To buy or lease a bull?

Vet John Pickering has advice on why farmers should consider leasing bulls.

Thirty years ago, Whanganui Vet Services commenced a contract heifer grazing scheme for dairy heifers called “Vet Care Grazing “which in turn meant that the heifers would eventually need to be serviced. It was then that WVS set up “Vet Care Bull Hire” which was dedicated to the lease of yearlings and 2-year-old jersey bulls to be used over the heifers on the “Vet Care Grazing” scheme, with surplus bulls leased to other farmers who didn’t want the expense and inconvenience of buying bulls and having to keep them on their property for a length of time.

I asked vet John Pickering, a veterinarian who started “Vet Care Grazing” and “Vet Care Bull Hire” some 30 years ago, why farmers should consider leasing bulls and what guarantees farmers have when leasing a bull.

“Apart from the expense of buying or rearing a bull; there is the cost of grazing him and taking out a paddock or two from the dairy herd and getting in the way. There is also the risk of the bull getting out of its paddock and mating young female stock before they are due to be mated, as well as mating cows out of season often at a considerable cost. This often results in the veterinary cost of pregnancy testing and injecting those animals found to be in calf.

Also, you need to consider the damage a bull will often do rubbing up against gates and fences and knocking ball cocks off water troughs which they seem to enjoy. Digging holes in the paddock and making fresh patches of mud and then jumping fences to visit the neighbour’s stock and perhaps getting their female stock in calf can result in another added cost, as well as embarrassment.

Hiring bulls from “Vet Care Bull Hire” will avoid a lot of this trouble and cost because bulls are delivered at the start of mating and picked up and taken away at the end of mating.

With the business being under the care of veterinarians, there is the added advantage of health and nutrition being taken care of. All bulls leased are certified to be above specified weights and body condition, in good health and not lame, have had their testicles checked, BVD virus tested and vaccinated, Leptospirosis and IBR vaccinated, free from Tb, due diligence carried out to limit the risk of Mycoplasma bovis and been treated with a tickicide before delivery to limit the risk of the tick-born disease “Thieleria”.

The bulls used are all Jersey, as most of them are used over dairy heifers on the grazing scheme. Over 90% of bulls used in the grazing scheme are Jerseys. Why Jersey bulls you might ask? That is because Jersey calves are almost guaranteed to be easy calving.

Three experienced bull farmers are contracted to raise the bulls in Hawke’s Bay and Rangitikei. About 700 bulls are being used this year. As well, 10 dairy farmers are rearing about 250 jersey bull calves for the scheme that will be purchased by the bull farmers at weaning. The bull farmers own the bulls and are paid a hireage fee when used by “Vet Care bull hire”.

The bulls will be servicing heifers on the 30 contracted grazing farms in Wanganui, Rangitikei, Manawatū and Hawke’s Bay. The surplus bulls are going to herds in the same districts as well as Taranaki, Wairarapa and Waikato. Some used over heifers, and the rest to tail up herds.

Some large operations will lease up to 20 to 30 bulls a year, while smaller operations may only lease two or three bulls.

Well-managed and professionally operated by John Pickering, a very experienced veterinarian, this proven service has been operating for over 30 years with some clients leasing bulls year after year for the past 20 to 30 years. With that wealth of knowledge, there is not much John doesn’t know about bulls.