Hire of stockbulls

delaval

We will need to go out and buy a few stockbulls to mop up after ai. I have heard of bulls for hire.

Do any of you have any experience or is it a daft idea?

I usually buy from a neighbour out of his slatted shed but due to wet summer he has all sold. I'm not pushed on breeding as all sbull stock are sold. I cnnot be a continental as days in calf are important.

I would really apreciate your feedback

whelan1

selling aa bulls about 20 years never once hired one out, from a disease point of view i think its a no-no

6480

i think the lad from co. monaghon charges 300 euro for 6 weeks ,

freedominacup

I'd be on the same page as whelan. I know of a couple of guys hiring bulls and TBH they're hired out of one of a number of herd numbers these guys would be running. I'd be nervous of allowing the truck or trailer into the yard to collect stock nevermind bringing stock in from them.

49801

delaval wrote: »

We will need to go out and buy a few stockbulls to mop up after ai. I have heard of bulls for hire.

Do any of you have any experience or is it a daft idea?

I usually buy from a neighbour out of his slatted shed but due to wet summer he has all sold. I'm not pushed on breeding as all sbull stock are sold. I cnnot be a continental as days in calf are important.

I would really apreciate your feedback

Don't do it!
You don't know where they have been!

Dunedin

delaval wrote: »

We will need to go out and buy a few stockbulls to mop up after ai. I have heard of bulls for hire.

Do any of you have any experience or is it a daft idea?

I usually buy from a neighbour out of his slatted shed but due to wet summer he has all sold. I'm not pushed on breeding as all sbull stock are sold. I cnnot be a continental as days in calf are important.

I would really apreciate your feedback

would strongly advise AGAINST it.

If you only want to keep a bull for a short while, then an option for you might be to buy one off the land from Donedeal and sell him on afterwards.

yellow50HX

when we change bull we buy in a yearling bull (scrub bull rellig calls them)to run with the replacemnts for the summer then sell him on in the authumn.

i know of a lad that does a deal with a local cattle dealer/finisher fo mopping up after AI, the dealer will buy the bull in the spring and transfer him to the farmer for the breeding season (farmer feeds and looks after him for the summer) and when finished the dealer comes and picks him up to either be sold on of into the finshing shed. They have been doing it now for about 10 years and havent fallen out yet. The dealer will be looking out the right type of bull that suits both of them.

reilig

yellow50HX wrote: »

(scrub bull rellig calls them)

A scrub bull is a cross bred bull, usually a number of breeds on both sire and dam sides. Performance is unreliable, you can never estimate what size the calf will be or how easy it will be calved.

Buying a yearling bull of good quality with good breeding is quite different in my book.

yellow50HX

reilig wrote: »

A scrub bull is a cross bred bull, usually a number of breeds on both sire and dam sides. Performance is unreliable, you can never estimate what size the calf will be or how easy it will be calved.

Buying a yearling bull of good quality with good breeding is quite different in my book.

have done both, would use a AAX scrub bull for the few replacment heifers (5-8 usually), but have used the PB (or near to enough one) for main herd. last years heifer calves were very good conformation (good cows) and they werent too far off the weights of the limo at weaning (some were bigger). spoke to a lad that bought all the bull calves off me a few years ago and there were 4 scrub bull calves in there and they all finshed up well. That said we dont just pick the bull at random have a good look at him 1st and try to find out what he is out of. Find the AAX will be easyer for calving anyway. By the time he has finished his work he is ready to be sold on and manged to sell them on for more then i buy them for.

Worked it out one year but cant remember the numbers off the top of my head but the cost of keeping him for the summer is less then the cost of the AI them as i dont need to watch the heifers and have to bring them in for servicing, added plus for me i can keep them in a small outside farm to leave more room for the main herd at home.

yellow50HX

Dunedin wrote: »

would strongly advise AGAINST it.

If you only want to keep a bull for a short while, then an option for you might be to buy one off the land from Donedeal and sell him on afterwards.

yeah would be wary of bulls that spend a lot of time of different farms. had a sitution a few years ago when the bull got injured and was going to be out of action for a few weeks in the breeding season. Bought an old bull (5 years old) of a farm to finish up (was about 6 cows left). left him with them until the young fella was ok again. Then stuck him into a trailer and off the factory (made more then i paid for him). Following spring he had sired 5 lovely calves (the sixth was sired when the young lad was back)

delaval

Thanks to you all confirmed what I thought. I need to buy 10. Do any of you keep fr animals as bulls?

case 5150

delaval wrote: »

Thanks to you all confirmed what I thought. I need to buy 10. Do any of you keep fr animals as bulls?

for fook sake delaval how many animals have you to serve between AI and mopping up?

No my own calves not good enough for keeping replacements so i used 2 AA last yr, kept 1 and bought a herford for use this yr aswell as AA

Also how bull to cow ratio ye reckon for mopping up after 9 weeks Ai

stanflt

delaval wrote: »

Thanks to you all confirmed what I thought. I need to buy 10. Do any of you keep fr animals as bulls?

hols/fr ebis up to 282 and from vg/ex dam and gdam

delaval

case 5150 wrote: »

for fook sake delaval how many animals have you to serve between AI and mopping up?

No my own calves not good enough for keeping replacements so i used 2 AA last yr, kept 1 and bought a herford for use this yr aswell as AA

Also how bull to cow ratio ye reckon for mopping up after 9 weeks Ai

Its not about the amount of cows to be served but it would be a few! Its really about the amount of ground they have to cover. I would need 3 for heifer mop up and the rest for 2 herds of cows. And then we have some here already, we rotate them and there are always one or two lame or injured.

49801

delaval wrote: »

Its not about the amount of cows to be served but it would be a few! Its really about the amount of ground they have to cover. I would need 3 for heifer mop up and the rest for 2 herds of cows. And then we have some here already, we rotate them and there are always one or two lame or injured.

Sounds like you have changed your breeding policy... why is that?

Could you consolidate the number of bulls little by breeding the hiefers for a shorter time at the begining of the breeding period only?

delaval

49801 wrote: »

Sounds like you have changed your breeding policy... why is that?

Could you consolidate the number of bulls little by breeding the hiefers for a shorter time at the begining of the breeding period only?

I don't understand what your getting at. We syncro the heifs with 10 day program and need to mop up. We would need a good few bulls in with cows to mop up also.

I am curious as to how we've changed our breeding policy??

49801

delaval wrote: »

I don't understand what your getting at. We syncro the heifs with 10 day program and need to mop up. We would need a good few bulls in with cows to mop up also.

I am curious as to how we've changed our breeding policy??

The model I am thinking of for breeding the heifers is to start calving down 3wks in advance of the main block for a total of 9wks or 3 heats worth. Since you synchro them you could ai heifers for 1st and 2nd heat and for subsequent heats use bull power. so the bulls would only run with heifers for 4wks tops. So bulls would be finished with heifers during wk6 of your breeding period for your main block. I am guessing that you ai for the first 50% of your breeding period and then use the bulls for mop up the remainder. So the bulls that had been used for heifer are now available for moping up main block.

Just a thought... You know your own situation best.

It just sounded like you were looking for a lot more bulls than you normally would use is all and was just curious as to why but I was drawing conclusions from very little information.

freedominacup

49801 wrote: »

It just sounded like you were looking for a lot more bulls than you normally would use is all and was just curious as to why but I was drawing conclusions from very little information.

Necessity is the mother of invention,

Assumption is the mother of all.......?:D

49801

delaval wrote: »

Thanks to you all confirmed what I thought. I need to buy 10. Do any of you keep fr animals as bulls?

How is the sourcing of the bulls going for you?

delaval

49801 wrote: »

How is the sourcing of the bulls going for you?

Came across a guy with 40 to sell. He is lloking for €900 each. Wil follow up on it next week as we are flat out calving at the moment

Miller80

stanflt wrote: »

hols/fr ebis up to 282 and from vg/ex dam and gdam

whats the breeding of your bulls stan?

Tipp Man

delaval wrote: »

Came across a guy with 40 to sell. He is lloking for €900 each. Wil follow up on it next week as we are flat out calving at the moment

How many cows are you milking that you need 10 bulls?

We used 2 bulls last year on 110 cows and 35 heifers - only used 1 the year before

I know you are across a couple of herds but still - 10 seems a bit OTT

delaval

Tipp Man wrote: »

How many cows are you milking that you need 10 bulls?

We used 2 bulls last year on 110 cows and 35 heifers - only used 1 the year before

I know you are across a couple of herds but still - 10 seems a bit OTT

You may have the answer in your question. You used 2 bulls for 145 females you would need 10 for.....?

Kovu

delaval wrote: »

You may have the answer in your question. You used 2 bulls for 145 females you would need 10 for.....?

145 very lucky cows?

:P

Where did you find the man with the 40 bulls? What breed are they?

Timmaay

If they are only for cleaning up, and you plan on sending them on their way at the end of the year they will stand you nothing (or perhaps a tiny profit, if that is possible from a beef animal :P!!), it makes perfect sense to cover your bases and ensure lameless/firing blanks etc will not hinder breeding.

Tipp Man

delaval wrote: »

You may have the answer in your question. You used 2 bulls for 145 females you would need 10 for.....?

Have you 750 cows and heifers to cover this year?