The Sunday News
ONE seemingly ignorant yet telling conversation I had recently with a communal farmer in a district in Matabeleland North has inspired this article. The farmer has a herd of about 35 cows with no bull. Instinctively I asked him why he was not investing in buying a good bull to service and improve the breed of his herd. He asked what a good bull would cost and I said anything from $1 500 going up and he was shocked.
He said “Imali yonke leyo eyenkunzi inkomo engela production” (all that money for a bull, an animal without production). In his mind cows are productive because they are the ones that calve. That they are serviced for that to take place is immaterial to him. Needless to say as a livestock practitioner I had to go through a lengthy process of explaining the need and importance of having a bull that runs with his herd.
This article therefore looks at how a farmer can select a bull. What qualities to look for when searching for a good bull.
When buying a bull a farmer needs to ask himself what he is trying to improve on his herd. There are a number of traits that can be improved by introducing a good bull with good records. A bull can be used to improve calving ease within your herd. Some animals tend to have calving problems which can be attributed to the conformation of the dam. If your bull is from a dam with right conformation and a good record of calving ease the trait can be passed to its progeny thus improving calving ease within your herd.
This may seem like a small attribute but it contributes significantly to calf mortalities at birth especially if veterinary officers are not within reach for urgent assistance. So your bull will improve calving ease by introducing the right conformation to its progeny so that the calving happens without complications.
Another trait than can be improved by using the right bull is mature weights for your steers and heifers. Some bulls, because of the size of their frames and the fleshing index, can produce offspring that give you high weaning weights. These are important as they have a direct bearing on your sales as well as production especially for heifers. High weaning weights usually have a correlation within when the heifer will start taking a bull. Weaning weights are also related to mature weights. If an animal has lower or poor weaning weights it is almost certain that its mature weight will also be on the low side.
A good bull can also improve the fertility within your herd if it is coming from fertile lines itself. Fertility is a very important trait in cattle production as this has a direct bearing on the growth of your herd. Animals with low or questionable fertility tend to be low breeders which can be a waste of time and resources to any farmer. I must, however, hasten to indicate that not all traits are heritable or that some traits have very low heritability. This in simpler terms means not all attributes can be inherited or passed from parent to offspring. For example, the bull might be very fertile and coming from a fertile lineage but might produce offspring which have low fertility because the trait has low heritability.
Another important factor is feed efficiency which is a measure of how much feed is converted by your animal into meat. Animals with low feed conversion ratios are not good for pen fattening. If you are in this type of production you may need a bull that can introduce feed efficiency into your herd especially your feeder steers. Using animals which are very efficient in feed conversion reduces the cost and time of pen fattening the animals. A bull can also introduce improved milk yields in your herd if it was born of a dam with high milk ability. There are a number of traits that farmers should consider when buying a bull. It is not just getting a huge fierce animal because it might have other attributes that can be problematic for management purposes, for example temperament. A bull with a violent and wild temper can introduce that trait into your herd and the next thing you have very angry cows that you cannot even milk!
In response to the issue of production or lack of it that was raised by the farmer I alluded to earlier on I would say a bull is far more productive than your cow or heifer. A bull can give you up to 80 offspring in one year if you have the cows/heifers to support it but a heifer or cow can only give you one calf within the same period!
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