bull failed breeding exam

[76 Bar]

Not at all uncommon for some bulls to go down in the chute - and it's got nothing to do with the vet 'not knowing what they're doing'. Some of them just do that.

I respectfully beg to differ. I had the misfortune of having to utilize a clinic for many years whose long time practitioners thought they were god incarnate and were clueless about conducting a proper BSE...assuredly never did a rectal examine nor examined the penis...They jammed the ejaculator in and immediately and relentlessly cranked the juice full full bore. Bulls instantly dropped like rocks. Vets insisted it was my bull's fault. Pointless to offer constructive suggestions. Finally bit the bullet and opted to haul bulls 4+ hrs over an ardous mountain pass to a highly skilled DVM skilled at conducting thorough BSE's including thousands consigned to purebred sales. Thank my lucky stars when I relocated to Oregon the local Lg Animal Vet is equally talented.

 

[farmerjan]

We do not do our bulls every year although I know it is recommended.... but the ones we have had done, we have never had a bull go down. I even got to look in the microscope and see the motility... it was neat. The vet was quiet and calm, the bull never even flinched. He said that our bulls that year were very easy to work with. And all passed with flying colors.

 

[76 Bar]

The vet was quiet and calm, the bull never even flinched.

That coupled with expertise is & being savvy is the key.

 

[TCRanch]

My current alpha bull had to be tested 3 times a couple years ago - in a row. Vet gave him a breather in-between while he measured/checked everything else out, and his count kept going up, eventually to 90%. Don't recall what his percentage was last year but he's definitely a breeding machine. Well, contingent on this years results - knock wood.

 

[SBMF 2015]

We worked cattle the other day and had the vet test the bull for breeding soundness. The vet said the bull was at 25%. During the test the bull was shaking and went down in the chute-hadn't seen that before. The 33 month old bull sired 11 calves for us last year with 9 calving in 22 days and the other 2 a month later.

The bull had a snotty nose for a couple of weeks and runny poop that a fecal exam did show some parasites.

We leased a bull for now. I'm wondering if I should have him retested later or ship him to be processed. View attachment 1482

What do y'all think?

Good looking bull.
Lots of good advice. When we have had bulls fail BSEs in the past we wait 90days and retest. I'd worm him, give him some Nuflor and a full size of Multi-min90. Turn him in with a cow (open cow if you have one). Then just wait and see how he retests.
We used to test a lot of bulls at the sale barn (20-75+ per breeding sale) we got really good at doing a good job collecting bulls efficiently. We probably averaged 15minutes from the time the headgate closed to when we let the bull out and on to the next one. Part of that time was ALWAYS a min or two of extra palpation. That "foreplay" almost always made the bulls collect easier .
Also probe position is just as important as the way the controls are ran while collecting a bull.

 

[76 Bar]

Part of that time was ALWAYS a min or two of extra palpation. That "foreplay" almost always made the bulls collect easier .

Agree. Those who fail to appreciate/utilize that aspect of the test inevitably are the one's who can't get a decent sample and or wind up with bulls down from the get go.

 

[Lisagrantb]

This was a few years ago but my dad bought a high powered bull from a well known breeder. We tested him and the vet said he was sterile, breader said otherwise, tested at another vet and same response. We left him with a white bull and 50 or so known producer cows and when they calved guess what, 80% were black. I'm sure the test and procedures are better nowadays.

 

[Buck Randall]

This was a few years ago but my dad bought a high powered bull from a well known breeder. We tested him and the vet said he was sterile, breader said otherwise, tested at another vet and same response. We left him with a white bull and 50 or so known producer cows and when they calved guess what, 80% were black. I'm sure the test and procedures are better nowadays.

Some bulls just won't perform if it's not the real thing. I've seen a couple of different bulls who were known to settle cows that would never produce anything other than a sterile sample for the vet. Different vets, different days, different techniques - it didn't matter. They saved the good stuff for the ladies, apparently.

 

[bird dog]

Kinda like a rapid covid test. Not worth doing for some.

 

[ccr]

Thanks for all of the good advice. We shipped the bull today. A couple of cows I seen him breed came back in heat. Hopefully this lease bull took care of them.

 

[kentuckyguy]

Nice looking lease bull. Is he RA or Sim?

 

[ccr]

Thanks he's Red Angus. Don't know much about him. Called a friend and told him about the hereford bull failing the BSE and he said bring your bull over and pick up one of these red angus bulls. So I did. Today he took the hereford bull along with others to the sale barn. Sure like the red baldies the hereford bull put on the ground, but didn't work out this year.

 

[gcreekrch]

Time will tell but I like the red bull far more than your Hereford.

 

[gizmom]

We worked cattle the other day and had the vet test the bull for breeding soundness. The vet said the bull was at 25%. During the test the bull was shaking and went down in the chute-hadn't seen that before. The 33 month old bull sired 11 calves for us last year with 9 calving in 22 days and the other 2 a month later.

The bull had a snotty nose for a couple of weeks and runny poop that a fecal exam did show some parasites.

We leased a bull for now. I'm wondering if I should have him retested later or ship him to be processed. View attachment 1482

What do y'all think?

I would get him retested if he had a snotty nose he could of had a fever a fever will kill swimmers.

 

[kcarr716]

When we have a bull fail a test we generally wait 2 or 3 weeks and try again, especially coming off a hard winter. A lot of times on retest they are fine, with a 2md failed test we send them down the road. 25% is pretty low though