This absolutly stinks!

That bull, over time will loose more and more wieght, much like an anorexic. I know its not due to lack of hinger, but rather dificulty in getting food due to his lameness. It would be such a waste to just let hime die, it would be better to send him to the sluaghterhouse and get some use of his meat. They just let this whole sordid thing to go on for so long. It seems like they are cutting off their nose to spite their face in this whole bull situation.

I would go the AI route since you have no room for a bull. I had a Jersy cow, and granted it was only one cow, but you do not need to lug a bunch of cattle to a bull, or lug a bull to them. All you have to do is squeeze em and breed em (put them in a chute and into a squeeze and the AI person will take up the rear. All you have to do is stand there and watch once the cow is in the squeeze. If you cannot afford one, is there another cattleman nearby that has one he would let you use? Usually farmers are very willing to help out farmers...or ranchers will help out ranchers, especially ones that are trying to break into the trade.

I hope what I have said helps, and I am sorry the relationship with your grandparents is so bad. Is it mainly with your grandmother. or both? It sounds like your grandmother is the problem, if I am correct? Has this always been the case, or has it only been in recent years? If it is only in recent years, she could have a medical problem? Just some thoughts, but then I do not fully understand your family dynamics. I am so sorry you are having a problem, as grandparrents especially should be a support and a role model for your children. Good luck and I hope you can find some kind of resolution.

Goat Freak,
I take it from reading your posts that you are a teenage girl, right? I just want to commend you on how level headed you are. You are able to come back from posts that could be taken as attacks and answer them thouroghly (sp) and thoughtfully. You take a strong interest in the family farm and are knowlegable and compassionate. You spend a lot of time here contributing to the learning of others and learning new things yourself. I hope my daughter grows up to be as strong and level headed as you are. Most girls your age are worrying about what to wear to the mall! You are worrying about the future and your livelyhood.
BTW, your post on the pig forum about mini-pigs has me looking into raising KuneKunes.

Thank you and keep up the good work!!!

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People who count their chickens before they are hatched, act very wisely, because chickens run about so absurdly that it is impossible to count them accurately. - Oscar Wilde, 1854 - 1900

I have heard about keeping a bull for only a few months.

In the case that I heard of, a young bull was bought in the early spring and turned out with the girls. In the late summer they took him back to the auction, where they sold him at a profit because he had grown some while on the summer grass.

They were VERY! pleased with themselves!

Thank you so very much. Yes I am 14 and a am most defintly a girl, guess it shows, lol, prissy writing. With the pig thread, i am now thinking either REALLY small potbellies, or I will find a KuneKune breeder and get me some. Once again thak you for the compliments, that was REALLY nice. Well see ya.

Sounds like a GOOD idea, I am trying to convionce my parents of that, hehe. well see ya, bye.

Good luck with the KuneKunes, I emailed HeritageHogs, the only breeder I could find in the states, she wants $1500 for a show quaility sow or barrow, and $3000 for a quaility boar.

Not too bad, if you consider it an investment on maybe the next big craze. I wouldn't buy a bazillion dollar one, but if you could get that amount for each one for the first few litters, you would do pretty good.

Oops...........sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread.

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People who count their chickens before they are hatched, act very wisely, because chickens run about so absurdly that it is impossible to count them accurately. - Oscar Wilde, 1854 - 1900

Hey don't worry hovey, now at the very least the thread is on a happier note. I do agree though, IF and ONLY IF you could find people willing to pay the money to buy your KuneKune litters, it would be a VERY good investment. I think that I will stick with potbellies for now though. Well see ya.

I don't understand why you would want to breed you cows to a genetically inferior bull, especially if you are intending on keeping any of the ouffspring for breeding later. If you're only putting them in the freezer, but if you're keeping the heifers for breeding, you're passing along an inferior gene pool.

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Sometimes the last minute is the best one.

Well only the males have ever had the problem, so we thought that it would not be as bad, ALL of the boys born would be turned into steers, that way the gene would NOT be passed onto other farms. I did not really want to breed them to this particular bull anyway, I just wanted to get them breed, I LOVE baby cows. Well I gotta go now, see ya, bye.

Here in WI you can rent a beef bull for about $150 for the season, no matter how many cows you have to pasture breed. Is that a possibility for you? You can choose your own breed, and pick your own bull.

That would probley work, we have three to breed, so that would be about $50 a cow, instead of $100, saving us $150. The only problem is is that you are in WI and I am in FL, and unfortuantly everyone that we know of in FL charges $100 a cow, and we do not know if they would let us bring them back if they wond up not pregnant. We will figure something out though, but thank you for your advice. See ya, bye.

Guess what, my mom did some researching, and she found a nine month old angus bull for 1,000 dollors, which is suppossed to be good! Of course my grandparents wont pay for him, they will wait for us to, but we might have babies in the next 11 months or so, added two extra months just to be safe. Well just wanted to let all of ya hear the good news. See ya bye.

Thats great! Update us as soon as you know for sure if he's yours!

Thanks, my parents have been talking about it, he would probly end up as my grandparents bull, een if we buy him, which stinks but oh well. By the way, does anyone know if 12 acres is enough to seperate a bull from his cows without him smelling them, if so then he might become ours. well gotta go, bye.

wait a minute..........If Grand dads bull is Red Angus, and his cows are holstein and holstein red angus crosses, how could this bull be the product of inbreeding within this herd?

No, not just holsteins and holstein/angus crosses, but angus' too. He has about 3 female angus', and he ALWAYS keeps the babies that come from the angus girls and the angus bull.

Twelve acres should be more than enough space to seperate a bull from three cows when you're ready to. The main thing is to make sure you have a REALLY good fence between them.

I'm not sure I'm following why the bull would eventually be your grandparents bull. If y'all buy him and keep him at your place and then seperate him or sell him when you're done with him, then there's no reason why he should have to be your grandparents bull.

I was also going to suggest renting a bull. The last I knew there was guy not too far from here that rents bulls. If memory serves, he got about $150 for three months rent per bull.

O.k, first off, do you think that cattle fencing would be strong enough to keep a bull with raging hormones away from HIS girls? Second, the reason that he would be my grandpa's bull if not would be because he would have to stay over there, the feed is NOT an issue because they use bread that they get for free from a church, and eventually he WOULD be "their" bull because that is just the way that they are. Thank you for the help, I am trying to talk my parents into it, but I need ALL the help that I can get, we have a LOT of goats and the herd is only going to get bigger, that is why the space is an issue. Once again thank you, bye.

14? I never would have guessed.
I was nodding in agreement with Hovey, and thinking maybe 16 or 17'ish.
My daughter, at 14, was still in that "AI? Ooooh, gross!" stage!

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