Letter to the editor: bulls too big to serve heifers

Norman McMordle, Saintfield, Co Down

DEAR EDITOR: I read your article in last week’s edition on bull longevity with interest. You correctly stated the Hereford and Angus are mostly used in dairy herds, which is a tough environment, working mostly on slated passages.

However, the biggest reason that bull buyers give when purchasing new animals is that Hereford and Angus bulls after two seasons are too heavy to serve heifers (on many farms they serve heifers and then sweep cows).

We need growthy bulls to get dairy crosses to killing weights by 24 months, but these modern native bulls get to 1,000 to 1,100kg+ by three to four years and have to be moved on. Often their kill value goes a long way towards buying a replacement.