Feature
Bull’s Eye: Targeting Nutritional Management of Bulls While many factors impact a successful breeding season and subsequent calf crop, nutritional management of your bulls is a crucial part of a successful operation and it starts long before they are turned out with the cows. By Courtney Verzosa HOW DID YOUR bulls perform last year? Did you get the calf crop you were striving for? Without adequate nutrition, the time and effort that producers put toward carefully selecting sires that would potentially add value to their operation through an improved calf crop, could go unnoticed. Fortunately, nutrition is a factor that can be altered to achieve optimal performance from your bulls.
72 | February 2014
For bulls, three nutritional phases should be considered in order to maximize their performance: conditioning prior to breeding season, nutritional management during the breeding season, and management after the breeding season is over. This article will look at some important goals to prepare bulls for each of these phases, and touch on some key points for success that producers should keep in mind.
Prior to breeding The goal prior to breeding season that most producers should strive for is to present their bulls to a cow herd in the best condition possible. Getting your bulls ready to work so that time, energy, and money are not wasted should be a top priority at least 60 days prior to breeding. Any necessary adjustments to body condition and/or the ration being consumed by the bulls should occur within this time period. The ideal body condition for a bull about to be turned out should provide the animal with enough reserves to last him through the breeding season, but not be so excessive to be detrimental to semen quality. This detriment can occur when excess energy is fed which can reduce semen quality and servicing capability