You hauled the bull to the vet, he passed his exam, and you dumped him in with the cows the first week of June. A lot of outfits treat that as the finish line. It isn’t. A bull that was sound on the chute in May can wreck a knee fighting over a fence, split a toe on rimrock, or just decide the shade by the creek is more interesting than the cows he’s supposed to be covering. The only way you find out is by going and looking.
The trouble with a bull that quits is that you don’t see the bill until fall. Cows keep grazing, they look fine, and then you preg-check in October and find a wreck of opens and late calves bunched at the tail end. By then there’s nothing to do but ship. Riding through the breeding pasture a few times in June and July costs you a morning and can save you a whole calf crop.
Watch the cows, not just the bull
The cows tell you more than the bull does. In the first three weeks after turnout, a working bull should have most of the herd bred, and you’ll see him tending cows in standing heat — following one, chin resting on her rump, running off the younger bulls. What you’re really watching for is what happens after that first cycle.
If cows are still coming back into heat in good numbers around day 18 to 24, something’s off. A little repeat breeding is normal; a lot of it means the bull isn’t settling them. Maybe he’s firing blanks despite passing his test, maybe he’s hurt, maybe you’ve got too many cows for one bull. Ride out early in the morning or toward evening when cattle are up and moving. That’s when heat activity shows. In the heat of a June afternoon everything’s laid up in the shade and you’ll learn nothing.
Look the bull over every time you’re out
Every trip through the pasture, put eyes on the bull and watch him take a few steps. You’re checking:
- Feet and legs. A bull covers a lot of country, and hard ground, rock, and old fighting injuries take a toll. A bull that’s sore-footed won’t chase cows across a big pasture. Watch for a limp, swelling in a joint, or a toe that’s split or abscessed.
- Body condition. Bulls run themselves down hard during breeding. Some weight loss is normal, but a bull that’s gaunt and ribby by early July is a bull that may be checking out. Young bulls are the worst about this — a two-year-old can breed himself thin fast.
- Injuries from fighting. If you’re running more than one bull, they’ll test each other. Watch for a swollen sheath, a penile injury, or a bull getting whipped and hanging off by himself away from the cows.
A sheath injury is the sneaky one. A bull can look fine walking around and still be unable to breed because of swelling or an injury to the penis. If you’ve got a bull hanging back, not tending cows, and looking puffy in the sheath, that’s one to pull and look at close.
Have a plan before you need one
The reason to catch a failing bull in late June instead of at preg-check is that you can still do something about it. There’s enough breeding season left to bring in a replacement and get most of those cows settled — a calf born in April instead of March costs you weight in the fall, but that beats an open cow. If you wait until the bull’s been dead weight for six weeks, the window’s gone.
Keep a sound bull in reserve if you can, or know where you can lay hands on one in a hurry. Some operations rotate bulls, pulling one and putting in a fresh one partway through the season to keep pressure on the cows and give the first bull a chance to recover condition.
None of this takes fancy equipment. It takes going out and looking, more than once, during the weeks that decide next year’s calf crop. The bull passing his test in May told you he was capable. Whether he’s actually getting the job done is a different question, and the only place to answer it is out in the breeding pasture.
