Superstar or klutz: which will your herd bulls resemble?
With proper conditioning, your herd bulls can turn in an all-star performance this breeding season.
February 26, 2017
Source: Purina Animal Nutrition
Think of your favorite professional athletes. How did they achieve the level of performance that took them to the top of their game? Natural ability was the start, but that alone doesn’t guarantee success. One of the factors to being able to perform at the top of their game all season long is conditioning.
Your herd bulls are no different. If they are to perform at the top of their game all season long, they need to be fit, ready to go to work and in the proper condition.
“We need to prepare bulls to be athletes for the duration of breeding season,” says Chad Zehnder, Ph.D., cattle nutritionist with Purina Animal Nutrition. “Bulls need to remain sound and active. One way we can help prepare them as athletes is by conditioning them.”
If bulls are too thin at the start of breeding season they might not hold condition and perform. At the same time, too much condition could be detrimental. Excess weight can affect structure, soundness and the bull’s ability to remain in active form.
Gradually build condition
The ultimate goal should be to achieve ideal bull condition and start far enough in advance so it’s not a sprint to attain it. A body condition score (BCS) of 6 going into breeding is ideal and should be achieved gradually.
“A single point change in BCS equals 80 to 100 pounds of weight. So, for a bull to go from a BCS 5 to a BCS 6, it would require gaining 100 pounds,” says Zehnder. “To achieve that score increase takes time and monitoring.”
Start monitoring bulls four to five months before breeding season. Early monitoring allows for gradual changes to be made over time, versus trying to make drastic weight changes quickly.
“Allowing a bull to gain 1 pound per day over 100 days, as opposed to pushing him to gain 3 pounds per day over 30 days, will be much more conducive to the longevity and performance of the bull,” says Zehnder.
An early start to bull preparation also helps ensure bulls have high-quality semen going into breeding. Sperm production takes 60 days and is impacted by the nutrition a bull receives pre-breeding season.
Balancing BCS with nutrition
“Yearling bulls and bulls up to 2 or 3 years of age are still growing and need a diet that meets those requirements,” says Zehnder. “Young bull requirements differ from what more mature bulls need to gain or maintain condition, and the two groups should be developed and fed in separate facilities if possible.”
If you have multiple bulls in a group, ensure they have ample bunk space or free-choice supplementation to help reduce displays of dominance at the feed bunk. Supplements with intake control properties encourage snack eating, causing bulls to eat smaller meals more consistently throughout the day versus aggressively trying to consume all their feed in one meal.
Supplements can also help keep bulls in prime condition by maintaining or improving BCS and can help balance any nutritional deficiencies of forages.