JUNIOR CONNECTION Getting to Sale Day By Lily Judd
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rowing up on my family’s ranch, Judd Ranch, in east central Kansas, I’ve had a lot of interests. Some you grow out of as you get older, some you grow into and start to become more passionate about. That is how I would describe my interest in our annual bull sale. Sure, some factors are more interesting than others and there’s a wide variety, but the way it all works together really fascinates me. Allow me to walk you through the process of preparing our bulls for our customers as well as what happens after our annual sale. We run around 800 head of registered Gelbvieh, Balancer®, and Red Angus cattle. Our annual bull sale is held the first weekend in March, where we offer 300 head; our female sale, where we offer around 150 head, is the second weekend in October. We have two time frames in which our calves are born. We have spring calving that covers the months of January through early March, as well as fall calving that includes the months of August through mid-October. On sale day, we are able to offer the spring bulls as yearlings and the fall bulls at eighteen months. We do this as some of our customers prefer the older bulls while others are happy with the younger ones. Within 72 hours of a calf being born, a birth weight is manually taken. Along with getting a weight, we vaccinate, tattoo and ear tag calves. Since the spring calving conditions can be harsher than those in the fall, once the calf hits the ground (at any hour of the day) to around the 72 hour mark they will stay in the calving barn. Once they are tagged and ready to leave the barn, we will haul them to pasture a little farther away from the main house. We also rotate fall calves to a different pasture once they are born.
Fall Bulls In November, we will split fall calving cows into groups according to their age. These cows will go to pastures with bunks. Calves have access to creep feed and hay during this time, and will continue to be managed like this from November through March. Around spring break time, we will run these calves through the chute to get a 205 day weight, brand and administer more vaccines. Afterward, bulls and heifers will be sorted and turned back out on
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grass with their mommas until the middle of June, when we will bring them back in and wean. We’ll get another weight at this time, split them into different pens based on their frame type. Right after weaning, the bulls will start a gain test for 45 days, afterward, they will be ultrasound scanned, pelvic and scrotal measured and turned back out on grass before winter. The bulls will spend the winter months back in their original groups that were sorted after weaning.
Spring Bulls Since the conditions are less harsh, spring bulls are sent straight to grass. We may move them around a little bit, but for the most part they are left alone for most of the summer. In late July we will do the same sorting process and branding as we do in March to the fall bulls. They get to enjoy some added time on grass until they are pulled off their mommas in mid-October. Just like when the fall bulls are weaned, a weight is taken and they are separated into groups based on their size. Once again, after the bulls are sorted they will be put on a gain test. This is also when we sort out about 40 head to potentially take to the National Western or Cattlemen’s Congress in January. We think the pen shows that have been held at these stock shows are very unique and a great opportunity to advertise our bulls. Through most of December, we are working to collect more data on the bulls. We take this opportunity to scan each and every bull that will be going through the sale and semen check them. Every bull that goes through the sale has passed a breeding soundness exam. We start clipping by the end of January, as the selection of which bulls are in the sale is pretty well finalized. We clip the bull’s head and neck; this is also when they get their lot tags. The process is typically wrapped up by the middle of February. Since a majority of the bulls are kept a couple miles north of the homestead, the last few days in February are spent hauling all of the bulls to the main ranch and getting them situated in their assigned pens. Once they are brought to the main place, they are typically washed within the next day or two to get them cleaned up for the sale.
