Bulls generally lose weight — sometimes a lot of weight — during breeding season as they try to cover a lot of ground and service a lot of cows. Some of them, especially young bulls, should be separated from the cow herd as soon as the breeding season is over. They need a good nutrition program to pick them up again and get them through the winter in good shape for spring.

Young bulls need more attention paid to feed and care than mature bulls, says Travis Olson, Ole Farms, Athabasca, Alberta.

It’s a big adjustment for them to go from a massive amount of nutrition to just grazing grass and being asked to grow and breed cows at the same time.“If you bought a yearling bull in the spring to turn out with cows, there’s a good chance he was too fat,” he says, noting often for sales bulls are overfed. “It’s a big adjustment for them to go from a massive amount of nutrition to just grazing grass and being asked to grow and breed cows at the same time. When those bulls come back in from the breeding pastures, they’ve been through a difficult transition.”

They’re also losing their baby teeth and starting to get their adult teeth, as new incisors and cheek teeth (molars) come in at about 24-30 months of age, Olson explains. “This is a challenging stage for young bulls because the teeth are changing, and it may be harder for them to eat normally.”

These younger bulls also have higher demands for energy and protein.

“One of the biggest mistakes I see is that some people just run their bulls with the cows for the winter if they don’t have a good facility for keeping the bulls separate,” he adds. “The bulls just keep losing weight in that situation. Having a place for the bulls, and an extra pen for the yearlings — and maybe even the 2-year-olds — so they can be fed more than the mature bulls, can make a big difference.”

Olson reserves one pasture for 3-year-old and older bulls and another for yearlings and 2-year-olds.

“Then the feeding becomes a simple matter of calories,” he says. “Bulls are still growing up to the age of 3 and need to be fed adequately.”

He likens nutritional needs of a young bull to that of a first-calf heifer. Just as she’s growing, raising a calf and rebreeding, these young bulls are still growing and being asked to reproduce. They may lose a lot of weight during breeding season, especially if they were fed too much during their development.

It’s quite an adjustment, and they need a little help, Olson says. “This is often why the 18- to 24-month-old bulls usually look like death warmed over after their first breeding season.”

They need more calories to catch up again, especially as they go into winter and must deal with cold weather, he adds. In a cold climate, good windbreaks and bedding can also help them stay warm and conserve energy, enabling them to convert more calories to regaining lost weight and growing rather than just maintaining body heat.

“The main thing is to pull the bulls after the breeding season is over, and give the younger bulls more attention and a better ration because they are still growing,” he says.

Editor’s note: Heather Smith Thomas is a freelance writer and cattlewoman from Salmon, Idaho. [Lead photo by Shauna Hermel.]

Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA, Vol. 16, No. 10-B