Bull Trial

For the fifth year running the South Devon Cattle Society are running a Bull Trial unit at Waituna West, near Feilding. This gives us consistency and continuity, which the Society is very pleased with.

Once again there are 27 high quality bulls entered from studs situated from all areas of both the North and South Islands. There is a good variety of bloodlines, including polled and horned bulls.

With a top overall daily weight gain of 1.57kg/day for 2005 and 1.60kg/day for 2006, 1.59kg/day for 2007,, it will be interesting to follow the current group of bulls through to 2009.

All the bulls will be:

1. Run together in one mob
2. Grass fed, with summer crop or baleage in reserve
3. Weighed at monthly intervals
4. Assessed for structural soundness and docility
5. Ultra-sound scanned for Eye muscle area, fat depth & intramuscular fat %
6. Evaluated for fertility & breeding soundness (Beef Expo sale bulls only)

Monthly weight sheets will be sent to all participants and also available on the website.

Lanise is the local co-ordinating contact should you require any information. Please DO NOT phone the property owners direct.

BULL TRIAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Lanise Robertson   06 323 6488   Email: benvista@infogen.net.nz

Kevin McConnell    09 432 2120

Further information.

Click here for bull trial location map

IDENTIFICATION OF BULL TRIAL BULLS

Some of the bulls arrived at the Trial without the correct tagging or tattooing requirements. In some cases this made identification very difficult.

Any bulls that do not comply with the Society rules for identification of Registered cattle can not go to Beef Expo until they are tagged correctly. After the bulls have been inspected in March, the bulls that are selected for Beef Expo will have their identifications rechecked.

If there are any that do not comply with the Society rules, the owners will be notified. The appropriate tags will need to be supplied by the owner well before going to Beef Expo. All the bulls going to the Beef Expo sale must also comply with the Animal Health Board tagging requirements.

Bulls that are not selected for Beef Expo, must comply with Animal Health Board regulations before leaving the graziers property. If an unselected bull is returning home or not going direct to slaughter they must have 2 tags. ie: a bar-coded primary tag and a secondary tag. If a bull is being moved directly to slaughter it must have a bar-coded primary tag. It will be individual owners (not the graziers) responsibility to supply replacement tags if any bulls loose tags.

If you have any questions regarding the above information please contact a Board of Management Member.