Bull found dead this morning

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anderma61

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I went out to feed this morning and found my high dollar bull dead, not sure of cause. I am going to call the vet, hopefully he can give me some reason for this unexpected loss. I would also be interested in any thoughts you may have, and maybe what to ask vet to check for....maybe he will know already. Oh well, you pay the extra to try to benefit the herd and what do you get...a major set back.

Mark
 
I'd just wait on the vet and get his determination of death. We could give you a lot of possiblities but he should be able to give you the cause of death.
 
Always hard to lose a bull. We have only lost one in our time ranching. Bull flipped another on its back and died. Was a big shock for us, not financially as it was a home raised bull, but due to the calves that were on the ground and our hopes for breeding for more heifers off that bull. We got about 40 calves off that bull and only about 5 heifers, 3 of which went on to be good cows.

Investing in top dollar bulls is worth it for sure. The best thing to do is get insurance for at least one year on the bull, so you at least get one calf crop off of him without great financial pain. :cowboy:
 
Mark, it would help if you gave some more information about your operation. Where are you located? (in general) Was the bull on feed/pasture/hay? When was the last time you saw him alive?
 
Sold a bull this last spring to a fella and it turned up dead too . . . . after a thunderstorm. He had storm insurance. Took the bull to one vet who said there was lightning damage but also hardware damage which this particular vet thought was the cause of death. He took the bull to another vet who said the hardware damage WOULD have killed him EVENTUALLY, but had progressed only minimally at that point and traced it back to lightning. He turned it in to his insurance and bought another bull from me.
 
Yes, me and my father run an 80 head cow/calve operation in Taft, Tennessee (middle southern). I was running two angus bulls on a spring/fall calving rotation. They were both on feed, hay and grass until putting in with cows, then hay and grass....a little feed. I am going to guess trauma or hardware, but the vet is coming and we will see. We had put the bulls in a few weeks ago, did not notice any major fights, about normal. The bull in guestion was 3 years old and the older bull was 5. The older bull is a large angus bull, im guessing 2200+. This was the second servicing with the pair so I did get one use on half the heard. No insurance. When I say high dollar bull, $4500.00 is what I call a high dollar bull, especially this size operation. Oh well, live and learn. I did buy this bull from University of Tennessee performance sale and thought I would give the breeder a call just to let him know...maybe depending on what the vet says.

Thanks for your entrest
Mark
 
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The vet indicated that this was a case of blunt tauma due to fighting or hardware disease. He took some blood samples to make sure of nothing to cause heard a problem but felt sure it was isolated case and fairly rare to loose a bull of this health and age and thought it to be isolated. Oh well. major autopsy without lot of cost so we opted out on that. Chalk it up to Murphy I guess. The vet thougt that the mature bull we had in could service the 35-40 head we had to breed so we are going to wait for next sale to try another good bull. Just trying to up the heard and there comes a cost associated with that.
thanks for all the responses.
Mark
 
Hardware disease is metal picked up while grazing or in the feed. It goes to the stomach and stays there. Sometimes it will stick through the wall of the stomach and even through other organs nearby.
 
Wow, another thing to look for. I'm sure glad I only have 5 acres to check out. I'm always telling the grand kids not to leave anything out in the pasture when they go play out there. We have a pond and they like to go fishing there . I only let them take one hook at a time out there. And I have them make sure they bring it back on the pole. I don't let them take out fishing boxes out there. Also I ask for the toys that they play with. But I do walk the yard and look for anything that have might been there. Even with the fencing I look for old staples, or peices of wire even the clay things they shoot. I also worry about the shot gun they use and the piece that falls out after shooting. So I guest I wasn't crazy to worry about what they can pick up while grazing. The fire pile I always check out Before we got the herifers we burn anything that we could burn. And I'm still finding things. I even worry about the string the hay bales come with. To make sure none is left out for them the chew on. One more note to add to my information book. Thank you.
 
Mare":2upnwqo0 said:
Wow, another thing to look for. I'm sure glad I only have 5 acres to check out. I'm always telling the grand kids not to leave anything out in the pasture when they go play out there. We have a pond and they like to go fishing there . I only let them take one hook at a time out there. And I have them make sure they bring it back on the pole. I don't let them take out fishing boxes out there. Also I ask for the toys that they play with. But I do walk the yard and look for anything that have might been there. Even with the fencing I look for old staples, or peices of wire even the clay things they shoot. I also worry about the shot gun they use and the piece that falls out after shooting. So I guest I wasn't crazy to worry about what they can pick up while grazing. The fire pile I always check out Before we got the herifers we burn anything that we could burn. And I'm still finding things. I even worry about the string the hay bales come with. To make sure none is left out for them the chew on. One more note to add to my information book. Thank you.
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Drop a magnet in them and you don;t have to worry near as much.
 
As dun said if this worries you they make a magnet just for this purpose. It is cheap (I think about $4)and easy to use and usually takes care of any worries. That said I did loose a bull 2 years ago with hardware and he had a magnet in him. I guess nothing is 100%.
 
Jeanne - Simme Valley":lsp0f9co said:
Magnets do dissolve. Dairymen out here put magnets in all their cows. They use a compass & hold it near the rumen area to see if she still has a working magnet.
Plastic is also a big killer of cows. Darn cattle will eat anything.
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The guy who leased one of my pastures before me never picked up hay string. Although I have tried to pick it up it continues to come to the surface. The calves like to pick it up and chew it like cud. :mad:
 
Jeanne - Simme Valley":2j8uc9ma said:
Magnets do dissolve. Dairymen out here put magnets in all their cows. They use a compass & hold it near the rumen area to see if she still has a working magnet.
Plastic is also a big killer of cows. Darn cattle will eat anything.
Click to expand...
The cheap ones do but the good solid stainless ones will last for at least 12 years that I've seen. It's the crummy ones that are plastic and iron sandwiches that are pretty useless.
The good ones we've used in multiple cows. When one gets butchered we pull the magnet, clean it off and drop it inot hte next one
 
Harware disease really is not that common in pasture animals it is more common in animals that are bunk fed a TMR. Well, unless you have them grazing on a junk yard. Which in a few cases some farmers think that the cows pasture is the best place to put all their old junk and garbage. :???:

Like Dun said, if you use a magnet get the good ones not the coated plastic junk ones. They cost triple the price but they will out last the cow.

One more thing , do like Arron suggested and talk to your insurance agent about getting FL5 coverage on your bulls, at least one of them. It will cost about 30-40 a year depending on what you want them insured up to, and it covers everything regarding death ,except illness. Injury or hardware would be covered.
 
The vet was not all that helpful. IF this bull WAS killed by your other bull, I would be a little hesitant about dumping another boy bull in there with the old fella. You might want to consider letting this old bull finish up this breeding season and then sell him and pick up two young evenly matched bulls who can grow up together.
 

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