Bull fever - fertility?

[rgv]

Turned bull out last Sunday.
Long story short - by Tuesday morning he was by himself and just not up to par.
Hauled him back to the barn this morning and had the vet check.
had a fever of 105 - little mucus but not bad. No rattling in chest.
Gave him a long acting antibiotic and a shot for inflammation.
I'm concerned. I have heard a fever can cause fertility issues or possibly or a lapse in fertility.
We need him to go to work next week.
The vet thinks as long as he comes around in a couple of days he should be OK.

Blood tested ok - thought he might have got into acorns.

Any opinions?

 

[dun]

Only 2 waysto know. Turn him out and see if next year you have calves or have a BSE done on him before you turn him out.

 

[rgv]

BSE? Bull soundness exam? or a Semen Test?
I guess that is actually both eh.
I ask about doing semen test, but the vet said the lapse may happen after?

 

[rgv]

I just finally got all my cows in fall mode and within 70 days of each other. Don't want to jack that up.
have a possible other bull I can turn out - just not sure what % my risk is.

 

[bigag03]

With a fever of 105, your risk is high that he will have fertility issues at some point in the next 60 days. If you have another bull, I would use him. Have your bull BSE tested now, and again in 30-45 days. If he tests bad, wait at least 30 days and test him again.

Spermatogenesis (the process of sperm production) takes 60 days. For a simple example, if a bull spikes a severe fever that kills all sperm cells today then returns to normal temp tomorrow (I know that is a little too simple, but just for illustration), you will have to wait 60 days before quality semen is produced. This is because developing sperm cells as well as mature sperm cells were affected by the fever.

 

[rgv]

Thanks for the info.
Turnin alternate bull out.
Just don't want the risk and screw up my calving cycle.