Bull Development Doesn't End When The Bull Is Delivered
Buying a quality young herd bull is no different than buying a collector’s car. You invest way more than the average car on the street. You know you are investing in “RESULTS,” heavier weaning weights, quality replacement heifers, and proven production from decades of breeding and selection. You are improving your herd off tens of thousands of dollars of investing that the breeder has done. Like a collector’s car, you must protect your investment, and insure your purchase.
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* Nutritional Requirements
* Forage-based Development and Supplementation Options
* Bull Maintenance
"Bull To Cow Ratio:
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Management also has a big impact on the bull-to-female ratio. Management sets the length of the breeding season and influences the health of the bull, both reproductive and structural soundness and care during the breeding season.
However, the “rule-of-thumb” for the proper bull-to-female ratio is one cow per month of bull up to 3 years of age. For example, a 15-month-old bull could be run with 15 females and 36 cows could be exposed to a 3-year-old bull (36 months of age); thirty-six cows is the maximum number that should be allotted to a mature bull.
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https://wilkes.ces.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/extensioncattlecallnov2016.pdf?fwd=no
Conditioning prior to the breeding season:
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Yearling bulls should have a body condition score of 5.5 to 6.5 (9-point scale) at the start of the breeding season. Once body condition has been assessed, management is needed for over-conditioned and thin bulls. If yearling bulls are over-conditioned, they need to be "let down" to prepare them for the breeding season. Gradual changes are needed when changing diets to be more or less concentrated to reduce the possibilities of metabolic disorders and impaired breeding performance. Because mature sperm is produced over a 60-day period before ejaculation, nutritional effects of over- or under-feeding on sperm quantity and quality will have some carryover effect. The general method of stepping down bulls is to gradually replace a portion of the concentrate in the ration with forage over several weeks until the bulls consume forage or forage plus a supplement. Ideally, this should start at least 30 to 60 days before turn-out, and yearling bulls should continue to gain 1.5 to 2.0 pounds daily.
Thin bulls should be put on a ration with a higher energy level to increase the gain rate. If bulls purchased or previously in your ownership are in good condition, you must ensure they are adapted to high-forage rations before turning out.
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Breeding Season Nutrition:
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There is limited opportunity to manage bull nutrition during the breeding season. They are basically on the same plane of nutrition as the cows. However, you should assess the body condition score of bulls during the breeding season as well as observe bulls' ability to service the cows. Bulls often lose from 100 to 200 pounds during the breeding season. If bull(s) gets extremely thin during the breeding season, you may want to replace him because his ability to service the cows will probably be reduced.
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Post-breeding season:
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The need for proper growth and development still exists and continues after the breeding season, especially for young bulls that are still growing. Nutritional management post-breeding is influenced by both the age of the bulls and the amount of weight loss during the course of the breeding season. Once the breeding season is over, producers usually turn bulls out to a separate pasture to regain lost weight and prepare them for the next breeding season. Mature bulls in fairly good condition after the breeding season can be managed on pasture or an all-roughage diet without supplements during the winter. Hay quality should be 8 to 10% crude protein and fed at 2% of body weight. Rations should be modified based on available feed ingredients to manage the bulls and maintain moderate body condition.
Young bulls are still growing, so the ration should be formulated to gain 1½ to 2 pounds per day depending on the magnitude of weight loss during breeding. The need to supplement young bulls on summer/fall pastures will depend on the quality and quantity of forage available. The best method for developing a diet for bulls is to test potential feeds and formulate a ration based on age, size, and desired performance. For example, during the winter feeding program, feeding roughage at 2% of body weight plus 3 to 6 pounds of grain, so total diet protein content is 10 to 11%, will often provide the targeted rate of gain in young bulls."
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https://beef.unl.edu/beefreports/symp-2009-29-xxi.shtml
Other Articles:
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https://beef.unl.edu/cattleproduction/youngbullmanagement