Bulls together

[jamesy]

I’m pulling 3 bulls out from cows today & hoping to run them all together in a 7 acre park. Any tips as I’ve not chanced it before.

 

[Woolless]

Could you shut them in a shed together for a day or two? When I introduce a new tup, I pen them all up pretty tight for a few hours. They can bump and barge a bit to establish a pecking order without having a big run-up for butting heads. When they go out, they'll presumably all smell more like each other and they're hungry so they graze rather than fight.

I remember as a student working at a place where they just chucked all the bulls together in a field after bulling. The big Simmy bull (a gentle soul) got put through the fence into a wood.

 

[unlacedgecko]

Could you shut them in a shed together for a day or two? When I introduce a new tup, I pen them all up pretty tight for a few hours. They can bump and barge a bit to establish a pecking order without having a big run-up for butting heads. When they go out, they'll presumably all smell more like each other and they're hungry so they graze rather than fight.

I remember as a student working at a place where they just chucked all the bulls together in a field after bulling. The big Simmy bull (a gentle soul) got put through the fence into a wood.

I've suggested this for bulls in the past on here.

Apparently it doesn't work because bulls fight close up rather than charging at s distance like tups.

 

[Woolless]

I've suggested this for bulls in the past on here.

Apparently it doesn't work because bulls fight close up rather than charging at s distance like tups.

Ah, fair enough. pens/gates allowing contact but keeping them separate maybe?

 

[AftonShepherd]

Only got two here, a six year old Saler and a two year old Simmy. They were both in seperate pens in the shed before bulling and really made their dislike for each other known, but when they came off the cows we just kicked the two of them out into the field and neither of them batted an eyelid.

Obviously with three you have the added risk that two can gang up on the third.

 

[milkloss]

Dangerous imo. Two will fight and the other beggar will knock one in the ribs/arse whilst they’re trying to concentrate on thrashing the other. Not in a building as it’s likely they’ll get hurt pinned against a wall and, if they lose, can’t get away and settle down to recover. When ours have a scrap the loser will drift to another field and hunker down leaving the other two to finish having a sort out.

 

[som farmer]

we try and keep them together from start, its much easier if they run together, come a cropper this year, 2 went down tb. As a student in the 70's, they just turned out 3 holstien and 1 Hereford into a field, after their service period, they soon settled down...…..until the morning I was due for milking, hell of a rumpus outside, looked out, 4 bulls scrapping outside, pitch black, 3.30 in the morning, only time I was late for milking, I didn't get paid enough for trying to separate 4 angry bulls in the dark !!!!!!!

 

[Poorbuthappy]

I've suggested this for bulls in the past on here.

Apparently it doesn't work because bulls fight close up rather than charging at s distance like tups.

A friend who runs several bulls for his dairy herd says the opposite - give them biggest field possible so the timid 1 can go off on his own somewhere.

 

[Agrivator]

Someone with vast experience says you need a saucer-shaped field, so that they tend to gravitate towards the centre.

 

[Samcowman]

Chuck all of ours together in a rough area with a fair bit of scrub and they settle down pretty quickly.
There was a niggly one last year who had matured so kept starting on the rest. They were alright untill they were housed. A couple of weeks later the rest had had enough of him and all piled into him at once. Split him out from then on in with some steers. He went last week.

 

[DB67]

Got ours running with a few in calf cows that don’t have calves. It’s a headache in summer when you don’t want them inside in bull pens.

 

[milkloss]

we try and keep them together from start, its much easier if they run together, come a cropper this year, 2 went down tb. As a student in the 70's, they just turned out 3 holstien and 1 Hereford into a field, after their service period, they soon settled down...…..until the morning I was due for milking, hell of a rumpus outside, looked out, 4 bulls scrapping outside, pitch black, 3.30 in the morning, only time I was late for milking, I didn't get paid enough for trying to separate 4 angry bulls in the dark !!!!!!!

Quite a sight when you see the steam lifting off their back at first light! Best bet is to not get involved to be fair, running some fresh cows past them can put them off so you can sort them a little.

Only time we separated bulls, this was three that has lived together happily for a few years, is when one chipped the tip of his tail off in a gate and there was blood everywhere. The blood just wound them up non stop so in the end had to go in with three vehicles to split them and get the tail sewn up. They had another big scrap for an hour or two when we turned him back in a week later.

 

[Gulli]

Turn them all out and leave them to it, they need space so the loser can go off and recover.
Pen them in a shed and you'll have the walls down and more than likely dead bulls.

Much better to turn them out young or with a big mismatch in size

 

[Timbo]

A friend who runs several bulls for his dairy herd says the opposite - give them biggest field possible so the timid 1 can go off on his own somewhere.

^^ This

 

[matthew]

Turn them all out and leave them to it, they need space so the loser can go off and recover.
Pen them in a shed and you'll have the walls down and more than likely dead bulls.

Much better to turn them out young or with a big mismatch in size

Definitely ^^^^^ .
We had to replace one bull for a buyer last year. Two (not ours) had always run together, and were housed in cubicles together. Smaller lad was a tease, and he paid with his life when the bigger bull turned on him.
Farmer won’t house two together again. It was a very scary situation, and fatal for the smaller animal.

 

[Farmer1001]

You know that "belly growl" a bull makes? If you want waking in a start at 2 in the morning then have that outside the bedroom window, I knew what it was but my wife thought it was a grizzly coming through the window! The real pisser was the fact we didnt have any bulls at the time, a neighbour had put them in a "little paddock" to get to settle down, they beat the sh1te out of each other along the lanes and up our drive until they ended up on our patio covered in mud and blood, the older bull was a mess and sat on the lawn till daylight, the young one wandered home! Moral of this story - dont have your bedroom on the ground floor if your neighbours run their bulls together!

 

[Baker9]

I had to shoot our Limmy bull about 5 years ago. The neighbours Charly bull crossed two fields and fought our bull. When I came home from work I found our boy badly hurt and the other barsteward had wandered off. I had to get the vet to ours and was told he had a fractured pelvis so he had to be put down. Our neighbours insurance paid up for the loss but I am now very concerned if hear bulls roaring.
Bulls fighting can be very dangerous so be very careful, you could be the casualty.

 

[M-J-G]

I've suggested this for bulls in the past on here.

Apparently it doesn't work because bulls fight close up rather than charging at s distance like tups.

Yes, if you put bulls in a closed space together you'll probably end up with at least one dead bull as one will corner the other and bust him.

 

[M-J-G]

Big open space away from cows, with a good (preferably electric) fence and walk away.
The dominant bull should always be put into the field first and removed last.

 

[CharcoalWally]

We regularly run 3 or 4 young bulls on the hill over the Winter with a more senior bull alongside the Spring calving cows. Never seen a problem so far. It's far better that the bulls all get to know each other and are used to each other's company. They should be used to mixing with others instead of being shut away from social groups. We find that they settle better throughout the year when they're running with their cow groups.