Bull to Female Ratios - Preparing for Breeding Season, by Mark Johnson
Bull to Female Ratios - Preparing for Breeding Season
Mark Z. Johnson, Oklahoma State University Extension Beef Cattle Breeding Specialist
Breeding season is approaching and bull turnout is only six weeks away for herds that plan to start calving next January. We are fortunate in Oklahoma to have a large number of outstanding registered seedstock breeders who are, and will be, marketing bulls in volume in our state. The opportunity to invest in genetics to improve the profit potential of your operation leads to several questions and requires planning.
The first goal of breeding season is to get cows bred early in breeding season resulting in more calves born earlier in calving season, shorter breeding/calving seasons, older calves at weaning and ultimately, more pay weight at weaning due to calf age. The typical beef calf gains about 2 lbs./day up until weaning, accordingly a calf born one heat cycle (21 days) earlier will wean off about 40 lbs. heavier. How do we get this accomplished? By having an adequate amount of bulls to get cows serviced. The following shows a conservative expectation of the number of cows we should expect bulls to cover in a defined breeding season.
12 - 15 month old bulls = 10 - 12 females
15 - 18 month old bulls = 12 - 18 females
18 - 24 month old females = 18 - 25 females
24 mo. & older = 25 - 35 females
2 - 6 year old bulls = 25 - 35 females
Rule of Thumb: One female per month of age at turnout (after passing yearling Breeding Soundness Exam)
For example: If I have 60 heifers to breed and plan to turn out 15 month old bulls, I will need four bulls.
What is the typical life expectancy of a breeding bull? Typically up to the age of 6 is "prime of life" for breeding bulls. This isn't to say that all bulls will break down at this age, but is more likely to happen after age six. Often when an older bull goes bad, it isn't discovered until after breeding season when we are doing pregnancy checks.
Social Behavior of Bulls
When you invest in bulls this spring, it is a good idea to pen bulls of similar ages and size together for several weeks prior to start of breeding season to allow for social ranking of bulls. This time together allows bulls to establish a "pecking order" so they will be ready to focus on their job at turnout.
Field Crops
Dairy
Business
Livestock
Grains
Upcoming Events
Is Grazing Sheep Beneath Solar Arrays and Opportunity for Your Future?
September 25, 2023
Mt. Morris, NY
Grazing sheep beneath utility-scale solar arrays can build wealth of present and future sheep farmers as vegetation management service providers and access to additional pasture. The Cornell Cooperative Enterprise Program (CEP) conducted a survey earlier this year completed by over 600 farmers. Farmers identified barriers to grazing sheep under solar arrays and weighed in on need for a producer-led organization to negotiate contracts on their behalf, coordinate logistics of multiple flocks, provide transport of sheep to and from the site, care for sheep while on-site, and provide supplemental mowing. Additional questions focused on processing and marketing needs.
Technology for Grazing Dairies Webinar
September 27, 2023
Join us for this free webinar! Brought to you by the dairy specialists of CCE NWNY and SWNY Dairy, Livestock and Field Crops Programs.
Protecting Against Murphy's Law: A FREE Live Seminar for Veterans.
October 4, 2023
What Can Go Wrong, Will Go Wrong!
Good ole' Murphy's Law is probably the best description of what it's like to be a farmer that there is! Join Cornell Cooperative Extension Farm Business Management Specialist, Katelyn Walley-Stoll, to learn more about the 5 areas of risk on farms and how to develop strategies to manage those risks. Participants will have the opportunity to identify areas of risk on their own farms and brainstorm ways to (try to) prevent the inevitable!
Registration is REQUIRED by visiting https://tinyurl.com/CCERisk or call Kelly at 585-268-7644.
Announcements
No announcements at this time.