Bull Beef or Steer Beef

Farm Master

This is my first year venturing into bull beef. I thought I would give it a go as I had 9 out of 10 calves born last year bulls, all Angus. They are 12 - 13 months old now and out at grass for the past three weeks.
I am now worried that I picked the wrong year to try it out. I attended the Operation Beef Transformation information evening ran by the Irish Angus Producer group yesterday and they seem to be more interested in steers than bulls. Also an article in the Farming Independent on Tuesday would indicate that the factories are shying away from bull beef.
Now I am wondering should I castrate them now or leave them as they are. I had intended to put them in towards the end of June for finishing.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

PatQfarmer

I think that there will be too much bull beef or at least bulls for sale this backend. I castrated my AA weanlings as I felt that most farmers would prefer to handle bullocks. I'm going to Mart on Friday, so will know soon enough.
Are you not leaving it late to finish them? ESP Angus?

blue5000

OP don't lose heart, traditionally the angus groups always wanted steers. Try talking to a few factories now about getting them on the hook around end july- early august. It would mean putting them in earlier but you'd be beating the fall. What weight are they now? Years ago I got angus bulls to put on 70kg a month in the shed.

Farmer Pudsey

OP I would leave them entire there will be a shortage of beef until December at least if you are getting these killed under AA scheme they will take bulls until 24 months of age and 360-380kgs depending on which part of scheme you go for,they always are short of cattle in November as Spring born cattle are over 30 months or too young to finish if you casterate it will be next spring before they are ready.

If it was me I would feed 2kgs at grass of a barley/soya hulls for june/july and then build up to 6kgs in early august then house in early september and finish inside in 60-70 days. I have even finished bulls outside on 3 kgs and build up to 6-7 kgs for last 70 days over a 130 day finishing period

fatoftheland

there is always a demand for bulls. when beef gets plentlyful in 18 months or so the criteria for bulls will be more strict ie under 16 months and under 450 carcase. how ever you need 70c /kg more for steers just to make the same margin according to teagasc. im sticking with bulls for now

Farm Master

Thanks for the replies guys, sorry it has taken me so long to reply. The bulls are 400 -430Kgs now. The majority of you seem to think bull beef is the way to go. I think I will stick with it.

Farmer Pudsey

Farm Master wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys, sorry it has taken me so long to reply. The bulls are 400 -430Kgs now. The majority of you seem to think bull beef is the way to go. I think I will stick with it.

If they are that weight OP I would certainly keep as bulls if you can handle outside in 3-4 paddocks feed 2kg's outside of a barley/soyahull mixture then I would build onto 5 kgs and keep outside as long as possible however AA are after Fresians the most difficult bulls to deal with be very aware when dealing with them never and I mean never trust them on the plus side they will finish easy

Tipp Man

They seem a bit big to castrate so maybe the choice is made for you

Depends on system you want i suppose - you can't finish bulls cheaply from what i see - you can finish steers cheaply

49801

Would finishers be interested in taking bulls off grass mid summer?

Farmer Pudsey

Tipp Man wrote: »

They seem a bit big to castrate so maybe the choice is made for you

Depends on system you want i suppose - you can't finish bulls cheaply from what i see - you can finish steers cheaply

You can privided you are not trying to finish 100 if you have a paddock system and keep in bunches of less than 20 it is possible do not use ad-lb in paddocks they will not eat much grass so 4-6 kgs depening on weight they will be alittle bare however I have finished them on around 500 kg's off grass in june/july provided they are contenintal or dairy bred approchimg 2 year old or over it even better to keep cost down keep out as long as possible

[QUOTE= Would finishers be interested in taking bulls off grass mid summer? QUOTE
Yes at a price also if contenintal suitable for export the exporters will buy give them 1-2kg on grass from mid june on I would not be suprised to see exporters very active from mid-late summer on

Tipp Man

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

You can privided you are not trying to finish 100 if you have a paddock system and keep in bunches of less than 20 it is possible do not use ad-lb in paddocks they will not eat much grass so 4-6 kgs depening on weight they will be alittle bare however I have finished them on around 500 kg's off grass in june/july provided they are contenintal or dairy bred approchimg 2 year old or over it even better to keep cost down keep out as long as possible

Would personally rather 100 steers any day of the week - and no money shelled out for nuts, fertiliser etc tec

bob charles

bought the t shirt finishing bulls for over 20 years, it was grand at the start as there was a good price premium over steers. Nowadays and in the future you could be lucky to be getting the same price as steers. Still have a couple of pens of them finishing but that isnt really by choice but by price;), They are just too much hassle with injuries etc running at a much higher rate than bullocks

I have never seen that big of a difference in finishing bullocks or bulls of the same standard