Castrating 2 year old bull...
 

I have a two year old Brangus bull. He is a roamer, I am having an issue keeping him on our 175 acre ranch. He bred our cows last year, and we have since moved them off to another ranch. We got him as a 2 month old and I planned on having cows or heifers this year, but things didn't work out that way. Since this bull is not going to be breeding, and I am not going to butcher him, is castration at the age of two out of the question?

I spoke to our vet clinic this morning and they do castrate bulls at this age. But I want him sedated, they only want to do a block. This is a large bull, he is 1400 pounds and still growing. Can they really just block him and castrate him safely that way? Seems dangerous to me. They do have a tilt squeeze chute...but still seems he should be sedated.

Any help would be appreciated.

Yes, they can do a block and castrate him.
It is a very quick procedure and you face more possible complications by knocking him completely out, IME.

Why are you keeping him if not as breeding stock or for beef?
Keeping a 'pet' steer is an expensive proposition.
They can live 15 years or better.


ETA: Castrating him at this point is no guarantee he wont still go through fences.
He already knows how to do that and he wont be getting any smaller or smarter. :)

Keeping him....
 

We had planned to have a small herd by now but we had a bad year last year in business. Things are better, but prices are way up in our area for cattle and finding the right cows for beef calves is easy, but not cheap! We bought our bull as a two month old orphan and I hand raised him. We boarded a small herd of cows last year and our bull has two lovely calves on the ground this summer, but they aren't our cows, so no one for him to breed again. I have no problem selling beef calves, but butchering my bull isn't something I am interested in doing. I had hoped he would stop trying to leave by castrating him since we don't have any girls around. We can fortify our fence line, we know where he was going through...but if he is still a bull he will find a way. I would hope he may not be as adamant about leaving if he was a steer.

I know keeping him is maybe silly, but it is what it is! Even my husband can't see eating him or seeking him for slaughter...we are kind of attached to Norman!

Well okay then. :)

You are certainly not alone in the ranks of "pet steer" owners here on HT.
As long as you do realize that it is a long commitment you are choosing and not based on best business practices.
You could likely sell this young bull and use the money to better your herd.

I wont tell you how many bull calves I have hand-raised.
There is always another just around the corner.

But if you are doing a hobby/pet thing then that is a choice I can respect for what it is.
I commend you for your decision to have the vet come and castrate.
It goes really quick, there is not a lot to it, and Norman will be fine. :)

Thanks:-)
 

This is my only cow. I actually am a horse owner, I do a ton of rescue and currently have 20 that range in age from 4 weeks to 30 years, all are staying. I take in the worst abuse/neglect/starvation cases. The ones that have no place else to go. A few are permanently lame, a few come to me already rideable, the rest I break and train in dressage, eventing, trail riding, reining, or cutting. My bull is a lucky boy to have landed here! He will be a long term resident, and we can afford him. I would love to keep him a bull, he is really a good looking boy, but not without cows for him to breed....

Thank you completely for understanding:-). Norm is a real sweet boy, I would like to keep him as a steer, at least he won't be longing for a girlfriend...I think he won't be anyway!

So you're not breeding him, and not eating him.

Sell him. Take the money and buy a cow/calf pair, sell off the calf when it is weaned for nice profit, and buy a heifer or w/e you can afford. That is if you want cows again.. otherwise sell him and have a nice vacation.

Norman is sick and tired of living with horses, he's looking for something that goes moo. Selling him is the only choice, you will get tired of mending fences...Topside

Ok, don't laugh at me, but....
 

I did sell him at market on Monday this week. He is a two year old, very good looking, 1400 lb Red Brangus bull. Nice breeding on him, and he throws perfect low birth weight calves. Price of bulls is sky high, and he sold for a lot of money....to a slaughter buyer. So I bought him back. My husband and I are funny with things like this. If this was a beef calf we had raised with the intent of selling, we would have no problem. But this is OUR bull, we named him and took care of him and he is dog gentle with us (of course now that he is so big and able to breed, we stay on our side of the corral, but Norman still huffs at me for head rubs and ear scratches, which I give him through the steel tube rails) so we sold him to give him a chance to go to a cattle operation as a herd sire, but not as a steak!

We could have put a little money in the bank, but that wasn't our desire. It isn't that we can't afford a cow/calf pair, though where I live they go for a lot right now, it is that Norman is a part of our ranch, and I would rather make him a steer and have him here, than have the money in the bank and/or a steak on the table. A cow will only be open for so long, then Norman will be bored and will travel, and I can't have him do that. He did it once, that's why I am looking for a solution:-)

I agree...
 

Norman is a little bored with the horses! He lived with my neighbor through the winter and bred his heifers. But then he travelled to another neighbors, and that was bad....we got him back home and are creating a solution for him by castrating him. I should have said, I DO plan on buying a cow for him to hang out with. Or two. But I can't right today, so for now, this is what we need to do.

I do appreciate your input, this is a choice for us as much as for him. It is either castrate, or he will sell to a slaughter buyer as a bull and we aren't interested in doing that to him...

If you sell him to a private buyer as a breeding bull, what could be better than that? He'd have won the cow lotto!

Please stop petting him on the head, could be quite dangerous!

Patting...
 

Thanks for the advice:-). I had heard about not petting his head, so I actually don't do that...I do rub his ears and his neck though. I am extremely cautious around him, he is huge and bulls are so unpredictable.

If I could find a buyer that would use him as a herd sire I would definitely sell him. Craigslist is the only way I know of though, and people are not what they represent themselves to be on craigslist from my experience. I probably could post him at my feed store, maybe I would find a buyer there....he did sell for almost 1700 for slaughter, I couldn't do it when I found out that it was a slaughter buyer though and I backed out. So, what would a fair price range be for him to a private buyer? I would be interested in doing that.

Being a wonderer and two years old he may not change even after being castrated. He may still roam and trash fences just because hes is bored. I have seen it happen several times in older bulls.

Yes, that is a concern I have...
 

I sincerely would sell him as a bull if I could find a good buyer, one that is actually going to use him as a sire and not as a steak! I don't want him to roam and get hurt, or killed, and we do have strong fencing on our perimeter...but one small place was compromised and sure enough, he found that one spot and went through it. We shored it up, but I worry....

I am worried that you will have him castrated and he still charges through fences. , etc.Then you are short on options.
If he is an intact bull, he has the opportunity to be someone's herd sire. Advertise at feed mill, Cattle Breeders newsletter and get the word out.

If you want to keep him, fence busting and all, a cattle chute is a safe way to castrate.

Thank you, I thought of that as well...
 

If i castrate him and he still fence hops, then I have a castrated fence hopper that I can't sell. Thanks for the advice. I will post him at my feed stores around town and see what kind of newsletters I can find to post him in as well.

posting at the feed store or the BBQ pit, it doesn't matter, The bull if sold private or sold at the auction the results at the end will be the same. Sold as a hire sire will not be long term for the bull. Being a hire sire isn't a long term thing. We breed and raise beef cattle and we calve out about 65-70 cows anually and we have two black angus bull's, they are regisitered and are low birth weight bull's and we only keep the same bull's for no more then 6 to 7 years at the most.

So... you want a big pet. Get a Great Pyrenees and let this bull do his job for someone else, or become freezer beef. I don't get why people want domesticated cattle that do nothing but COST MONEY to maintain.

A bull is the absolute worst pet you could choose. Norman is in his prime, he is full of hormones and lust, and he can smell cows a long ways off which could easily turn to rage via all that pent up frustration. Even if you get him castrated, he will be bored and lonesome for the company of his own kind. And, he may or may not give up fence busting as a hobby.

If you could ask Norman whether he would prefer an all expense paid trip to the slaughterhouse, his current level of frustration, or just a long, dull, meaningless life, he just might choose the slaughterhouse!

However, he is in his prime and should be working in someone's herd if he is truly a good specimen of his breed and produces good calves. Sell him to someone who will use him for the purpose he was born to, please. Get his health work done and market him. You will be doing him a favor, he would thank you if he could.

:smack :flameproofundies: :umno::hair:shrug::doh::frypan::bash:

where are you AConner? I'm gonna sell your bull for'ya

If you get him castrated, the block is much safer for him and it is much easier on him. There is little chance of losing him, and large animals can break themselves thrashing as they come out of a total anesthetic. It's dangerous and the vets don't like to do it unless there is no way around it.

They can chemically immobilize him and then they give him the reversing shot and he will just walk away with no after effects.

The reason that you can't sell him as a herd bull is becasue he is too big. Herd bulls are small young bulls who won't injure a cow's spine when he breeds her. If the mature bulls are high enough quality, they are isolated from teh cows and used for semen collection for AI.

Ummm, no, wrong. "Herd bull" or "herd sire" simply means one bull with a harem of cows, and usually the top bull or favorite bull gets this privilege. A larger operation would have multiple groups. A "junior herd bull" often starts out by working cleanup on a set of AI'd females, then his performance and progeny determine if he will someday move up to be a "herd sire". It varies by individual, some bulls will simply have better "technique" than others. I have heard of bulls in their teens still out breeding cows successfully, and I have heard of bulls getting pulled out their first breeding season because they were rough/clumsy with the cows.

The reason to collect a bull for AI is because he is a top quality individual whose genetics should be widely used for breed improvement, not because he is too clumsy to breed the cows on his own.

Thank you all for your advice and thoughts.
 

I sincerely appreciate all of the help. Here are a few things that may have been overlooked in my posts:

1. I usually have open heifers or cows here that are boarders on our pastures, this year they were moved to a different ranch with a different bull..they weren't my cows, I was boarding them while the owner secured her own place.

2. Norman is a proven sire. He has 2 bull calves on the ground, they were both low birth weight and are very nice looking calves. While Norman is not a registered bull, he does come from very nice stock. If he was of mediocre breeding I would have castrated him as a young calf. Since he was such a nice bull though, and I thought I would have cows of our own this season for Norman to breed, I kept him a bull. We want to have a small beef calf operation.

3. I will not sell Norm to a slaughter buyer. That isn't something we are willing to do.

4.No, he isn't a pet, he is a working bull but has no cows right now, and he roamed to a neighbors place who thankfully needed his cows bred. That was after he bred the cows here that were moved to the other ranch. I have him back because the property being leased by my neighbor for his cows was sold and he had to move them. So Norman came home.

5. I would prefer leaving him a bull and buying cows/heifers for our ranch operation. Right now the prices are sky high for a buyer. To buy as many cows as I would need to keep Norm home, it would be much more than I could afford right now. That's not to say that I am not looking for good cows, but only that I can't buy the number of cows all at one time that would be needed to keep him here.

6. I researched castration before I considered it. I would castrate him and then could buy a couple of bred cows for him to hang out with. He is a great one for young calves, he is very protective of them and was a fine babysitter for the calves who were here when the boarded cows calved. If he were castrated and could be content with a few cow pals, I would be happy for him.

7. Our BEST option is finding a herd for him to go live with. I live in vast cattle country in North Central Texas, and I would assume a ranch somewhere around me could use Norman. But other than posting flyers, which may or may not be seen, I am unsure of how to go about advertising my bull for sale or lease..

Anyway, I appreciate all of the feedback, and am still looking at all possibilities, except slaughter. I doubt Norman would prefer being slaughtered over hanging out being a lazy steer for his lifetime. He is a good, quiet boy, he talks to me each time he sees me (I feed him, he likes me!). And...yes, we are quite fond of him.

Thanks for listening!

Why not offer him to a small farmer to use on their farm while you get money for your herd. Heck, I would love to use your bull for 2 years and then you come back and get him. You could come and visit all you wanted. Some small farmer getting started will help you if you will look around.

Just my 2 cents.

I missed this one...
 

I don't have any desire to have a "big pet". I already have 20 of those...all rescued horses. I also already own a Great Pyrenees, he is a great stock guard and protector of the chickens.

Thanks though.

That is a great suggestion!!! I will look into this.

Thanks!

Thank you....
 

Honestly, if you know a ranch that would use him, fine. But if it is to a slaughter buyer, no thanks.

I came here honestly seeking help and a solution....one that I come to in a smart way. We own a working ranch, a working HORSE ranch. When we bought it we had cattle, then we had a seriously bad hit in our business and I sold my herd including our first bull. Then we had a small herd of borrowed cattle to keep our ag exemption, it was from that herd that my bull was a bummer calf and I took him and raised him. It wasn't intended that we end up in this position, our plan for this ranch was running cattle as well as horses, but not a huge herd. A 10 cow/calf pair plus the one bull herd. We have a good bull, we were trying not to lose that, but if it has to be that we castrate him to keep him here, I am willing to do that rather than sell him to slaughter. My choice? I would choose to have my Black Angus herd back, but I don't, and this decision to do anything but have cattle is difficult at best, dream losing at worst. Yes, there are other bulls, no, they won't be THIS bull. And we happen to have wanted to at least be able to retain the animal and use him as a herd support if not a herd sire.

Sorry to vent a bit, this is hard. We are ranchers who took a bad couple year hit. Not a lifetime hit, just a couple years. But it set back our plans and we are trying to at least keep some of them intact. No pun intended. Aside for all of that, my top two horses died in horrific ways within 6 months of each other last year. So...am I holding on to something that maybe I oughta let go? Probably. But am I gonna lose him, too? Not if I can help it! Even if it to sell him or lease him for a herd other than mine, he will still be alive anyway.

I don't get why people don't respect others decisions what they do with their own livestock !!!

Because she came here asking for advice. She was given quite a bit of good advice by people in the cattle business who took the time to read about her situation and gave advice based on sound business principles.

She chooses to ignore that advice, which is her prerogative, but should not then wonder why people get annoyed when that good advice gets brushed aside. She says she had a bad hit to her business in the past. I don't know if that had to do with making decisions based on emotion instead of logic, but most of the advice she's been given would help to avoid additional hits to her business, or at least her pocketbook. I wish her well.

Yes Chris it is the owners decision, however whenever the owner asks for ideas, opinions & recommendations well that's what they will get free of charge and quite a variety....Ask a question and you will receive many answers....I used to be a pet guy, but eventually even I grown out of that and have recognized livestock's many other values...Topside

Good luck Norman! Got to go, my worklist is getting longer and longer, but if anyone wants my opinion I've got a wheelbarrow full.....Topside

We'll...op asked about advise about castrating ,even explained why the do not wanted to slaughter the bull which in my opinion she didn't need to do. But she did say why ,so while it helped for people to give them other ideas ,ie sell or lease as herd sire, she didn't need to hear people keep telling her they don't understand why they won't slaughter.
Anyways.....A.,I would not be surprised if the bull stays if u only give him one or two cows. Mine seems quite content even after they are bred,its a lot of being with their own kind too. And especially if u don't have any neighbors cows in heat ,he just may stay .

No, I didn't ignore it!
 

I don't know what makes you think I ignored anything! I needed a solution BESIDES SLAUGHTER, and have been given many good ideas that I am looking into. That is all. The only advice given that I won't do is slaughter, everything else is on the table and being researched and looked into.

Topside...
 

I grew out of it a long time ago as well. I only want to make the best, informed, decision for this bull that I can, without slaughtering him. I sincerely appreciate all of the good advice...this is a long term decision that only We and our bull will have to live with, the best decision for him will be made and followed through with, I do promise you that!

Business hit...
 

Also, our ranch only took a hit because our large construction company took a heavy hit almost 3 years ago now. We have recovered a lot, but not all the way, and finances are still somewhat tight. We own a large industrial construction outfit...the ranch stayed intact except for the cattle, those were sold off. Norman stayed because he had a job at the neighbors:-)

We might be able to help more if we knew where the bull was. Fill out your profile!
If my heifer was a year older, and you were close, I could find a way to entertain a bull. When she gets older, and I have a few more cows, I will be looking to borrow a bull.

Located in North Central Texas...
 

Hi! I am in North Central Texas, about 40 miles west of Fort Worth. Wish you lived near, Norm might be a happy bull...

Put some stamps on him, take him to the post office.

Lol! Road trip:-)
 

Good thought:-)