Haynes the bull

I got a new bull.  I still have Toby, and will continue to keep him until he breeds all the cows this year.   But next year I will need a new bull as Toby is getting pretty large and it time for him to go soon.  Well, someone just put an ad on Craigslist as due to their recent health problems they are selling their herd of cows.   

While most of their herd are Red Angus cows and a bull, they have one black Angus cow and one black Angus yearling bull.   I'm not sure entirely why they had a black Angus bull and didn't castrate him after he was born.  They weren't entirely sure they would replace their older Red Angus bull with this black Angus bull.

Anyway, since it is a yearling bull he is not ready to breed cows this year.  Next year he will be older and bigger and ready.  So that works for me.  Bulls that tend to be ready to breed now usually cost more than $2,000.   Yearlings this size usually cost around $800.  And that is what I paid for him.  This yearling bull is on the thin side.   But cattle at my ranch gain lots of weight, sometimes are overweight.  So I am sure this bull will gain weight and be big enough next year. Perhaps due to the bull's thin weight I should have negotiated a cheaper price, but I got along well with the owner so I decided not to negotiate.

It is interesting.  The ranch's location is in Star Meadows.  I haven't been out to Star Meadow for years.  It is a very nice drive to go by Tally Lake.  The Tally Lake road is gravel, a little narrow, and a slow drive.  On the way back we took the upper road which is a paved road as Donna wanted to go on a different route.

Not too many ranches out there.  And it is a small world.  One time - 9 or 10 years ago - I needed a little more hay for my cattle and I ended up buying a few large round hay bales from this place.  Even though this place is out of location, there was a shortage of hay that Spring so I drove up here to get the hay.

This a unique place so it was nice to relive memories of it and see it again.

Loading the bull was a challenge as he wanted to stay with the other cattle and we had to go around and around to separate them; then around and around as the bull then didn't want to go into the loading chute.  Then a little challenge as he didn't have his loading chute slope upwards.  His stock trailer must be a little lower.  So the bull had to really step up to get into my stock trailer.  And unlike me who build a small extended platform beyond the loading chute, I didn't want to rush the bull as he could accidently step in a spot and hurt his leg.  But this bull didn't.  It all went fine.

For now I am leaving the bull in the south part of the corral.  Lots for green grass is growing there.  Due to his thin weight the bull needs to get off hay and onto green grass.  And staying in the corral a day or two will let him get accustomed to his new home.

The bull is shy and moves away when I walk towards him.

His old home was way up high in the mountains.   The former owner had his cows calve a month later  (starting in April) than me due to the cold.  So when you look at the photos of him you will see the bull still has a thick coat of fur, while all my cattle's fur is sleek.

Donna asked me what I was going to name him.  The former owner's first name was Myron.  Myron the bull didn't sound right.  So I went with the former owner's last name: Haynes.  Hayes the bull sounds better.

So we'll see if I made a good choice to have Haynes as my new bull.