Never Underestimate A Bull

Obviously never turn your back to a mean one and watch even the sweethearts. We all know that. But what I mean is, never underestimate one that you don’t see actually doing his job and just assume he’s not covering your cows.

Our bull, Contender, will turn 2 in January and really blossomed into a fine young man this summer. Our neighbors cows were ready for breeding and some of our heifers needed to grow a bit, so symbiotically they agreed to babysit him for a few months. Contender came back in September and for 2 months now, he’s not shown much interest in our females. All the cows are comely and (mostly) sweet, so I was getting really worried.

However, we went ahead and pulled blood for pregnancy samples on the 5 heifers that I certainly hadn’t seen cycle regularly but also had not seen the bull showing interest in (despite daily “watch cows” visits as the toddler says). We had seen one of my favorite girls trying to jump on another two days before pulling blood so I was very worried I would have NO preggers in the pasture.

After several nail biting days as the samples moved from USPS service center to service center, it finally got to the lab. Turns out, 4/5 cows are expecting!!

#138, fingers crossed she is now bred as it was she that had the other heifer head over heels for a couple weeks ago. One more to be covered by the bull and one mama that is being AI’d equals (prayers for) 7 babies next year!

I’ve got a horse med kit, but I’m thinking an OB box may be called for.