Pasture breeding of cows

[Blessings Farms]

 Need some advise. Got test results back for our dun  bull Suprise (named that because his birth was a suprise).
He is Traditional  horned A2/A2 non carier pha/condo  b/b. He will be butchered at some point I am not totally
in love with him for a main bull fell he fails some in width on hind quarters but does have the rest at this age of
one year old.
 Here  is the question. The two 3 year old Shea and Florie are coming around they will come to treats  but have  
not been able to even touch Shea yet. After the episode with Lucy I would still like to live a few years and Chad
my ai man said the same so do I use Suprise to keep in a cycle or not by pasture breeding for now ?

[otf]

I would not dismiss a yearling bull because his hind quarters are a little narrow at this age. He will continue to grow and fill out for several years yet. He's got a lot of developing to do yet. (I don't know what b/b is???)

If Shea and Florie are open and you want May calves, I'd go ahead and breed them. You can always work on taming them a bit more when they're pregnant. Pasture breeding is much easier than AI. The bull always knows when they're in standing heat. I'm sure your AI person would rather you AI because it's more business for him. If you don't like the calves produced by Shea and Florie with Surprise, then you can AI them next time.

My memory may be failing, but I don't recall the episode with Lucy. If you get your animals used to a little grain and bring them in to a barn lot for breakfast everyday, they will get accustomed to you and not be so fearful. Toss them a bit of hay afterwards so they get comfortable in their breakfast area. Even better, place their grain or hay in a smaller pen (corral panels) but don't lock them in initially, let them get used to it and feel free to go in or leave. After some time of doing this, you can put some hay in there and quietly shut the gate and leave them there for 5 minutes. I've found that cows need to feel safe and they need consistency. It is helpful to take things slowly with them.

Hope this helps.

[otf]

I want to add a little something about pasture breeding.

If you opt to go this route, you'll want to observe the bull with the cows; usually early morning and dusk are the best times to watch for signs of the bull's interest, even breeding activity. When you see this, mark it on your calendar and also make a note on the calendar for about 3 weeks later to watch again for signs of heat. It's pretty obvious when the bull is interested, but you must watch every day until you see this and again several weeks later so that if there's a repeat performance, you'll know to watch AGAIN in another 3 weeks.

This way, you'll have a good idea if the cow has been bred, if she's likely pregnant, and when she might calve. Download a gestation table for cattle and print it out (it gives service dates and due dates). You might also want to have the vet come pregnancy check your cows several months after breeding; vets are not always able to determine a due date, but they are VERY good at confirming pregnancy. Cows can lose a pregnancy several months down the road; there are no guarantees. Another option is Biopryn blood testing for confirming pregnancy. You can look that up by Googling Biopryn. (You draw a small blood sample and send it to a nearby Biopryn approved lab and get very fast results if the cow is pregnant or open.)


I try to avoid calving in the heat of summer or the dead of winter; both time frames are stressful to the cow and/or the human on calving watch.

Others here may have some helpful suggestions, I hope!

Gale

[Deleted]

yes what otf said. Use him. If you dont like his calves hey you still got calves. I dont know what he looks like so cant comment on that but I will say I think breeders are breeding for to wide probably do to shows. wide does not equal easy calving so you have to find the right balance there.

[jamshundred]

I would go ahead and pasture breed.  Dexter bulls are usually in their "teenage" gawky years after the age of 1 and they really do not begin to get their strong bull characteristics until around the age of three and over the next year or two.  Most cattle people today are used to seeing the hips on beef cattle and they think that is the normal appearance.  Dual purpose cattle should have both beef and dairy characteristics in a balanced blend.

Judy

[Blessings Farms]

Thanks Guys and Gales