Auction Markings

[sidney411]

Yes, I have personally seen them pull blood from every cow and bull at the auction barn, every animal estimated to be over 2, I believe. It doesn't take that much time, their in a chute anyway.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Bangs testing every adult cow and bull is part of the survellience program to get Texas certified free. The cattle are sold on the result of the "card" test which is run by the vet at the sale. It is hard to test that many cows when the cow runs get big. It takes less than a minute to draw blood on a cow. A technition then runs the blood. I haven't seen a Banger at the sale in years.

Bulls that have been fertility tested are announced prior to sale. At Van Zandt Livestock, Dr. Kinnard paint brands a "F" on bulls that pass a fertility exam and an "X" on those that fail.

Doc Kinnard is a good one. I know his entire family. He grew up in Hood County. Knew his mom and dad too.

 

[BC]

The paint brand "T" is to identify that they have been tested and are negative for Bangs.

I always thought that if a cow tested pos. for bangs, they branded them with a B on the jaw.



I know when my dad, brother and I used to run cattle together, we would put a different color mark with a paint stick on the calves so that when we got to the barn, we could write down what number's went to what owner.

mom

 

[Emgen]

Emory denotes a fertile bull with an "F". Not all bulls are fertility tested so I am assuming that the "T" (tested) bulls give the buyers of using for breeding or slaughter.

 

[stocky]

Here, every female over 2 years old has blood drawn for the bangs test before they go in the ring. No female over 2 can be sold without the test. They do not test bulls for this. There is a quick test and anything that shows a positive is held as a suspect and the blood is further tested to see if it is a true positive or a false positive. If she is positive again, and is determined to be a true positive, the state comes out and tests every female of that age on your farm to see if there are more positives. If the cow is a true positive, she is branded with a "S" on her jaw and can only go to slaughter. The reason for testing the slaughter cows is to find out if there is any of the disease in the state. If the cow was calfhood vaccinated late (after 11 months) she will usually show positive, for that reason you dont want to risk vaccinating if she gets close to that age. I am guessing the T on the bulls was that they were semen tested good to go home.