two questions

[aj]

Can you draw semen on a 10 month old bull? AND If a bull is red red red without a single white hair(Shorthorn-Red Angus composite) will his calves be more apt to red instead of white marks?

 

[justintime]

Age of a bull when you can collect semen is very dependent on the bull himself and his genetic make-up. I have collected semen from a couple of bulls at 10 months and I have had other bulls still producing too many proximal droplets in the semen at 14 months. Proximal droplets are generally immature sperm and usually decrease with age. Years ago, we leased CCS Marc Drive to ABS and he went to ABS headquarters at 9.5 months of age. They had a truck in this area so decided to take him along as they did not know when they would be able to be back close to here. We thought it would be a few months before they were able to collect semen however, they started freezing semen as soon as he arrived there. He was less than 10 months old when his first semen was froze. Last spring when we did our breeding soundness exams for our sale bulls, the two highest scores were from the two youngest bulls. They were both 10 months old when their semen was tested and they scored 92% and 96%. A couple older bulls ( 12-13 months) had to be retested just before the sale, as their semen was too immature to score high enough to pass.

In regards to your other question, I think a solid red bull is more apt to sire calves with more solid red color but there could still be calves with white markings depending on the colors in the background. The fastest way to remove white markings is to use a white bull, but you will end up with roans which may not be what you are wanting.

 

[aj]

Thank you jit.