I now live "next door" to a small cattle ranch (only a few hundred acres...!) When I moved in I became aware of a very definite 'bellow' that sounded both night and day (in Oct). My parents were here and they raised polled herefords for many years after all of us children left home...and I was informed that the sound was the bull! My question is: Does the bull sound off seasonally? Is it related to the cows in heat only? What else might make him sound off? I've grown accustomed to the sound, though occasionally at night it still takes me by surprise when things are quiet....Just want to know if this will become 'a background noise' for all seasons or ? thanks, betty
More than likely he is calling for females. This could happen any time they are in heat. He may be bawlling to other bulls. Most of all never and I mean never make fun of them and ball back or they could become mad enough to tear down a fence and come after you or children who do this and think this is funny. This is the time bulls can be most dangerous.
Most of the time, my bulls are very quiet. They might bellow at feeding time, but that's about it. However... I have one that never shuts up. Doesn't matter if his feeder is empty or full. Doesn't matter if he's with the ladies or not. He just likes to hear his own voice. He bellows, bawls, huffs and puffs ALL the time. I guess it just depends on the bull. Jena
I agree with Jena.. Some bulls do it a lot and some rarely do it. I had a black crossbred bull that mostly did it when he wanted to move from a pasture to the house for water. One back pasture was over a half mile away. He'd start growling and take off and the cows and calves would string out in a long line following him. I loved to watch his parade. He was safer to be around than a red bull I had who got the Vet down on the floor at his place. That bull very seldom made a sound. There is an old saying, "He's all blow and no go!"
Our bulls mainly bellow at each other when there is a new bull on the place. They'll stand in their separate pastures, as close as they can get to one another, and paw the ground and bellow. Kind of a challenge to each other. They usually stop within two or three days. Thankfully. Turn the radio up, SBJ
When I was a kid, I went canoeing down the Platte River in Wyoming with my cousins (two grown men). One of them needed to "go", so we pulled the canoe over so he could find a bush. As we were waiting on him, we kept hearing this sound. As a city kid, it sounded like some kind of machinery to me. Thankfully my other cousin was a little more savvy. He kept looking around and soon he yelled..."Jesse, you'd better get back here because there's a big red bull out there and he's coming this way!" Jesse came running, while trying to get his pants back up all the way. Jimmy started shoving on the canoe to get it back in the water. I wasn't sure what the big deal was, but I started pushing too. We all piled in and got back in the middle of the river as that bull hit the shore. He chased us along the shore for a good 1/4 mile. I don't know why he didn't come in after us. That river is little more than a trickle, but he didn't. We still laugh about that one at family reunions. Jena
