Managing Bulls in the Offseason
By Caitlin Richards
An offseason isn’t just for professional athletes. It is important for herd bulls, too. During breeding season, herd bulls expend more time and energy on servicing females than on foraging. For this reason, Robert Wells, Ph.D., a livestock consultant at the Noble Research Institute, explains that it is important to give bulls a season of rest.
“During that time frame [of breeding season], he is going to lose some weight because of the increased activity level he has,” Wells says. “He spends a lot of time out exercising and working, following cows around and then breeding those cows.”
The primary focus of the offseason is to replenish the body conditioning — fat reserves — lost during breeding season.
“If a bull gets to where he has completely exhausted those fat reserves, then he potentially won’t have a reserve energy to pull from when he is in the next breeding season,” Wells says. “That is why we want those bulls to go into the breeding pasture in good condition and flesh.”
Seedstock producers like Curtiss Nipp of Nipp Charolais in Overbrook, Okla., and Joe Sanders of Hutson Farms in Elk City, Okla., agree that giving the herd bulls a period of rest is one of the best things a producer can do for them.
Putting body conditioning back on a bull is primarily done through nutrition and requires a specific program and plan to ensure that herd bulls receive the nutrition they need to put body conditioning back on.
Managing young vs. mature bulls
When it comes to managing bulls in the offseason, Wells points out that it is important to consider the 2 age categories into which a bull will fall — young or mature. Both have different nutritional needs and may need different and, possibly, separate management.
A young bull coming out of the breeding pasture for the first time is still growing. Adequate nutrition is needed for him to recover and to allow for continued growth. Wells recommends a plane of nutrition where the bull can continue to gain a minimum of 2.5 pounds per day.
“That way he has the capability to recover flesh as well as put on new muscle and bone,” Wells continues, “because a young bull still growing and maturing, his nutrient requirements are going to be a little bit higher than that of a mature, seasoned bull.”
A young bull, Wells shares, may need to be fed a little bit more aggressively to ensure adequate consumption. He suggests keeping the young and mature bulls separate during the offseason.
“If we try to get a young bull fed in the same pasture as those larger and more dominant bulls, he is going to get pushed off that feed,” Wells says. “Then those bulls that don’t necessarily need as much would be the ones to get that feed.”
In Nipp’s operation, when a young bull comes out of the breeding pasture, they put him back on the same ration on which he was grown and developed — a 12 percent bull developer ration.
“We hand feed them [the developer ration] and put them on good grass with plenty of good fresh water,” Nipp says.
After the early part of the offseason, when the young bull has put on more condition and had more time to grow, Wells says that the bulls can be brought back together. However, on both Nipp’s and Sander’s operations, they choose to keep the bulls separate for the entire time. Deciding how to separate herd bulls and for how long is completely up to the producer and depends on the demeanor of the bulls.
“We will run the older bulls together and the younger bulls together,” Sanders says. “The older bulls will fight off those younger bulls and we don’t want them to get injuries.”
When a mature bull comes out of the breeding pasture — assuming he is at mature frame and size — the nutritional goal is to simply allow him to regain body conditioning. Wells says it is important to achieve this prior to going into the winter season because it becomes more difficult then.
“Once we get a hard frost, it kills off all the grasses for the winter and they become dormant,” Wells says. “So, I really like to be able to put as much weight as I can on those bulls earlier in the offseason.”
Managing using body condition
One of the key things to determining how long it will take to get a bull back in good shape is determining how run down the bull is when coming out of the breeding pasture.
How hard the bull worked compared to the number of cows he had to service and the quality and quantity of the pasture he was in are all factors to consider.
Recording the weights of the bulls before they go into breeding season can be used as a helpful benchmark to compare their weights at post-breeding season. Additionally, Wells suggests knowing the bulls’ body condition score prior to breeding season to compare as well.
“We can make some inferences relative to body condition score for what the bull should weigh,” Wells says. “It is extremely valuable because a body condition score will help you paint a good picture as to where that bull is, nutritionally speaking, and where he needs to be.”
If a producer doesn’t know how to evaluate the body condition score, Wells suggests reaching out to a county Extension agent, consultant or a seasoned producer to teach them the process.
What to evaluate
Besides body condition, there are other important items to look the herd bulls over for when they come out of the breeding pasture. Both Nipp and Sanders say that they look over their herd bulls to make sure there are no injuries needing treatment.
“Mainly, it is the same as when you go to buy a bull,” Nipp says. “Watch his feet, his eyes, his legs and, of course, his testicles, to make sure there is no swelling or shrinkage. You need to be pretty observant of the bull’s behavior, too.”
Checking the bulls over for these things may also result in the decision to cull a bull. When Wells examines bulls coming out of the breeding pasture, he questions whether the bull will be able to successfully perform the next year.
“If he is an older bull or we think he may have been injured, or if there is another reason we are nervous about him, then I suggest doing a breeding soundness exam on him,” Wells says. “We want to make sure that if we are putting our resources of time, feed and money into a bull, that he is going to be a successful breeder next year.”
Doing this now, Wells explains, allows the producer to plan for the next breeding season.
Offseason monitoring
It is important to monitor the bulls regularly during the offseason. Both Sanders and Nipp say that keeping a close eye on the bulls is important to make sure they are gaining weight and remaining healthy. They suggest checking on them every couple of days to once a week.
“You have a lot of money tied up in those bulls,” Nipp says. “They are a worthwhile investment. It is sure worth your time to keep an eye on them during the offseason.”
During the offseason, bulls should be resting, but not too much. A bull that is doing too much lying around is a cause for concern. If this situation arises, Wells suggests getting the bull up and about to be sure there is nothing going on that needs medical attention.
On the other hand, some bulls become hard to keep at home during the offseason. If a bull is a habitual offender, Wells suggests bringing in additional livestock to keep him company.
“Bulls are still herd animals,” Wells says. “It could be a horse, donkey, goat or even another bovine. If you are keeping a calf back to put in the freezer, that would be a good pair to put together.”
What happens in the offseason can have a significant impact on next year’s breeding season. The creation of sperm cells starts a minimum of 60 days in advance. When a bull is turned out on the first day of breeding season, Wells says that what was going on nutritionally and managerially with that bull 60 days prior is going to determine how well and how successful he is going to be.
“The goal during the offseason for that bull is to prepare him for next year,” Wells says. “We want to make sure that what we do during the offseason is going to determine success for the next breeding season.” ❚
“Managing Bulls” is excerpted from the October 2017 issue of The Cattleman magazine.