We have a Castrated Jersey Bull. He has horns, is a year and a half and is not aggressive. I want to keep him for 6 more mos. but am worried he might get agressive without warning as I have heard Jersey bulls do. However he is castrated. Does this make a huge difference in behaviuor?

-- Paul Konstantino (ptkonstant@aol.com), January 03, 2001

Answers

I've raised several jersey steers. Castrating does help...however horns on any cow is an invitation to bully others. If you see a cow with horns around others that have been dehorned you will notice the difference ...especially around the feed trough. The steers I raised for the most part were gentle and affectionate right up to the moment I loaded them in the trailer to go to the butcher....talk about some good ribeye..yum! Just take precautions that should be taken with any large animal. Don't turn your back on him when you are in his pen and know where all the exits are. Growing up on a ranch that raised grey brahmans, I can attest to the fact that you can climb a fence faster than you think you can. Two or three fences actually :o).

-- Amanda in Mo (aseley@townsqr.com), January 03, 2001.

Agree with the above. A steer that size can hurt you just playing. On the horns, a somewhat Old-Order family called me and asked if I could take the horns off of a young Holstein bull, since he was acting a bit agressive. I did so and they said he calmed right on down. Ask your vet what it would cost to have his horns clipped.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 04, 2001.

Ok, my question is are bulls always agressive? Are there ways to keep him gentle? annette

-- (j_a_henry@yahoo.com), January 04, 2001.

Annette:

Every bull is different. On all of the bulls I have had, we have respected each other. Only one to be a potential problem was a Brahman who just didn't like to be in the corral. Chased me out of it. He went to the livestock auction shortly thereafter. Another Brahman I had, his half-brother, would let you lay on him while he was laying down and worked in the corral fine.

Another bull I had got a bit uppidy and I hit him on the nose as hard as I could. Hurt me, startled him. He didn't do it again though.

A guy in the area had a bull he bottle-raised. Gentle as a kitten. One day he walked up to him in the field and the bull put him on the ground, breaking many of his bones. They speculate what happened is the bull had been fighting with another bull and lost. When he saw Billy coming he figured, "Well, here is someone I can take out."

I try not to make pets out of them, but do carry range cubes to give to them hand-fed. Since they outweigh me by about eight times, and can jog far faster than I can run, I keep a healthy respect for them.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 04, 2001.

We have a Jersey steer we are raising for beef. He's got horns and he likes to push with them. Our boys know they should be careful around him. Our neighbor keeps telling us to butcher him, as they are so dangerous. He'll be ready in about 6 months. Personally, I feel he is no more dangerous than other steers we've had with horns. I think the other posters are correct - it's the horns that make them dangerous. Mary

-- Mary Fraley (kmfraley@orwell.net), January 04, 2001.

This is off the point, but might be of interest to those raising a steer for the freezer.

In the 1974 edition of Animal Agriculture, there is a table "Comparative ratings on economic traits of 29 breeds of cattle now available to North American producers.

One of the carcass traits was tenderness. On a scale of one to five, with one being the best, the only two breeds to rate a one were the Guernsey and Jersey. Holsteins rated a two. There are feed lots in California which grow out nothing but Holstein steers, since most of them come out graded USDA choice.

It gave the optimal weight to slaughter also. Angus: 950, Guernsey: 900, Holstein: 1,200 and Jersey: 850.

I threw in Angus since the optimal weight is similar to Guernsey and Jersey, but another trait was cutability. Here the Angus scored a four, while both of the others scored a two.

When all of the traits were considered, of 29 breeds, Holstein rated #1, Brown Swiss (a dual-purpose breed) #3, Ayrshire #4, Jersey #9, Maine-Anjou #11 and Guernsey #15. Angus came in at #13. The only dairy breed in the lower half was Milking Shorthorn.

It makes one wonder why dairy breeds take such a discount at the livestock sales barn.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 05, 2001.

I'd like to agree that jersey beef is very tender. I prefer them for butchering even though you don't get as much meat as fast. I told a cattle farmer friend of mine I was raising jerseys for meat and he just shook his head. Told him to come have dinner with me some time....he never did unfortunately.

Ken, I have extensive experience with brahmans. We raised 1200 acres worth of registered gray brahmans on our families ranch. We raised huge show quality bulls. Took grand champion in Fort Worth one year :o). Almost without exception you could walk up to any of our bulls and most of the cows out in the pasture and they were fine. Only exception was cows with young calves. When the trouble started was when you put them in a corral. Something just makes them go nuts when they are in an enclosed area. Papa would work the bulls out in the pasture. He always fed them in a special area. He could just walk up and give them a shot...they would jump a bit but keep eating. I've seen cows come THROUGH a power river heavy duty gate when in a corral. Seen em come over a 7 ft fence too. I loved our bulls and we kept the one that won grand champion in the pasture out front of our house. He was so gentle us kids would ride him. This bull was huge....thought he was a person he was so spoiled. He walked over a concrete reinforced fence once following us up to the house from the school bus. Every breed has their peculiarities.

-- Amanda in Mo (aseley@townsqr.com), January 05, 2001.