Two Breeding Seasons per Year: With two breeding seasons per year, bulls have a shorter time to replenish their weight loss before the next breeding season.
Most experts agree that an experienced bull (> 2 years of age) that passes a breeding soundness exam should easily service 30 females in a 60- to 70-day breeding season.
The mating couple.
Usually a bull will mate with a cow once, but it's not uncommon if it's done several times, especially if she has garnered the attention of more than one.
To achieve the ideal calving distribution, the guidelines for the length of mating are: maximum 60 days for bulls run with cows. minimum 45 days for bulls run with cows (if bulls are not run with the cows for long enough, the calving percentage is decreased).
In most spring calving herds, the breeding season begins in the spring or early summer.
Gestation length ranges from 279 to 287 days. For most breeds, 283 days would be common. Cows carrying bull calves tend to have a slightly longer gestation compared to cows carrying heifer calves.
The good news is: It is possible to leave bulls with the cows year-round and still maintain a calving season of three months or less.
You can have father-daughter matings in beef cattle, but it is not recommended. This type of breeding practice is called inbreeding or close breeding. Again, this breeding practice is rarely practiced today, although it was common in the foundation animals of most breeds.
Bulls exhibit first sexual interest about three weeks prior to puberty and attain mating ability about 6 weeks after puberty. Although bulls that have reached puberty can breed, reproductive capacity increases as the bull continues to mature.
What are the do's and don'ts of breeding a bull to his daughter, mother, granddaughter, or sister? Mating any of the above would result in a high level of inbreeding. Generally speaking, inbreeding of this nature should be avoided.
For natural breeding operations, the general rule of thumb is to have one bull per 25 cows and to get those cows bred within a 60 to 90-day breeding season.
that a mature bull can service 25 to 35 cows; however it has been shown that highly fertile bulls can service up to 50 cows. *Some heifers may have been included in this category. An annual reproductive examination is important to ensure that bulls are healthy and fertile.
One rancher recommended using one or three bulls instead of two. If there are two bulls, they often try to keep one another from breeding, but if there are three, there's more chance of the third one breeding the cow while the other two are busy fighting.
Normal bulls produce and ejaculate tremendous numbers of sperm. Most bulls have a sufficient libido for routine sexual activity, but become satiated to predictable stimulus situations. Frequent changes to the novelty should allow weekly harvest of four to six ejaculates per week for most bulls.
A fully fertile bull when run with breeding groups of 40-50 cows should be able to achieve average pregnancy rate to each service of 60% meaning in 9 weeks of breeding at least 94% of cows should be pregnant.
To pass a breeding soundness evaluation, a bull must have at least 30 percent sperm motility, 70 percent normal sperm morphology, and a minimum scrotal circumference based on age (Table 1). Bulls meeting these minimum requirements are classified as satisfactory potential breeders.
Seven of nine pregnant cows at oestrus stood willingly to be mounted by a bull. On seven occasions, bulls exposed only to cervical mucus from pregnant cows showing oestrus did not display flehmen.
About 1 to 2 per cent of all pregnant cows show signs of being potentially fertile while they are already pregnant, and superfetation has been observed in animals such as the mouse, the rabbit, the sheep, the buffalo, the mink, and the Australian swamp wallaby.
Their 8-year-old Black Angus cow gave birth to four live bull calves. Wengreen said the cow has had one calf every year for six or seven years, and this is the first time any of his cows has had quadruplets.
steer, also called bullock, young neutered male cattle primarily raised for beef. In the terminology used to describe the sex and age of cattle, the male is first a bull calf and if left intact becomes a bull; if castrated he becomes a steer and about two or three years grows to an ox.
I've been asked by several breeders if it is "OK to breed two half-siblings" (usually, a bull and a cow that share the same sire). The short answer is that there is nothing "wrong" with breeding any two animals of any degree of relatedness, as long as one realizes the potential risks and benefits of the mating.
There is no such thing as a totally safe bull, but the risk of an attack can be reduced with proper management. When dairy calves are six to eight weeks old, they should be put in group pens. If there are no bull calves available for pen mates, a young bull should be raised with steer calves that are older and heavier.
Puberty in bulls occurs when they can produce viable sperm. This happens at approximately 12 months of age, though it can vary in individual bulls several months before or after this age depending on biological type (primarily frame size and potential mature weight), nutrition, and health status.
When one runs a heifer over 5 months of age with a bull, or bull calves over 5-6 months of age, a pregnant heifer can and will occur sooner or later. Heifers should be weaned and separated from bulls until they are 65% of their adult weight, or almost 1.5+ years of age.
Separating bulls from the cow herd after the breeding season gives them a chance to regain body condition if they lost weight. It also ensures that no cows are bred at the wrong time of year for your calving season.