On my most recent trip to and from our mountain cabin, I saw a few cowherds up close. All of these cowherds were running with bulls. Most herds had two or three times more bulls than they needed. I saw 25 to 30 cows in one herd with four young bulls. At least one was crippled. By the end of the season all four may be injured.
Most of the bulls didn’t look like bulls. They had steer heads and showed very little signs of masculinity. They are Sissy Bulls! A bull should look like a bull! It takes a masculine bull to produce feminine cows that are fertile. Sissy bulls produce subfertile cows that can’t get bred every year.
I am always surprised at the number of dry cows I see – especially with cow prices as high as they are. A dry cow is one that did not have a calf this year. She eats as much as a cow that is raising a calf – but she won’t produce any income. Dry cows are fat because they are not nursing a calf. In one herd, I saw a group of 12 cows with four calves. Eight of the 12 cows were fat dry cows.
Many of the cows that were nursing a calf were thin. Some were so thin they won’t get bred. They will be fat dry cows next year. Can you connect the dots? Sissy bulls produce hard-keeping, sub-fertile cows. Sub-fertile cows are incapable of getting bred every year for 10+ years. No matter what your banker says, a cow that does not wean a calf every year is not an asset. She is a liability!
Most cow-calf producers have selected for the wrong things for the last 40 years. Pharo Cattle Company® is different for all the right reasons! We breed and select for thick, easy-fleshing bulls that look like bulls. These bulls will produce thick, easy-fleshing cows with tremendous longevity and fertility. They can stay fat while raising a calf.
The bull pictured above is Daily Double. He ain’t no sissy bull! The cow is his granddam at 12 years of age. Notice her condition and udder. Her first calf was the great Pay Day bull who is the sire of Daily Double.
Many cow-calf producers are grossly in error when they assume an extremely masculine bull like Daily Double will not have calving ease. Masculine bulls don’t look that way when they are born. They look like the calf standing next to Daily Double’s granddam. Masculinity is a result of testosterone. Daily Double has extreme calving ease! His calving ease direct EPD is in the top 3% of the entire Angus breed!