The objective for a well-balanced and functional bull is to get 85% of his cow's settled on first service and do that job on grass and or hay and maintain his body weight. The libido must be high and he must have at least 85% of his sperm cells alive with forward motion.

Masculinity has to be the primary objective in selecting a yearling bull to breed your cows.  Masculinity is in the head, neck, and shoulders. The neck must have a large crest with a short neck. The shoulders must be very wide with meat or muscling covering the blades. The legs must be very wide where the exit the chest cavity. The front feet and legs must be straight and lined with the body for ease of traveling. The lower jaw of the bull must be heavy, with a wide mouth and large nostrils, and lots of guts. The head hair must be coarse. A bull of any breed must have coarse, masculine hair on the head, neck and upper front limbs and on the thighs and dark in color. The hair on the tail switch is coarse, masculine and very often curly. A masculine bull will have a thick hide covering his neck and shoulders. A masculine bull will shed hair early in spring with short thick hair replacement. Yearling bulls with heavy short neck, wide and meaty shoulders controls the birth weight of his calves and also correlates with uniform gestation and uniform weaning weights.  All of this results in more pounds of beef.  The bull described will deliver calves within 2-3 pounds of his birth weight (either side). If a bull is not masculine at twelve month of age than he is a bull only in gender. The chest of the bull must be deep and convex (flat, not pinched) for ease of keeping.

The bull must have the heavy front as just described.  The rump area must match the neck and shoulders with a well rounded, deep rump with lots of meat (not flat muscled). The rump area must be at least 45% (wider is better) as wide as the bull's hip height. The flat muscled bull normally is too tall and will have a square rump thus causing his daughters to have calving problems.

The testis must be a minimum of 38-40 centimeters at 12 months of age. They must hang straight down and not tucked up in the back, both being the same size and shape. They must hang side by side (not twisted) with no enlargement of the teats. The scrotal sack must have a buckskin look with a short fine hair covering. The bull must have proper tons of the testicle and epididymis. The length is as important as the circumference. The bull must have a well-formed sphincter muscle to close the sheath opening (no hanging of the prepuce or “foreskin”). All bulls should have pigmentation of skin on scrotal, eyes and hide with dark hoofs. Adaptation to location is of utmost importance.
 

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