Whether your a homesteader or a rancher who is raising grass fed beef, eventually you’ll need to introduce a bull into your cow herd. Today, I’ve got some new insights into what I think you should look for when selecting a Bull.
Keep in mind that this post is specifically addressing 100% grass fed and finished beef.
Greg likes to see cattle that have short legs and are lower to the ground. There are a few reasons for this. They are:
- Shorter legged cattle perform better on a diet of 100% natural forage
- They generally have a bigger gut, which can handle the amount of forage they will need to eat in order to perform on a diet of 100% forage
- They are easier to handle
- They require less feed than their towering counterparts
Now that we have a general overview of why shorter animals perform better on grass, let’s get into talk about what to look for in a Bull. My suggestions can also apply to smaller scale producers/homesteaders who might bring in a Bull and pay a stud fee to have their cows bred. These are the things you should look for when selecting a Bull for a grass fed operation:
- Curly hair in-between the eyes and around the head in general, this is an indication of testosterone. If you see a Bull with smooth hair that isn’t very curly, keep on looking for another Bull
- A broad chest when you look at him from the front
- A nice looking coat and a clean tail. These can be different depending on what season it is. Overall the Bull should not be in a poor state
- A big butt. Yep, a nice wide ass
- Shorter legs, this bull shouldn’t be towering over you or the other cattle, remember, shorter cattle perform better on grass
- The testicle size of a Bull is a contentions debate. Some people say bigger is better, some say smaller is better. Just take a good look at the Bull’s testicles and see if they are in good shape. Bigger isn’t necessarily better
Well that is all I have for you today. This will be a good start for anyone looking for a good Bull that fits into their grass fed beef operation.
What have been your experiences with Bulls and their traits that make them great for grass fed performance?
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Awesome information. I, along with anybody else looking to break into the sustainable cattle business, cannot begin to thank you for the insights that you offer on your site! Keep it up and I’ll be checking back again for sure.
Bobby,
Thank your for the kind words. I’m glad that my experiences are helping people like you learn. I had absolutely no idea what to look for in a bull before I came out to Greg’s farm. And there is so much conflicting info out there about cattle genetics that it’s akin to politics. Please let me know what you are up to, and when you’ve found a suitable bull/herd/cow/heifer =D
Take care,
Chris
Question. You say larger scrotal circumference isn’t necessarily better. I’ve always heard and have observed that larger scrotal circumference correlates with earlier puberty in offspring and more semen production (increased fertility). Would a grass-fed situation be different?
Ryan you bring up some good points. And honestly I don’t know, so I didn’t give you guys a definite answer about that issue in my post. However, I have learned from Ian Mitchell-Innes that the scrotum found on large herbivores in his native South Africa is shaped like a cylinder. The reason for this is animals with large testicles simply could not run fast enough to avoid being eaten by a predator. He also looks for this trait in his cattle. This would also make these animals genetically superior to their larger scrotum counterparts. However, this is not Africa, and cattle are not wild animals, so I will have to do some more research in this specific area. But, if you have seen those results first hand, then you are probably correct, and the circumference does play a role. I’ll have to check with Greg on this one as well.
Thanks for the great conversation.
Chris
Haha, that’s an interesting scenario. Glad cattle aren’t that wild. And glad it’s not Africa! :) I’ll see what I can find as well. It’s part of the research I’m working on so I’m liable to have something related on my blog sooner or later.
Sounds good. Let me know what you find out. I’ll also keep you posted on what I found out from Greg and other resources.
Take care,
Chris
Chris,
Short legs in my opinion are a poor prediction for doability. A forage only animal needs a wide mouth to harvest and a large gut capacity (volume) to digest large quantities of forage. While I would agree the larger framed animal is later maturing and requires proportional more nutrition than a smaller animal, smaller frame score does not directly translate into easier fleshing cattle. Now with that said, my cattle are smaller framed than the norm but they also have huge volume/capacity. Picture a whiskey barrel with short legs.
You should read through Gerald Fry’s website for more tips on selecting cattle for a forage only system. He follows the principles identified by the world renown researcher Dr. Jan Bonsma.
http://www.bovineengineering.com
I would also suggest a couple of books:
Herd Bull Fertility by James Drayson
Reproductions & Animal Health by Gerald Fry and Charles Walters
Jerry,
Thanks for commenting. I agree with you about the large mouth and the whiskey barrel description of how a cow ought to look, which is a great way to describe it. What have you learned to look for in a bull in a grass-based grazing operation? I would think you would want the bull to resemble the same traits you are looking for in your heifers and steers that you finish.
I have started getting into Gerald Fry’s work, and thank for your the link to his website.
I’ll also look into the books that you’ve suggested. Just when I think I have something figured out, you come along and challenge everything I’ve learned up to this point. Thank you for that!
Chris
Just a few things I look for when evaluating a bull:
1. Hair coat (hide is the largest organ in the body) and the quickest indicator of overall health. You want a bull that is completely slick hided early in the Spring (indicates proper hormone levels)
2. Scrotum size, shape, color(dark), texture(smooth buckskin), with no hair (you’ll learn more about this from studying Bonsma)
3. Leg Set (not post legged, and not sickle hocked). You need some set to the rear leg to prevent injury when mounting.
4. Shoulder Set – If the bull can’t carry the poll of his head above his shoulder, somethings wrong structurally. You should be able to place a ruler between his shoulder blades and there should not be a gap. If you watch him walk and you see his shoulder blades rotating above his spine (like a cat), you’ve got a problem.
5. How the animal strides/tracks and large/clean feet (rear feet should step where front feet were)
6. Plenty of Chest Floor Width/Width between shoulder blades
7. Wide curly forehead and large prominent thick neck/crest(indicates high testosterone)
8. Wide Muzzle (to mow with)
9. Large gut capacity/Spring of rib that blends nicely into the shoulder (Not pinched behind the shoulder) Plenty of heart girth.
10. Straight top line with strong loin. Tailset well placed.
11. Muscle (forearm and rear quarter) I want the rear quarter muscling to travel down low to the hock. Forearm is a great indicator of overall muscling.
12. Flat bone
13. Straight underline. I don’t want the underline to pull up as it reaches the flank. It should stay as level from behind the shoulder to the back of the bull as possible.
14. Slight slope downward from the hip to the pins
14. Deep set eyes with a down turned eyelash (prevents eye injuries). Pigment around the eye is a bonus.
That should give you a start :)
Jerry
Forgot to mention a clean sheath
Jerry
Chris wrote: I would think you would want the bull to resemble the same traits you are looking for in your heifers and steers that you finish.
I want my females to be feminine and my bulls to be masculine. Seriously, if you use masculine bulls, they’ll make feminine daughters. Nothing worse than touring a herd where you can’t tell the bulls from the cows!
A mentor of mine always says “Have you ever seen a woman wrestler breed?” :)
At what age can you usually determine a good bull calf? 6 months too early?
Synergistic Acres – Kansas City Sustainable Farm
I would say 6 months is too early. I’d say around 1 year old you can start to look at selecting a good bull. At this time, you can also clamp/band any bulls that you don’t want to breed any of your cows, or you could sell them as bulls to someone else. How many head of cattle are you running?
Starting a new herd of Galloway cattle. Have 5 cows, 3 heifers, 3 bull calves, one bull. Will plan on keeping one of the bull calves as replacement bull. Bulk calves are currently around 4 months.
Oh, nice Galloway’s are really nice. You’ll have a who new set of calves before you know it!
Jeff,
I would say you can identify the ones to watch starting at about 2-4 weeks of age with some experience. Some calves clearly don’t have what it takes and I’ve never had one born at my place that started out looking like junk that matured into anything other than a cull. You’ll keep an eye on them up until weaning and be able to tell the ones that are doing best on their mother’s milk. This is important to note as proper (not excessive) milking ability is something you want your herd bulls to pass on. The condition of the dam at weaning and the weaning ration (weaning weight to dam weight) will provide additional clues to determine if a cow is milking too heavily or if her milk is high in butterfat. I select my top bull candidates at weaning and then start watching them for signs of masculinity and overall development on their own (without mother’s milk). A fat weanling bull that can’t keep up with his contemporaries on forage isn’t much good to your program or anyones in my opinion. Start watching for things like forehead hair, neck crest, muscling in the rear quarter and forearm, scrotal shape, etc. Of course proper overall structure is an absolute requirement for a breeding bull. As a yearling, the bulls are usually demonstrating their strengths and weaknesses. I’m not saying a bull can’t surprise you after 12-14 months but it’s less likely. Another thing to keep in mind is that you want an early maturing bull whose offspring will finish on grass earlier. A good indication of early maturity is the canon bone. A longer canon bone typically equates to a later maturing animal.
Hope that helps. Nothing beats the experience that comes from watching a lot of calves develop. With every passing year, your eye will become keener and the ideal animal will become more fixed in your mind’s eye.
Jerry
WOW Jerry that comment was full of great suggestions! Thank you. I would agree with you about the 12-14 month range for really telling if a bull calf is worth keeping. Of course, as you’ve said, you can tell if you have some bull calves that are poor at a pretty early age. Greg calls these “dinks”. Greg doesn’t wean his cattle so I’m not sure what their weaning weight is. After they are coming one year olds, he takes them out of the herd, and either keeps them as bulls or clamps them into steers. Both the steers and the bulls are joined together with the herd again in a few months. I’m not quite sure of the exact dates, but I can look at the grazing chart and get back to you.
Also, how are you determining butter fat quality?
Chris,
On the subject of scrotal measurements…it’s been proven in university studies that scrotal size is directly related to both semen volume as well as the sexual maturity of a bull’s daughters. So, all things being equal, the daughters of the bull with the larger scrotal measurement will be ready to breed at an earlier age. Of course like any trait, bigger isn’t always better. Most suggest a yearling should have a measurement between 38-40 cm.
Jerry
Jerry,
Yes, this is what I have learned from Greg Judy as well. We scrotum tested a bull, and he was a coming two year old with 38cm measurement. Anything bigger than that is good I would, but not excessive. You are right, bigger is not always better.
Chris,
How do you determine the percentage of butterfat in a cow’s milk? Through pure observation. Here’s a link that explains some indicators of high butterfat. The old-timers called the escutcheon the “milk mirror” for a reason.
http://www.northamericandevon.com/ArchivedAskGearlds/askgearldApril07.htm
Jerry
Chris wrote: “After they are coming one year olds, he takes them out of the herd,”
How does Greg keep the young bulls from breeding the cows and heifers? As yearling bulls, they are plenty capable of breeding quite a few females.
He lets them breed em. Bull calves bet pulled with the older bulls at the beginning of calving season. During this time he clamps anything that looks rough. Then at bulling he turns in all of the older bulls and the yearling bulls and they stay in the herd until the next calving season. The way the bull calf crop looks this year I would say there are going to be a lot of bulls turned in next year.