The bull seemed perfect for me. The bull was born on July 1, 2015 so it was only 2 years, 3 months old. The bull was an all black Angus. Due to the bull's history, if I wanted to I could pursue registering the bull. But since I don't have registered Angus cows, I mostly likely won't bother registering the bull. And the bull has a good easy going disposition.
The bull was outside of Polson, Montana so I hooked up my stock trailer, called Donna as second opinion on the bull's quality, and drove down.
The owner lives on Peace Drive. Apparently people like that name as the road sign was missing as people keep stealing the sign. A little extra driving as I drove a mile past the road, but I did find the ranch once I turned around.
Lots of black cattle in the area. I seen only a handful of red or white-faced cattle. The most concentrated large numbers of cattle I have ever seen. Many fields were filled with black cows and calves. Hundreds upon hundreds of cattle. Many hundreds. And hundreds and hundreds of large round hay bales stacked three high in multiple long rows.
The weather on the drive was scattered rain showers. Some areas in the distance had dark blue dense rain clouds stretching all the way to the ground. The hillsides miles to the south of the owner's ranch were white. She said it rained and hailed hard before we arrived. She showed us some hail still in the shade of her place. It was hail and not snow on the higher hillsides. A few hours later when we left the hillsides were still white with hail.
The owner specializes in breeding mini Aussie dogs. Her boyfriend was into cattle. He had gotten the bull to breed their Corriente cows, but after the horned cows chased him he sold the cows. Before he could get replacement cows without horns he had a heart attack and died. He was only 56. So since she only had a bull she was selling it.
The only question is how fertile the bull is. With no offspring or a semen test there is no certainty he is not "shooting blanks". If he can't perform it could be a lost year for calves.
Still, the bull seems perfect for me so I bought it. I also bought the metal hay feeder she had even though it was beat up. I loaded the feeder into my pickup after taking it apart. The young guy helping her had to use a grinder to cut a rusted bolt we couldn't unscrew.
Their little corral made of metal panels had no loading chute. So I gathered three bent metal panels and made a small chute at the end of my trailer which I had backed up to the corral gate.
The bull was easy going and the loading of him into the trailer went smoothly. We went slowly to not pressure and agitate the bull. I slowly maneuvered the panels to make the space smaller and smaller until the bull only had room to step into the trailer.
We took some of their old ugly and smelly hay that the bull had been eating and put it in front of the trailer to entice the bull. I am not sure if that enticed the bull or whether he tired of me pressing a panel against his rear but he stepped into the trailer. he walked to the front of the trailer and I was able to close the divider to keep him in the front half of the trailer. The less room he had to move made towing the trailer easier. The smell of the old hay bothered Donna all the way back to the ranch.
The new bull is less than half the size of Buddy so I was able to close the divider and the bull was also able to turn around in the trailer.
The drive home was uneventful. I got home a little before dark. Earlier in the day, now that the calves have calmed down, I had let them and cow #20 out of the corral and into the NE pasture. I added fresh hay to the south corral's feeder and placed the bull in there for him to adjust to his new home.
The bull has no brands so today Donna helped me put an ear tag on the bull so I have at least something in case the bull decides to run away. Even though the bull had watched me work on the Holstein calf in the head gate earlier, once I was ready to work on the bull he cooperated perfectly. When I opened the gate to the south corral he walked out. He walked straight over to the loading corral and walked to the back, then walked the loading ramp and into the head gate locking him in place. It all happened so fast I didn't get a chance to close the intermediate gates.
The bull only had a minor reaction to getting the ear tag. When I released the bull from the head gate he walked straight back over to and into the south corral.
That was incredibly easy!
The bull looks to be about 1000 to 1100 pounds. Dan came over to look at the bull tonight and he agrees with me. Both Donna and Dan are impressed how good the bull looks, with both especially pleased with the bull's head and face.
Compared to Buddy who weighed 2540 pounds, this new bull looks small as he is less than half the size of Buddy. But he will grow and even at this size should be able to mount the cows. He does seem to have a nice long penis.
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