Steer competing with Bull

BJ · #1 02/06/05, 11:23 AM

We have a angus cross steer about 1 year old we are keeping until he is the right weight for butcher. The farmer we bought him from use the banding method on his calves. We also have a young herd bull. Now some of our fall calving cows are going through their heat cycles. The steer is spending a lot of time mounting the cows. We don't see any testicles on this steer..and are wondering what he is thinking? Is this normal behavior for a steer....does he just thinks he has all the necessary parts? Since the cows ride each other when one is in heat....we assume this is just something all do when one is in heat.

spring77 · #2 02/06/05, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BJ

We have a angus cross steer about 1 year old we are keeping until he is the right weight for butcher. The farmer we bought him from use the banding method on his calves. We also have a young herd bull. Now some of our fall calving cows are going through their heat cycles. The steer is spending a lot of time mounting the cows. We don't see any testicles on this steer..and are wondering what he is thinking? Is this normal behavior for a steer....does he just thinks he has all the necessary parts? Since the cows ride each other when one is in heat....we assume this is just something all do when one is in heat.

That is just something cows do. It doesn't matter if they are steers or not. I know a man who has a single Devon cow and keeps a team of oxen or two. He never misses a heat because the oxen do his heat detection for him. When a cow is in heat other cows will mount her. Doesn't matter if they are bulls, cows, or steers. I have heard of "gomer" bulls where they got banded wrong and one or both of the testicles weren't in the scrotum when it was banded and then they are pushed up into the abdomen, they are sterile but they still produce testosterone and grow like a normal bull. Hopefully that hasn't happened to you with your steer.

SmokedCow · #3 02/06/05, 09:54 PM

This happens. Its doesnt matter...Hes still a male and he will mount the cow. In our feedlot we know when heifers are "around" becouse the steers mount them. Its normal. When we show steers/heifers our steers do our heat detection for us. In the end your bull will win. hes higher up then the steer. Best of luck!
AJ

tinknal · #4 02/07/05, 02:38 AM

Actually spring, gomering a bull is often done on purpose (not like you describe) for heat detection on large ranches.

wr · #5 02/07/05, 08:55 AM

Your bull is young and not as confident as he could be and agressive steer will interfere enough that I would recomend separating him before your problem is magnified.

dosthouhavemilk · #6 02/07/05, 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinknal

Actually spring, gomering a bull is often done on purpose (not like you describe) for heat detection on large ranches.

We've sold a couple of our Jersey bull calves to be made into gomers....I had never actually researched what they did to make them gomers but was a little startled when he said that was how they do it.
Glad to hear it isn't done as he described it.

agmantoo · #7 02/07/05, 10:17 PM

Banding is a simple and effective method of castration but the person doing the applying must be able to count to two. Often in a young bull it is easy to only get one testicle caught with the band. In the above mentioned animal I would wager he still has a testicle above where the scrotum was. When applying a band it is a simple matter to feel the scrotum to verify both testicles are captured by the band prior to releasing the band completely from the banding tool.

JeffNY · #8 02/08/05, 11:36 PM

The only impression I get when it happens "by accident" is the fact the person either should not be doing it, or needs to pay closer attention. Anytime I do it, I make sure the two testicles are in place, then double check, triple, quadruple. I make sure it also doesn't pinch, make sure one of their teats are in the band. Then when I release, I do it slowly and make sure it isn't pinching. From what I have seen, the extra care makes a huge difference, they tend to walk different if it pinches. If it is set right, they seem to not notice. But yes I have seen some lay down shortly after it, and now I take my time to get the band set. But yet to miss one because I check.

Jeff