Evaluate all available information when selecting a new herd bull

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The role of a bull in a cow-calf operation is to sire calves and inject valuable traits.

“I think bull selection can be a daunting task sometimes when you look at a sale catalog that has a world of information in front of you,” said Travis Meteer, University of Illinois Extension commercial agriculture educator.

“There are pedigrees, actual weights, adjusted weights, EPDs and all kinds of testimonials,” he said during a presentation at the Illinois Beef Association Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony. “There is a plethora of information and it is all valuable, so don’t be intimidated by it.”

Meteer encourages cattlemen to build relationships with seedstock breeders and have conversations.

“One of the beautiful things about the cattle business is there are a lot of ways you can be in this business and be profitable,” he said. “A bull that is right for your herd doesn’t mean the genetics will be right for someone else’s herd.”

Therefore, it is important for cattlemen to match the genetics of their herd with the production environment.

“We have an abundant feed resource in Illinois and a really good market for premium cattle, but it has to balance,” Meteer said.

A breeding soundness exam should be completed for all bulls.

“I know that takes some work and it is not always the most fun thing to do, but it is really the first step to knowing what you are working with,” Meteer said. “If your bull doesn’t have an exam, you are increasing the risk of the bull’s success.”

Cattlemen often ask him how much they should pay for a good bull.

“An old rule of thumb is a bull should cost about two times the value of a fat steer and four to five times the value of a feeder calf,” he said.

To test this number, Meteer took the average price of bulls sold in the Illinois Performance Tested Bull Sale over the past 20 years and compared that number to National Agricultural Statistics Service data for the average price of feeder calves and fat cattle during the same time period.

“The average bull price comes back to around 4.1 times the value of a feeder calf and 2.3 times the value of a fat steer,” he said. “That should line up with what you saw for a lot of spring bull sale reports where bulls were averaging $8,000 to $10,000.”

Prior to breeding season, Meteer said, cattlemen should make sure they have the correct number of bulls to match the number of cows in the herd and that vaccinations are up to date.

“For young bulls, the bull-to-female ratio should be one cow per every month of age of the bull,” the beef specialist said. “For aged bulls it should be somewhere between 25 to 30 cows per bull.”

“Put your bulls on a good mineral program,” he said. “The bulls are going to be really focused on breeding, so make sure the nutrition prior to the breeding season has been adequate.”

If there are multiple bulls in a pasture, Meteer said, don’t be surprised of one bull sires 70% to 80% of the calves.

“There is some dominance hierarchy that occurs, so it is best to put like-sized bulls together,” he said.

“Maybe you should mix those bulls prior to turning them out,” he suggested. “Oftentimes what I see in multiple bull pastures is some of the bulls will spend as much time moving another bull off a cow as they will breeding cows.”

When mixing bulls in a pen, Meteer advises to include an area where one bull can get away from other bulls.

“Have an area where a bull can escape from being ridden,” he said. “The last thing we want is a $10,000 bull to fight and get injured.”

Be gentle with the transition as bulls move from being on feed to going out to service cows on pasture, Meteer said.

“Data shows bulls in a body condition score of 6 to 7 are fit,” he said. “And they will lose some weight during the breeding season.”

Observing bulls during the breeding season is important.

“If the bull does not have the right libido or becomes lame and is not serving cows, then he won’t be meeting the herd reproduction goals,” Meteer said.

“If you are not seeing your cows regularly, there are technologies available like ear tags or other monitoring systems to track bull activity,” he said. “Maybe look into something to help monitor your cows.”

With the current cost of bulls, it is easy for cattlemen to hold onto a bull too long, Meteer said.

“But that can lead to lameness, and if we don’t replace bulls, there can also be inbreeding,” he said.

Since many cattlemen keep their own replacement females, the only animal coming into the herd from outside sources is the bull.

“Make sure you are testing so you are not bringing something into your herd that will impact the disease status,” Meteer said.

“It is hard to keep records if we do not have IDs, so put an ear tag in,” he said. “Then if one bull is not servicing the cows, we have a method to identify those cattle.”

Environment can impact the fertility of bulls.

“If bulls do not have shade or an opportunity to cool themselves in hot temperatures, we can see sub-fertility levels due to heat stress,” Meteer said.

“Work with your veterinarian because they want to see you succeed and they will help with your herd health protocol,” he said.