Calving season is over and now it is fall time and the calves are ready to be weaned off their mothers. It is now time to start evaluating the calves bulls and heifers. This article is going to focus on the evaluation of bull calves and who makes the cut of herd sire prospect, exhibition steer, or a cull calf to feed out and sell as beef.

 

A herd sire prospect should be able to wow someone when they see him and be able to win shows near and far. He should have loud color, have excellent beef qualities, be gentle and easy to handle, and have excellent horn growth. The bull to the left  is at a good starting point at weaning. When he turns a year old he will really start to show his stuff and at two years old he will really start to define himself as either a good bull or a great bull. Many breeders decide to early if a bull is a herd sire prospect, a steer, or a cull. Give your bulls time to mature and grow. Weigh, measure and record their data one by one and then make a decision based off of data.

 

Each year at weaning decisions are made it is what is required. So what do you do with your Texas Longhorn bulls? With generic beef breed that are used only for beef longhorns are versatile and have more than one us. Decisions must be made to identify the highest value bull calves out of your calf crop. With good genetics and a marketing plan the bull calves should sell themselves and you should be able to maintain your female herd this way. The best results would be to raise all breed improving herd sire prospects to sell for high dollar prices, however we know that chances of every calf being an awesome herd sire is not likely and most calves are just average. That is when knowing the difference between a good herd sire prospect and a great herd sire prospect is very important.

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                                                                      Identifying that one very special bull is a very hard and sometimes stressful job and is even harder with                                                                        Texas Longhorn bull calves. Unlike with other beef breeds where a producer can compare an EPD chart and                                                                    calculate the expected performance of that bull calf Longhorns are a bit more complicated. You will want to                                                                    look for a bull calf that has it all. As said earlier conformation should be the first concer. Does the calf have                                                                      a straight back ( top line) is he as long as he is tall? Are his shoulders lever with his back and not sticking                                                                        out above his back ( open shouldered), is he trim and thick? Next consider his color; is he white? All black?                                                                      Maybe just red? These colors would be great for a commercial herd but when considering for a registered                                                                      Longhorn herd look for a bull that will grab people's attention with his color and that doesn’t blend in                                                                                amongst the group. Look at his horn growth compared to other calves his age; is he above average, below                                                                      average, or average? What is his horn shape like, upward, down and back? Straight out with the tip curling                                                                      up? Look for a bull calf that has a horn tip that point back towards his rear end and you may have a winner.                                                                    Combine all these things and then separate your bull calves accordingly.

 

A start to separating the weaning bull calf crop would be to divide it into three groups. Group one should be

your herd sire prospects, group two would be steer prospects, and group three should be your feeder steers

or also known as cull calves. To the right you will see a photo of a trophy steer prospect. His sloppy under

skin and low back eliminate him from being a herd sire prospect. He has everything needed to be considered

as a trophy steer, his flashy color and great horn growth for his age makes him a good steer prospect and

he should be castrated at 6-8 months of age and watched to see if he is growing a lot of horn to be a good

steer.

 

Feeder steers should be evaluated for overall beef quality and fast gaining abilities. A thick forearm, heavy

bone, and a long body with a full hip but minimal horn growth and dull coloring is a good prospect for a

feeder steer what some would call a cull.

 

Most breeders would enjoy raising a famous herd sire and this may cause them to retain a large group of young hopefuls, however the real profit may be easier to achieve with feeder steers. A well fed steer can be sold for $1,900 - $2,200 easily as cut and wrapped beef. Consider only keeping a few bulls for herd sire prospects and make the these few bulls the elites of their group and castrate the others to be feeder steers.

 

As the three directions to market your bulls calves are carefully considered the percentage of each type can be manipulated by sire selection. Sires can be used that cause top-end high dollar herd sires to be multiplied, or sires for recreational steers or feeder steers may be used. Planning and management of your herd along with personal goals of which direction you would like your herd to go in will be the determining factor in your herd sire selection. A herd can be registered and each certificate kept up to date and data recorded on each head, or the herd can dwindle down to a generic unregistered commercial herd and loose profitability. These are the management decisions each breeder must make and the decisions that will make or break your herd.

 

Texas Longhorn cattle are the most diverse and versatile cattle on the planet. There are more different ways to make a profit with a Texas Longhorn than your neighbor who raise black cattle can even begin to imagine. Pick your direction for your herd and go for it, meet your goals and build your herd the way you want it!