Jersey bull, doubtful on breeding weight

[MikeParks]

I am about to (if God is willing) be puchasing a jersey bull soon from the same guy I bought my cow from. I am happy with the cow so I am hoping to be with the bull.
He said he will try to get us one for less than $400 and it should be about 700 pounds. Is this breeding weight? When I asked he said that some jerseys can start (or try to) breed at 400 pounds.

So is this right?

Thanks
Mike

[vquinn2]

I can tell you I have a 21 month old reg jersey bull that weighs about 850 pounds. I've already got calves from him, soo about a year he probably weighed 500ish. That's just a guess. Hope this helps. You might check another website http://familycow.proboards32.com/index.cgi There's lots of jersey people on that site.
Good luck
Valerie

[MikeParks]

Thanks for the reply. We hope to only keep it a few month and then sell or eat it.

Mike

[Up North]

Bull is physically large enough for his breed to get the job done.
Sometimes young and dumb dairy bulls can be late bloomers, and not really figure things out the first month or so when put with cows or heifers that are in heat. But they usually figure it out and get going given time.
Others step off the trailer and mount the first cow in sight.

[francismilker]

Originally Posted by Up North

Bull is physically large enough for his breed to get the job done.
Sometimes young and dumb dairy bulls can be late bloomers, and not really figure things out the first month or so when put with cows or heifers that are in heat. But they usually figure it out and get going given time.
Others step off the trailer and mount the first cow in sight.

I've seen them (especially a Jersey) try when they're six months old.

[65284]

A word of caution here. Jersey bulls have a well deserved reputation for being dangerous.

Be careful around any bull but extremely careful around dairy type bulls, and Jerseys are probably the worst of the lot. If the bull you buy has horns get them off asap.

A lot of them were bottle raised and have lost all fear/respect for humans and can explode without warning with deadly results.

Don't get caught in a situation where you can be cornered or out in an open pasture on foot. This applies to everyone but especially to folks with limited experience with cattle.

If you have only one cow it isn't very efffecient to keep a bull. Unless you have a lot of pasture/hay/money to spare you might be better off to consider A.I. for her.

[MikeParks]

Thank you.
Yes I have heard of jersey reputation.

We have 2 cows (or 1 cow and a heifer). I know this isn't the most economical method but no one up here AIs so it is really the only method.
We don't plan to keep it beyond 3 months (we figure 3 months will be long enough to be sure they aren't coming back into heat anymore) since we don't have the pasture for it and we definitely do not want to winter it.

Up here the cheapest I have found is $70 to slaughter and $0.40 a pound to cut and wrap. So we are not sure if we will sell the bull or eat it.

Thanks
Mike

[spinandslide]

Ive heard Jerseys start looking to breed cows as early as 6 months sometimes, he sounds like he could do what youre needing

Have also heard about their bad rep as well..even worse then a holstein bull.

Be super SUPER careful!

Sarah