The Amorous Bull

Bully is our young Jersey bull.  He'll be 15 months old on August 5th and I'd estimate he weighs somewhere between 450 - 500 pounds right now.  After we weaned him last year, he was looking real scrawny, especially coming out of the winter where he ate mainly hay.  That dude is not scrawny any more.  The nutritious green grass has put some weight on his frame and you can see his muscles rippling, especially on his shoulders.

Bully eating cornstalks that I threw over the fence

Our little homestead with 3 acres in pasture that we rotate the cows through is really not big enough for Bully and our fences certainly aren't set up for an amorous bull on the place.  We have Daisy, Rosie, and Amy's cycles written down on our farm calendar and we know exactly when they are coming in heat.  We have tried breeding them at different times and we've determined after trial and error that it just makes sense to plan so that calves drop in the Springtime.

We haven't really had to be that concerned about Bully breeding the cows up until a few months ago as he was not tall enough to successfully complete the task, but he's had a growth spurt that has made him capable now.  Since we don't want baby calves born in the cold winter months, we have watched the calendar closely and when each cow has come into heat, we separate them and keep Bully locked in the corral for several days.  He moo's and moo's and the cows bellow loudly.  It is much drama for our little farm and I'm positive our neighbors are not happy with the loud romantic episode playing out all night long.  Once the time has passed, we're able to put the old boy back with the ladies.  Until next month...

Bully, the Lover Boy

Last month we began allowing the romance to continue and Bully was exposed to both Daisy and Rosie. We think that they are bred, but we'll wait until next month to see if the girls come back in heat.  If they do, we'll let Bully try again.  If not, well, we'll have baby calves in March - right when the Spring grass starts coming in.

If both Daisy and Rosie are bred, our intention is to sell Bully.  He's a registered Jersey Bull and we've tested him and he is certified A2/A2.  We avoided naming him an affectionate name because we knew that our end game was to have him breed our cows and then sell him.

To be honest, it is past time for him to go.  With each passing day, he's becoming more and more of a nuisance around the place.  He's broken down the gate to the corral three times.  I repaired it a couple of times, but it makes more sense to not repair it again until he's gone.  He's sort of destructive and likes pushing things with his head.  The pool ladder that we use for crossing over the fence in the pasture lays broken in the grass, just like the previous one that he broke.  He's also gone through an electric fence like it was nothing in order to get to the ladies.

Another broken ladder!

He's also gotten a bad habit of pushing the 30 gallon buckets that we use to catch rainwater from the gutters on the barn all around the barnyard, spilling the water and bending them up.  Then he paces around because there's no water to drink, causing me more work.

Where did Bully push the water troughs?

In the final analysis, we'll all be glad when he's gone.  Hopefully he's done his job and both Daisy and Rosie will be successfully bred.  We will know for sure after the first week in August.  Bully will provide us with a little cash from his sale, but most importantly will give us two new calves and many gallons of milk once the Momma cows freshen.