After working the cows last month, the discussion of expanding our herd came up. Cowboy J. was telling us about a nice-looking Brahman bull that belonged to one of our neighbors. Originally, our goal was to buy a black Brangus bull to lessen the Brahman look from our Brangus cows. Charlie had even done a lot of homework about where to buy and talked to several ranches. That plan was put on the backburner after we had two visiting (not invited) bulls during the Fall. Our goal changed to finding out which of the cows were bred and taking care of their prenatal needs. We had put the idea of buying a bull off for a bit, but now we needed to talk about it. Charlie and Jason talked about breeding the cows with a Brahman bull. Charlie and I talked about breeding the cows with a Brahman bull. Jason and Danielle talked about breeding the cows with a Brahman bull. Finally, Charlie and Jason decided to talk to our neighbors and meet Big Boy.
We knew that Big Boy was a full-blooded Brahman bull and that he was halter-broke and could be walked around the pasture with a halter and rope. So far, he has bred small calves that grew quickly after they were born. This is important because some of our herd will be heifers (first-time to be bred) and it is usually better if their calves are small. Of course, you don’t want them to stay small so growing and gaining weight quickly is beneficial. We found out that all of his calves have been heifers (so far) which is good for us since we are building our herd with heifers that will become cows which give us more calves. Steers go to the sale barn to buy more cows and heifer calves!
Today was the day of transition. A portion of our common fence was cut and a temporary gate put in and Big Boy was walked into our pasture. He came in and quickly found the “ladies of the pasture.” Charlie and Jason were able to work with him by giving him mineral cubes. Thanks to our neighbor for taking the pictures of him with Charlie and Jason!
We’re looking forward to what the future holds with Big Boy as part of the herd. His immediate task is to find the three cows that need to be bred which will ensure that all 14 cows are bred with hopes of 14 healthy calves being born!
The Wheeler's Country Road 