My debate continues between artificial insemination and natural breeding our cows with a bull. There are many pros and cons to both sides as I will list, but it really is a matter of preference for each farm hobbyist or full time farmer. I know some farmers who AI all the cows and never have had a bull and some farmers who swear by keeping a bull.
By artificially inseminating cows there is no other mouth to feed, it is relatively low cost and no aggressive bull to worry about while out in the field checking or working with cows. The downside is that it is very time consuming for the owner scheduling the vet, watching for heat and rescheduling the vet, watching for re -heat and watching for miscarriages down the road and heat again.
Keeping a bull is a huge investment to begin with. They are pricey, but if you can find a decent deal, when finished with him you may make your money back at the sale barn. There is another mouth to feed and another animal to worry about getting hurt or worse. Which would also mean loss of a huge investment and not having cows bred --HUGE RISK! The benefits of having a bull are that cows are getting bred -hopefully- without any real work on your part. Also, if he misses one or one doesn't stick he will get her next time around. The overall successful breeding rate of bulls vs. AI is much greater.
With all of this in mind and our AI trial last year,and only having 1 calf, we decided to purchase a bull. We bought a 4 yr old from a local farmer who rotates the 4 yr olds out to the sale barn. Since we only wanted him for a couple months --I do not want to worry about having a bull who is not as tame as our cows in the pasture any longer than I have to!-- this would work great. He is a full blood angus and looks amazing. He has a couple curved front toes that don't affect his breeding capability at all and is the reason he will be going to the sale barn in a couple weeks. Our hope is to make back most of our investment and come out no worse than we were financially and have pregnant cows to boot!
That is the plan and hopefully all works out well for us. I pray every day that he doesn't get hurt. We haven't had any issues with aggression or attitude. He simply would just as soon be away from us and us from him. He seems pretty gentle, but as I told the kids a thousand times "you just don't know for sure and cannot trust him". Soon I am going to schedule the vet to come out and preg check the cows so we know where we stand and how soon we can sell him. I haven't seen him on anyone this cycle so I am hoping they are all bred with some cute little ones that I can enjoy next spring. It gives me something to look forward to all long gloomy winter!
Make sure to make today a great day!!!