This isn't the biggest bull in the world, but he is the biggest bull I ever raised. He is HC Merger 93M. He is an ET son of HS Rodeo Drive 062WR X*.Merger was a herd sire here for several years. He was a true gentle giant. I sold him at the auction market last June, and it was one of the hardest things I have ever done in the cattle business. It felt like I was betraying my best friend.He weighed 3270 Lb after an overnight stand in the auction mart, so I suspect he was over 3400 lb when he was full. Not only was he the biggest Rodeo son I ever saw, he may have been one of the best and best breeding sons of Rodeo. The only reason I sold him was that he had developed testicle degeneration the summer before and his testicles were dropped over 1 cm a month for 6 months, then it stopped as quick as it started. I had him semen tested a few times, and while he was still producing some semen, he never got back to having freezable semen yet he was still able to settle a few cows. For a bull of this size, he was extremely easy keeping and came in from pasture every year in better shape than he went out. He was wintered on good quality hay and only got grain supplement on the coldest days. When the breeding season was done, I would just drive the truck and trailer into the pasture and open the door to the trailer and stand and wait for him to come. He would walk into the trailer and I would close the door and drive home. He did this every year from the time he was a yearling.
Merger showed tremendous growth from birth. He was 102 lb at birth and was born unassisted from a small black recip. At 7 months of age he weighed 960 lb at Agribition. He had an incredible disposition and was one of the few animals I have ever had that never had to be halter broke. He led from the moment I placed a halter on his head, and had never been worked with at all previous to this. For the first while I thought that eventually he would snap and I would be in a wreck with him, but it never happened. When he was a 4 year old, I would drive into the pasture and he would walk over to the truck and wait for me to roll the window down. Then he would stick his huge head through the window , lay it against my chest and wait for me to rub his head.
I hated to sell him, as I had always thought he would die on the farm and be buried here. I finally decided it really was unfair to him to have him in a pen all summer by himself and get eaten by the flies. I had a lump in my throat when I drove away from the auction mart, and there was a couple times on the way home, that I almost turned around and went an got him again. He was my friend and I still miss him.