keeping 2 bulls together

[fdb]

Hi again all, I am already onto my second post so here goes. Does anyone out there keep two bulls together and if so can you tell me your experiences please, and if successful how you managed to bring them together.

I have a 2 year old Pedigree Dexter bull and he is a cracker and very good natured. I want to keep him on as looking at pictures of Dexter bulls compared to him convinces me he is a really high quality fella.But I am in the process of aquiring a 6 month old Traditional Hereford Bull to improve carcass size etc. He will turn up in August at 6 months old.

Any thoughts please

[Duncan MacIntyre]

I have several times run an older bull and a younger bull together in small paddock, and on occasion even in a pen together but that needs more watching. I think if there is a good age differential they are more likely to be ok, with the young bull having to accept dominance by the older one and learn some manners.

Mixing two of equal age or bulk might be a bit more tricky, but for several years I have had two mature bulls in adjacent pens, can contact one another through the gate and don't seem to show much interest in one another. Not sure if I would put them out in the field together.

Duncan

[Broomcroft]

I have an Angus bull, here he is



and I have a little Dexter bull



The Angus was with all the cows and I foolishly put the Dexter bull in the next field with a load of steers. Somehow the gate managed to open, and next morning the Angus was in a field all by himself, with quite of lot of blood on show and looking scared stiff, and the Dexter was in the field with all the cows looking very happy . They are the same age but the AA weighs about 1 tonne and the Dexter about half that but in terms of "get up and go", it's the other way round. I keep the two FAR apart now.

[paulc]

Hi
I have 2 bulls on my holding, one is 12 the other is 3 when i bought the younger bull 2 years ago as a yearling i let him run with the older bull and had no issues, but last autum i had them seperated by lines of electric fence at opposites ends of the field, which is on a sloping hillside and they could not see each other, the older bull had a cow in with him to be served. one day I had a phone call from a concerned passerby that the 2 bulls were fighting in the fileld, so I rushed across to find that the 3 year old had passed through the 2 fence lines and i found him shoved in the hedge of the corner of the field with the old bull trying to knock ten bales out of him. I did manage to seperate them with a bucketof food(the old bull will do anything for food) The reason I think this happened was that the cow must have come into season and the young bull could smell the sent in the air
be warned

Paul

[Louisa Gidney]

I frequently run 2 Dexter bulls together. No problems if there is a good separation of status and all females are safely in calf. However, if the junior bull decides to challenge for King Bull status, or one returns from hire and has been absent awhile, all holy hell breaks loose while the hierarchy is established. It is tremendously exciting as a spectator sport but is very bad news for fences etc. If cows are bulling, I leave at least one field of sheep between bulls with harems. A lot of shouting goes on but the fences take less hurt. As Broomcroft says, a Dexter does not see a Belgian Blue or the like as competition or intimidation, so be careful if you have commercial cattle running nearby.

[goldshaft dexters]

Hi fdb
When you say traditional hereford do you mean horned or polled? If the bull(s) are horned I would not put them in together. I run my bulls together when they are not serving with no issues. Just be careful if you have to put them in a yard together (NOT advised). It is best to get 1 bull out of the paddock at a time to avoid dangerous confrontations.

[fdb]

Hi, Thanks all for the replies. The traditional Hereford has been polled, I don't like horns as I have to house them. Apart from the idea of grading up the carcasses I am also looking for a breed that takes coarse grasses such as Tor and Calamgrost'is, my experience is Dexters don't. However I have read that Traditional Hereford do. I started this project for the purpose of conservation grazing and hopefully to make enough money to at least upgrade my kit etc as I go on. However as I go on I am more interested now in conservation grazing from birth to abotior whilst making something of a living out of it as I am now convinced it is the only way for it to be sustainable.

[Inger]

I've found that older Dexter cows will just eat anything and tidy up messy pastures very nicely.

We keep 2 or 3 Dexter bulls together and it works very well, as long as the age heirachy is established, with the younger bulls coming into the herd as weaned calves.

Once the bulls get older though and the weight difference is minimum, then you start getting the pushinf and shoving. We keep polled or dehorned bulls, so the damage to each other is minimal. The fences can be broken sometimes though. It's usually only a problem at the end of mating season, when the bulls are put back in the bull paddock for Winter. There are a few days of grand standing, pushing and shoving, but then they settle down and get on with eating.

By the time there gets to be really hard feelings about two mature bulls being in the same paddock and one keeping well out of the way of the larger more domanant bull, then it's usually time to move the oldest bull on, as we have enough of his daughters to mean that we don't need him any more.

So by keeping a good age difference between the bulls, the younger ones don't bother trying to challenge the older ones and the bull paddock is fairly settled and harmonious. You do need a paddock and good electric fencing between each breedinng group, come mating time though.