Will my Bulls get along?

I grew up on a cattle farm in Saskatchewan and know what my Dad would give you for advice on this....sell the bull intact and with the proceeds, buy a young steer to raise for meat. You've gotten very good advice from people on here, but thought I'd throw this in for what it's worth? You should get more money for a good bull than it will cost for a steer to raise...that extra money can help with feed costs

bonbean01 said:

I grew up on a cattle farm in Saskatchewan and know what my Dad would give you for advice on this....sell the bull intact and with the proceeds, buy a young steer to raise for meat. You've gotten very good advice from people on here, but thought I'd throw this in for what it's worth? You should get more money for a good bull than it will cost for a steer to raise...that extra money can help with feed costs

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CatCow said:

We were only considering castration because we were told that the testosterone from an intact bull taints the meat. But it's sounding like that's not an issue, correct? We are first time cattle owners, so please excuse any ignorance on my end. We only want what's best for all of our animals. We would like to leave our 1st (2 year old) bull intact as he is a registered Zebu, as are the females, so sire services may be the way to go from what I'm hearing. What do you mean by strong flavor? Is there any particular season that it would be stronger than others? What's the best way to fatten him up for slaughter? Any particular diet for better flavor? He's about 400lbs so we don't want to use him all for ground beef & sausage. We'd like to get some nice cuts of meat from him. Thanks for all the info guys! :] keep it coming!

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By "strong flavor" I do not mean anything by the testosterone tainting the meat. I meant that as an animal gets older, the stronger the flavor will be--in other words, the more "gamey" the meat may be. Hence adding grain to the diet will reduce the strong flavor and get it more towards the kind of flavour you would get from a two-year-old finished steer or a yearling grass-fed steer slaughtered at around a year of age.

I honestly would never consider castration with an older bull. Never, unless you aren't concerned with the kind of weight loss, high stress and pain that the bull will have to go through with being castrated at so late of age. You castrate him now, it will take longer to get his weight back up to where it's ideal to slaughter him than if you start feeding him while he's intact to fatten him up--as a bull--for the freezer. That's why I said bulls, if they need to be castrated, should've been done so when they are much younger than what the one you want to cut is now. So if you really want what's best for your animals, leave the bull intact and feed him up on high-quality forages or feeds like corn, barley, oats, or a mix of feed that is available in your area.

I am not also saying that you should cut your first bull. I never stated that at all. I cautioned you about keeping a bull around with just two cows because of the problems associated with keeping a bull with only two cows to service. I suggested considering selling him and going the artificial insemination route to reduce the costs associated with keeping a bull--fence repairs, vet bills (which includes annual semen testing, if you feel you have to go that route to use him as a service sire), feed costs (including mineral and feeds to keep him healthy and maintain his weight and body condition) among others. I'm just saying that if you get rid of him, you save on those costs and put that money that would have to go into that bull to better use. But, I can't tell you what to do, I'm just offering suggestions that you have the right to choose to heed or ignore.

Otherwise, everyone else has some great input so far.

Yes, I'm sorry I hadn't previously stated. All are registered miniature Zebus with the exception of the bull that's penned. He's a Zebu Angus cross.

Yes, they are mini Zebus. What would I have to do to use my purebred as a service sire? Special arrangements at my place? Maybe some wine & candlelight? But in all seriousness, will they just figure it out or do I have to put them in a pen together? Something like that?

I know I mentioned it before, but it's worth saying again: You will have to get the veterinarian out (or take him there, if you have a trailer) to do annual BBSEs (bull breeding soundness exams) to test his semen quality and the health of his reproductive organs before you can let him be a service sire. You might also want to test him for bovine STDs like trichomoniasis, lepto, BVD and other diseases that could compromise not only the bull's health, but also land you in a heap of trouble with the cows of other people--just a means of safety to ensure you don't get sued because someone found out their cows got a sexually transmitted disease from your bull and blah blah blah.

The most important thing is being able to sell yourself and the bull (not literally sell him, but sell his services as a sire for someone's cows) because you have to deal with the people owning the cows, and not just the cows themselves. This way you get your clients and are able to use the bull as much as possible without tiring him out too much. You can/should advertise to have the cows come out to your farm to have them done (which may be easier for you if you don't have a trailer), or, if you have a trailer or a means to haul your bull around, to bring him to the farm where the cows are to be bred. Whatever works best for you. Advertise via word-of-mouth, newspaper classified ad, that sort of thing.

If you can allocate an area where you can have two or more cows plus the bull for a couple weeks that would work best. That way you keep your cows separated from the other cows to be bred and keep them from potentially getting in contact with cows that are completely unfamiliar to yours. Reason is primarily to reduce stress from either parties, because stress can be induced when they're together and have to sort out their pecking order. The cows will be more focused on sorting out pecking order than getting bred by the bull. The other reason is disease risk, though rare, still has the chance of happening.

I know others may chime in with more details and other things to consider, but from what I can remember, those are the most important to know.

If you are going to eat one of the bulls, eat the younger one. The 4 year old will yield only ground beef as a usable cut--"maybe" the tenderloin as well. Around here, I would be hard pressed to find a processor that would even accept a bull over 14 months old to process. 30 months seems to be the limit--the custom processor has to immacualtely clean everything he uses on older animals due to BSE concers and the head, spine and other Specified Risk Materials have to be removed. If you are in Canada, I think they have finally relaxed the OTM rule but I am not sure. "Over Thirty Months".

The "taste" people talk about form an older bull comes mostly from the amt of adrenalin bulls have in their system. A young bull otoh, IMO, tastes, cooks, and eats as good as any steer the same age and history (genetics and feed program).

BUT, you have only 2 cows--and other than the emotional attachment thing, WHY 2 bulls?
If I were in your shoes, I would get both cows bred, then sell both bulls--buy another cow and going forward, rent, borrow a bull for 60 days each year. You are feeding 2 bulls and getting about 10 minutes use out of them per year.

Will they fight? eventually yes--imo.

The only thing that stopped these 2 from mortal combat was 20' wide 10' deep water and 8000 volts at 6 joules. No females in heat or present at the time. White bull swam the waterway, climbed the bank to get at the red bull and soaking wet, hit the hot wire. He was not happy when he had to swim back across and I took the picture. Good thing I was on a tractor and not afoot.