potential is there regardless of how hard you push him to find out what it is. But by pushing too much feed at him, it's been our experience they simply don't hold up short or long term. It's a tightrope for sure to feed them just right and not over do. But Mike and I have much different climates and ask our bulls to do totally different things. I only know an overfat bull will not cover our type of country and breed cows without melting and having foot trouble. He may do just fine on a on grassy, fairly level 400 acre pasture down south.
I don't condone feeding a young bull all he will eat of a "hot" ration for long periods of time.
Just simulate a short feedlot type test between weaning and yearling age with a reasonably moderate ration for 60 days is plenty. Gather your data and if a little feed causes foot problems they should have gone to the salebarn anyway.
We have even put them through grazing tests, but like I said before, most all calves make it to the feedlot at some point.
After all, bulls should appear athletic, not gobby fat.
Raising bulls for terminal sires is a lot different from raising maternal bulls. Those calves are expected to wean high and feed well, all while taking precautions against the bull not being able to cover cows.
But it sure is funny that no one wants a fed bull and the highest selling ones are always the fattest..................
turning grass into beef
Well-known member
From our experience i would agree with this, but anytime this topic is discussed there are terms used like "growing out", "hot ration", "overfed", "growing ration", "never been pushed" etc, etc, etc.
My question to bull buyers is this. What is an acceptable feeding program? In your opinion, what should the target rate of gain be for the ration being fed to yearling bulls? What about 2 year olds? Should they be fed any grain over the first summer as yearlings, or not? What should be the target rate of gain for them as they approach their 2nd birthday? Is creep feeding an acceptable practice?
Big Swede
Well-known member
I buy commercial bulls in Oct that were born in Mar. They usually average from 650 to 700 pounds on grass and milk. That means their average daily gain is about 2.75 pounds. My target weight at turnout is about 1300 pounds the following July. That means they only need to gain 2.3 pounds per day after they are weaned. That's real easy to do with a few pounds of corn and roughage. I don't see a reason to push them. Fat bulls don't work very hard. Keeping them in moderate condition the rest of their lives will tell you how much you need to feed them. As far as creep feeding bulls I'm not a big fan of that either. Let the cows prove what kind of calf they can raise.
Soapweed
Well-known member
Ten head of commercial bulls I bought today
They are out of nice deep bodied Angus cows.
Even though the angle of the camera distorts the picture, they have good length of body.
They cost $2000 apiece--half the money down today, and the other half when I pick them up the first of May, after they have passed
their fertility check. To me they seem to be fed just right. They should go out, walk the pastures, and efficiently do the job for which
they will be assigned.
I think you made a good buy Soap and the bulls are just right condition wise. Both you and the seller kept money in your pockets without spending it on auctioneers, breed associations, fitters, and a lot of feed that may actually prove detrimental in the long run.
A
Anonymous
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Angus 62 said:
I agree... My son sold the majority of his bulls in December after being weaned a month and got $1750 a piece for them... And while we could have/would have ( and have in the past for anyone that wanted it) registered them if they wanted it- since none did, they were sold as commercial bulls... And I thought it was a good deal for the buyers and the seller since he did not have all the costs you mentioned ....