Intact bulls as draft power?

but know that they are not computer programmed, and are completely unpredictable as such.

😀 can’t resist: this very unpredictability also applies to my computer…….

back to bulls: may be it’s mainly a problem of disposition?
in our meatproduction are primarily bulls, most in close quarters, and they need to be handled somehow, even when grown; there is any character you may think of: from the curious, friendly , docile, to the alphabulls, that will come at you when you haven’t even entered their box. some you can handle, others you shouldn’t even try.
so my answer: it depends…..
elke

well, you could use them in a head yoke and so unable them to go an you while you’re working. also, use nose-rings.

Why not have two cows and the bull you are feeding to breed with is no more expensive for feed than one that you would keep to breed with. He will be growing where the other one is just trying to keep you on your toes.
You should be able to buy a bull calf the size of a feeder calf for feeder calf price or very little more.
If you have geneticly good cows you might be able to trade a bull calf for one from some one.

one problem with AI for dextes is that semen is limited and very expensive. Most places the only way to have it available would be to own a tank. I do see your point of using two cows though. I have seen many dexter bulls in this area ( Vermont ) sell for BIG money in my opinion. I think that 2500 is a little much for these young or small bulls. But it is only what I have seen around here and I understand that prices are likely to be diffrent in other areas.

I knew as soon as I wrote the comment about computer programming that some wise-acre would throw out that comment, Elke!

One of the reasons I told the story of the working bulls, was I was discussing using my steers for more farm work as I had lost a horse, and was weighing the value of using britchen so that they could more successfully replace the team of horses. The farmer was showing me how he had hitched britchen to his yoke to work the bulls because they were de-horned.

This would be an option that may reduce the “danger” level. Any bovine that learns how to use their horns as a weapon can be extremely dangerous, and bulls are no doubt pre-disposed to this.

I am surprised that you would be considering Dexters. They seem like good animals for small acreages, on the surface, but my experience has been mixed. I have never owned them, but I have to say that the ones I have cared for, and interacted with have got to be the most ornery, and unco-operative animals I have ever experienced. And you have to use a baking dish, and sit on your butt on the ground to get low enough to milk them. I’m sure that regular handling may develop a better outcome, but I have found so much better results from other breeds.

We raise bulls from time to time, as a result of our breeding the milkers. We keep them around just for meat, I never train them to work, but I insist on the same manners that I do from my working animals. We handle them from the get-go with rope halter, being approachable in the field, moving into and out of the barn. We let the kids play with them until they get 4-5 month old. To this day, I have yet to have any different results with a bull than with a steer. They mind and understand.

A problem may arise though when a bull is left to their own devices, especially early on. We had to borrow a bull last summer, as we were unable to get our cows to show adequate heat. He was an easy going 1 1/2 year old when he came, but was driven into my trailer from a field full of heifers. About the third time I came into the pasture to take the cow out to be milked, he turned, put his head down, and pawed the dirt. I let him know in no uncertain terms that the next time he did that, he would be looking at the world through that tight little hole under his tail. After that it took me several weeks before he learned that I was no threat to him as long as he didn’t face me like that. After the summer here I still had to get him into the trailer to handle him, but I could halter him, and lead him, but never turned my back on him.

Any way to keep bulls around you will need to be committed to the breeding program, and seriously committed to having them as working animals, or at the very least manageable. Otherwise, Howie and plowboy are right-on, get one when you need it, use it, and slaughter it, or AI.

Good luck, Carl

I have two additional questions related to this thread that probably don’t deserve a thread of their own.

One was, what about a bull that has finished his breeding needs on your place that is then surgically castrated? Will this animal then become like a nicer-tempered ox with the muscling of a bull? I’ve been contemplating doing this with our yak bull.

Also, for Carl – i have had the opposite advice from some, being – be too familiar and make a pet of your bull and that’s where the trouble starts – he loses respect. As a result i’ve reluctantly limited contact lately with our breeding yak bull, who was very much a pet, worried that it was the wrong approach. But maybe letting him get more wild is the wrong approach?