So the bull went in with cows on May 25th, which means the calves will arrive some nine months later in March next year. It’s important to keep dates and records as the more information we have, the easier it is to plan.
If you follow this column, you’ll know I hadn’t found a young bull and so had bought the slightly older Clive as a fill-in, but then I came across a really cracking chap – so Clive has gone to a heavenly farm on the South Downs where he’ll have spectacular views across the Channel – and the young stud, Jack Daniels 5th, has come to Coopers.
With a pedigree herd you call the cattle after their pedigree name and the female lines we have here are Lofty Lily, Daffodil, Heedless, Carnation and Delia. The bull would of course follow the same procedure and be called Jack but my friend Jim was down from London and much taken with having a bull named after him – so Jim it is!
Once Jim is with his cows I looker (the art of checking stock) twice a day for the first few weeks. He will only be interested in a cow when she is coming into season which occurs every 18 to 24 days. As her hormones build-up she will go round mounting other females but only when she will stand to be mounted,

known as standing heat, is she ovulating. So a young bull will observe all this jumping around and quickly work out which cow is the one coming into season, but unlike me he doesn’t just rely on visual cues. He’s got a vomeronasal organ to do the job! He’ll have a good sniff at the back end, especially

With a pedigree herd you call the cattle after their pedigree name. The bull would of course follow the same procedure and be called Jack but my friend Jim was down from London and much taken with having a bull named after him – so Jim it is!

if she is urinating, then curl up his lips to pass the air over his palette where said organ is found and this very accurately lets him know it’s time to go courting.

And although only a few months old, all this year’s bull calves (which they all are bar two heifers) will also be hanging around, trying to be grown up and bull-ish, like Jim.
The plan is that all the cows will be serviced and in calf by the end of July in order that we have a tight calving pattern next spring with all the calves born in March and April. As Jim has never “worked” before, by keeping a very keen eye I can also ensure he is fully functional. Most young cows will conceive after their first service, sometimes it takes two goes, but if lots of the cows are returning for a second go then it would be important to get the bull in and check his fertility. So far it looks like Jim is firing on all cylinders.
At the end of August, Mike Owen the scan man will come and all will be revealed. Timing is critical. He can’t really detect the presence of an embryo until it is about 35 days old and he can’t accurately detect the age of the foetus if it is more than three months old. But hopefully everyone will be in calf and we will have a list of the order in which they will calve. When you’re in the shed at 4am on a cold March night it’s useful to know who will be next!