Decisions...decisions

[mark]

We have two bull calves (one from Salty Rambler, one from Midhill Ziek). We also have two other steers we are currently finishing for the freezer. We also have a herd sire from Hiyu Revier. Here is the decision - do we keep the bull calves to see how they finish, then look to sell or do we steer them, and put them in the freezer? We just can't decide. We have considered genetics, market appeal of dexter beef, disposition, confirmation (better hip, length of neck, depth of rib), hay prices, beef prices and breeding lines, but we just can't decide what do with them. After all the factors, we just can't stick with a course of action. Anyone have some wisdom about keeping bulls (and selling them) versus putting them in the freezer and selling the beef? I would love to hear another perspective.

[marion]

Hi Mark, If you castrate them, you will immediately get two calls from people desperate to find a good bull prospect ;D
If you have the space to keep them away from the heifers, then they can be evaluated again later on. If you steer and are able to market them as Dexter beef, you may be dollars ahead without having the hassle of extra bulls to house ..marion

[lakeportfarms]

Mark,

I'm not sure where you are at, but in the Midwest and surrounding areas it's pretty tough to find a home for a young (or even older proven) bull right now due to the high prices for feed and hay. Spring may be a different situation, but there are not a whole lot of customers out there unless they are sure they have ample hay for the winter.
My guess is that if you are set on feed you'd be better off with them as steers unless as Marion said you can manage them in their own very secure pasture/lot.

[mark]

Thanks for the replies. I certainly see the advantages of having them in the freezer and selling them as sides, but each has strengths that would make them desirable as possible sires down the road. Decisions...decisions...

[Cascade Meadows Farm - Kirk]

On our farm, we keep ALL of our animals intact - No castration. In the case of our hogs and lambs, we usually slaughter them at about the same time they are starting to sexually mature. Our American Guinea hogs and Icelandic Sheep have nice meat even when left intact. We've eaten 5 year old boars and rams and they were yummy, but our breeds are famous for mild meat and not requiring castration (we don't need to dock tails on our lambs either because they have naturally short tails).

In the case of our Dexters, we also keep them all intact. We typically keep at least 2 or 3 breeding bulls anyway, so managing more breeding-age bulls is no problem for us. The nice thing about this approach is that we get so see natural behaviors and natural growth and we can delay decisions (to keep or eat), until slaughter time.

We'll sometimes have someone approach us asking to borrow one of our bulls for breeding their unregistered herds. We're a closed herd and we don't loan bulls out (we don't want any STDs), but we sometimes we offer our good, but less than perfect bulls at or above premium meat prices with the understanding that folks will use the bulls to breed their herd, and then slaughter them for meat. It's a win-win situation. We get more than premium meat prices, and the buyer gets some excellent beef and some excellent calves, and they don't have to keep a bull year-round.

It's difficult to see how a bull is going to turn out until they are 18 months old at least, so keeping them all intact is a big help in selecting premium bulls. Additionally, eliminating castration helps us remain as natural and chemical free as possible (no vaccination, no antibiotics, no de-wormers, no pesticides, no de-horning).

This natural, no-castration approach is certainly not for everyone, but it works VERY VERY well for us.

Additionally, when it comes to judging bulls, what you see, isn't always what you get. Some excellent-looking bulls are heterozygous for their good traits and their calves can be very inconsistent. Other bulls are more homozygous for their good traits and can consistently pass their excellent traits to their calves.

A heterozygous bull has mismatched pairs of genes so he sometimes passes a good gene and sometimes passes a hidden bad gene. A homozygous bull has more identical pairs of genes so he almost always contributes his good genes (because he mostly only has good genes).

Inbreeding/linebreeding tends to create homozygosity. Excellent looking/behaving bulls from heavy line-breeding programs are MUCH more valuable than equally good-looking bulls with a more random pedigree.