Jersey bull question

[farmerlor]

I would strongly suggest that you just plan to use the neighbor's bull again next season or go AI, and castrate the calf. Waiting for a first sign of agression, may be the point where he hurts someone! Then it is too late to be sorry. Jersey's are quick, have very short fuses, are nothing like modern, well-bred Angus bulls. Angus are hamburger if they get tempermental, with their calves being culled out of breeding herds for possible future poor temperment. Beef breeds have done enormous work in producing much quieter bulls, mostly easier to handle than in the past. My rancher friends want to be able to work with their cows doctoring if needed, without having to worry about the bull going berserk while they are on the ground. They pay HUGE amounts for quality beef bull calves that are rated for quiet tempers. Have to say it was nice the last time I rode with them to have bulls that were fairly cooperative! I still watched carefully, but that is always how we dealt with bulls, so it is habit. The couple of bulls that needed doctoring were managed between a couple horses with ropes, problems taken care of. Bulls were not happy, but did not go crazy either. Have to say I was impressed!!

One of my friends said he has only had one bad bull in the last 15 years. When it went bad, he went back and removed EVERYTHING he owned by that bull. Said it wasn't worth the chance of someone getting hurt, later down the line. Blood breeds true, and temper is in the blood. So he shipped the bull, all his female offspring, along with everything those females had produced. Everything by that bull went. This rancher was older, had come up thru times with bad handling cattle, wanted everything he owned to be workable on foot when needed. A real cowman, he KNEW his animals and their histories. Was not interested in going back to "the good old days" when cows would charge a person on foot, bulls regularly chased horseback riders. Took two riders with good horses to go out in the herds to do herd health, fix injuries. He likes the modern cattle a lot!

Dairy bulls have always had a worse reputation for danger than beef breeds, which is WHY AI breeding was hailed as such a benefit to modern farmers, ranchers!! No one NEEDED to own a dairy bull anymore! Lot of good people hurt with dairy bulls in past times, but they were required to keep the milking cows going.

Not any more! AI is the way to go with a small herd of cows, safer for everyone. No danger of "accidents" with bull loose, kids ignoring you to play in the field, sudden unexpected reaction of bull to any different thing around him.

Do you know anything of this calf's breeding background? Is he any special lines or quality blood that will be a benefit to you? Unknown bloodlines is working backwards in your cattle program, not improving anything.

With the AI, you will have ALL the information at your fingertips, milk production, butterfat numbers, calf sizes, strong features of bulls that will improve your cows' weak points. Calves should be better than the cows in a good breeding program. You want to be improving the animals you produce.

Using the calf without that information is a guessing game. Yeah, you get a calf, just could be a real poorly built one, large to give the cow problems delivering it or other issues. And you have to deal with owning the bull year around as well. Not every animal should be reproducing just because he is a bull.

Castrate the calf, remove the danger factor, and just enjoy him as a friendly pet steer until his time ends.

We actually do know a little bit about his background which was why I was so hyped on keeping him as a bull. He comes from the only large dairy around here which is about a hundred miles away and his sire is from show stock and the mother was one of the farmer's best milkers which was why the farmer was so upset when she died after the birth. I don't know what size calves the bull averages but THIS calf was not quite 70 pounds at a week old. He was sick because the dairy farmer didn't have time to bottle feed him or bother with trying to sell him so he gave him to the angus farmer next door who threw him in with a bunch of much bigger angus calves in a dirty pen and the little boy got a respiratory infection. Y'all have convinced me. I still think I'm going to try to get one breeding out of him next year while he's still young but then I'll revert to AI and concentrate on getting a nice herd of mini Jerseys. I think the Mini's are going to be where it's at for the small homesteader who wants a dairy cow anyway. These bigger cows who give five and six gallons of milk per day are just too much work for your average homesteader. I want a bigger cow for us simply because I want to really work on cheese making.

 

[jhm47]

Make sure you are up to date on your estate planning.

I work for a very large AI firm. Their employees routinely collect semen from all breeds of bulls. The Holsteins are bad, but the Jerseys (while much smaller) are much quicker, totally unpredictable, and will turn on you in an instant. Of course, they are still incredibly strong, and all it takes is one split second to take out a human.

As long as you're going to live life on the "edge", you might as well quit buckling your seatbelts. Own a motorcycle? Go helmetless! And go fast! Heck, you might as well go to Sturgis and throw fake blood on the Hells Angels while you protest their wearing of leather clothing. And don't forget---smoking is cool!

Seriously, I wish you the best, but I strongly encourage you to reconsider your decision.

 

[Royd Wood]

Good luck with your plans and take care with your bull
We have a huge Galloway bull here who was halter trained and shown for 2 years. He's a great fella but I know he could turn nasty in a blink
keep us posted on what goes on

 

[freemotion]

This is my fourth year with a buck and the current one is the oldest I've kept....he is 15 months now. I see the handwriting on the wall. He is a sweetheart and calls to me for affection and quick as a blink he will swipe at me. He'll take a bite or two of his hay and then ram his hay feeder, even when no one is around. He stands at the fence and rams the fence. He gets worse and worse as he goes into rut....and no doe has come into heat yet. His sexual tension will build. Having few does to breed, that tension is expressed as rage. Last winter, at less than a year old, he became a sweetheart when he had access to four does and all the breeding he could handle and then some.

I don't know bulls, but I'd think the sexual tension would be a huge problem with only one cow to breed to release that tension. Also, the problem of that tension building into rage while you wait for the heat that YOU want to breed on so the cow freshens when YOU want her to.

What if he gets out? I recently had to have my dh help catch my buck after he rammed the corner of the fence so much he loosened the post it was attached to and slipped out. I worked with colts and stallions for over a decade and had lots of respect for them.....very different behavior from altered males. Quick as lightening, too. And just as dangerous.

My father told me that, growing up on the farm, they would hang a large log from a chain in the bull's pasture so he could ram it all day and express his frustration. I'll be putting one up in the buck's pen this weekend. When dh is home to keep me safe from the buck. Used to affectionately call him Bambi. Not anymore!

If AI were available at anything approaching reasonable here, I wouldn't keep a buck. When I was a kid and we kept one milk cow, my dad used an AI tech to breed her. You can get semen from good lines and from many breeds and it is very successful in the cattle industry, unlike the difficulties and challenges with horses and goats.

 

[farmerlor]

This is my fourth year with a buck and the current one is the oldest I've kept....he is 15 months now. I see the handwriting on the wall. He is a sweetheart and calls to me for affection and quick as a blink he will swipe at me. He'll take a bite or two of his hay and then ram his hay feeder, even when no one is around. He stands at the fence and rams the fence. He gets worse and worse as he goes into rut....and no doe has come into heat yet. His sexual tension will build. Having few does to breed, that tension is expressed as rage. Last winter, at less than a year old, he became a sweetheart when he had access to four does and all the breeding he could handle and then some.

I don't know bulls, but I'd think the sexual tension would be a huge problem with only one cow to breed to release that tension. Also, the problem of that tension building into rage while you wait for the heat that YOU want to breed on so the cow freshens when YOU want her to.

What if he gets out? I recently had to have my dh help catch my buck after he rammed the corner of the fence so much he loosened the post it was attached to and slipped out. I worked with colts and stallions for over a decade and had lots of respect for them.....very different behavior from altered males. Quick as lightening, too. And just as dangerous.

My father told me that, growing up on the farm, they would hang a large log from a chain in the bull's pasture so he could ram it all day and express his frustration. I'll be putting one up in the buck's pen this weekend. When dh is home to keep me safe from the buck. Used to affectionately call him Bambi. Not anymore!

If AI were available at anything approaching reasonable here, I wouldn't keep a buck. When I was a kid and we kept one milk cow, my dad used an AI tech to breed her. You can get semen from good lines and from many breeds and it is very successful in the cattle industry, unlike the difficulties and challenges with horses and goats.

Thanks Free. The fencing will not be a problem as a I have a very secure pen that we used to keep our Belgian stallion in. If our 2000 pound stud couldn't get to the mares in heat through that fence I'm not worried about a bull that's half that size. I'm hoping to get another Jersey or Swiss heifer this winter so he can breed two cows in the spring but then he's going to go to the butcher. I think we can handle him that long even if we have to put him in the stud pen to breed the cows. We also don't need to enter the stud pen to feed or water.

 

[5Jerseygirls]

farmerlor, I am going through the same thing. I love my boy dearly. My vet said after I breed the cow, he could then castrate him if I want to keep him as a pet. A calistrate or california type bander can be used on mature bulls. They are much different than the bander with the little green bands.

 

[Hickoryneck]

This is my fourth year with a buck and the current one is the oldest I've kept....he is 15 months now. I see the handwriting on the wall. He is a sweetheart and calls to me for affection and quick as a blink he will swipe at me. He'll take a bite or two of his hay and then ram his hay feeder, even when no one is around. He stands at the fence and rams the fence. He gets worse and worse as he goes into rut....and no doe has come into heat yet. His sexual tension will build. Having few does to breed, that tension is expressed as rage. Last winter, at less than a year old, he became a sweetheart when he had access to four does and all the breeding he could handle and then some.

I don't know bulls, but I'd think the sexual tension would be a huge problem with only one cow to breed to release that tension. Also, the problem of that tension building into rage while you wait for the heat that YOU want to breed on so the cow freshens when YOU want her to.

What if he gets out? I recently had to have my dh help catch my buck after he rammed the corner of the fence so much he loosened the post it was attached to and slipped out. I worked with colts and stallions for over a decade and had lots of respect for them.....very different behavior from altered males. Quick as lightening, too. And just as dangerous.

My father told me that, growing up on the farm, they would hang a large log from a chain in the bull's pasture so he could ram it all day and express his frustration. I'll be putting one up in the buck's pen this weekend. When dh is home to keep me safe from the buck. Used to affectionately call him Bambi. Not anymore!

If AI were available at anything approaching reasonable here, I wouldn't keep a buck. When I was a kid and we kept one milk cow, my dad used an AI tech to breed her. You can get semen from good lines and from many breeds and it is very successful in the cattle industry, unlike the difficulties and challenges with horses and goats.

I have had Bucks since I was 9 years old and I have only ever had one pain he was a 3 yo pygmy my dad got and he was so mean we used a baseball bat to feed him he was a holy terror until the day the boer showed him who was the boss then he turned angel . All my other bucks in many breeds were all great boys they were raised with love but also knew who was the boss I never allow them to for one second think they are in charge and have not had any issues what so ever if a buck is properly raised he is a wonderful creature no matter how horny .


I have never dealt with cattle so have no idea how they are but the huge size is enough to make me not want one I can knock a buck down if he turned on me but a bull would be a challenge :bun so I guess I will stick to the goats!

 

[Bossroo]

While you are still in the planning stages of breeding one or two cows, then butchering this bull instead of using the much safer AI... I would heartily recomend you to have your Chiropractor, Orthopedic Surgeon, Emergency Ambulance and Hospital, Mental Health Provider, Life insurance Agent, Estate Planner, Liability Insurance Agent, Lawyer, State Prison, Funeral Director, and Barial Plot all at the speed dial ready for you ,family, friends, and/or visitor as the inevitable will happen. I wish you luck !!!

 

[herfrds]

Like it has already been said, no bull is a pet. PERIOD!

I was chased out of a corral, chased on a 4 wheeler and stalked around our corral by a bull we had. He earned himself a one way ticket down the road.

Does not matter how cute he is or how tame he is always remember this will be a large animal that can kill you.

 

[jhm47]

Was at a livestock sale barn several years ago. They brought in a large Holstein bull that walked and acted funny. Seemed to be in a daze. The auctioneer said that the bull had been darted and drugged after he had hit a 4020 John Deere tractor and turned it over. The owner was feeding cows in the lot, and the bull attacked the tractor (with a loader on it), and upset it with the farmer inside. They had to get a vet out to dart the bull so the farmer could get safely out of the tractor. They decided to sell him while he was still under the influence of the drug. Wonder what that meat would have been like.

Just remember, these animals can run faster than any olympic sprinter, are more powerful than 20 - 30 men, and are totally unpredictable. PLEASE be careful!!!