• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Number of cows per bull? Grain Effect on Bulls?

per

Well-known member
cutterone said:
Two questions for all of you.
1. Do you feed grain to your developing bulls and what are your fertility tests like on those with and without grain?
2 Do you fertility test your bulls annually?
No however I do buy the odd bull that is developed on grain. They get tested every year but when here they are on the same forage ration so can't compare with or without grain. I would venture a guess (right or wrong I always have an opinion) that a modest amount of grain would not hurt their development.
 

katrina

Well-known member
Cow condition helps with breeding... We raise our own bulls so we can run alot of bulls with our cows... Our goal is to get most of our cows bred in the first cycle if we can... We do take some of the bulls out after the first breeding cycle and we do shuffle bulls around... We have found that some bulls work better with certain bulls... Some bulls are just no good and we sell them immediately with not much cost into them... We don't grain our bulls anymore. We did, but found that hay fed bulls last longer and do a better job for us.
 

cutterone

Well-known member
The reason I asked is that we (not saying it's right or wrong) in our program do feed our developing bulls and heifers but we normally feed them on a soybean hull, suppliment, hay, and mineral ration. I do add some corn in the sever cold months but they are basicly still forage based. In side by side comparisons at 12-13 mos there are significant differences in breeds in fertility. IMO every animal needs a good start to go on to be a productive breeder. I don't belive that they should be fed a hog fat "show ration" but I want them at their peak when we start using them and intend to give them a boost after breeding to keep them in good flesh and vigor. Annual inspections and records should help deterimine what animals are not doing their job.
 

katrina

Well-known member
cutterone said:
The reason I asked is that we (not saying it's right or wrong) in our program do feed our developing bulls and heifers but we normally feed them on a soybean hull, suppliment, hay, and mineral ration. I do add some corn in the sever cold months but they are basicly still forage based. In side by side comparisons at 12-13 mos there are significant differences in breeds in fertility. IMO every animal needs a good start to go on to be a productive breeder. I don't belive that they should be fed a hog fat "show ration" but I want them at their peak when we start using them and intend to give them a boost after breeding to keep them in good flesh and vigor. Annual inspections and records should help deterimine what animals are not doing their job.

Sounds like you've got it figured out...
 

PureCountry

Well-known member
Ours are 100% forage only. We could feed a little grain, and I'm a believer that as long as the ration is 3/4 or more forage, they'll still be a long lasting bull. However, we choose to let them do it au naturale, and when we identify the bulls that are thrifty, vigourous, easy fleshing, quiet, good footed, big nutted, 70% body 30% leg, born in the first cycle and out of older proven cows, that's the group we pick from for sale and on-farm use. The rest are steers, which is 70-80% of our bulls. That suits us fine because with our beef program, the steers usually end up netting a little more money. No papers, testing or sale expenses.

We have noticed differences when we don't feed grain. In the first few years we were flat out culling more bulls than we used to. Some for small nuts, some for fertility, but mostly just on performance. The last few years it's getting better as our herd becomes more uniform. I think that's fantastic for our customers. There's very little chance of a forage bull surprising anyone. THere's been no feed to hide anything, so what you see is what you get.
 

George

Well-known member
I feel your enviroment will have an effect on bull ability as well as the cows being able to raise twins.

My cows run on grass about 6" or higher and good minerals in pastures of about 6 acres each. I will rotate every few days as needed and as such one bull has no problem servicing about 30 to 40 cows in the spring then about a 3 month rest and 30 to 40 more for a friend about 20 miles away that likes to fall calve.

I doubt the same bull could keep them all checked if they were spread over a lot of acres
 

Latest posts

Top