Bull gone bad

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We took our two year old bull to the vet on 3/13 to get a BSE and Reich test. This is a partnership bull that we test prior to him going between partners. The bull was tested prior to turn out last bulling activity noted was 3/2. Vet did the BSE not one swimmer....repeat test not one swimmer. Needless to say I was in full blown panic mode he was on 41 head. We palpated anything called open we pulled blood. The good news we only called 7 open so it could have been much worse. Hopefully some of the ones we pulled blood on will come back pregnant.

Gizmom
 
Been there a couple years back.Too many cows checked as open so the vet tested the bull.24 hrs later,I had another bull out but still no calf crop for that group and may not get them moved back to fall calving for a while.Sold the bull for about half what I had paid for him but didn't go back on original seller because it had been over a year and did have one crop from him
 
It could have been far worse, I am thankful it wasn't. We talked to our partner on the bull and jointly made the decision to send him down the road. Our partner had to retest him prior to us getting him back this fall he passed the second go with no issue, his white blood cell count was elevated. We chalked that up to the ole stuff happens category, but after this I told him I'm done I've lost confidence in the bull and am not willing to take the risk next year. Our partner feels the same way so far only minor damage has been done so why risk major damage.

Jscunn
Hank has no clue,no sign of infection bull is in good body condition just no and I mean a big fat zero on swimmers. We have had bull fail but never with zero. Sure scratching our head over this one, he is going to make some good looking hamburger.

We have put another bull in with the group and now have to decide what to do with the ones he missed. I know three of the 7 are going to break my heart.

Gizmom
 
No swimmers but were there dead ones there? I would think such a rapid turn around would suggest some major event such as being febrile would be the cause and every chance the result you got is just a snapshot of things at the time of testing and may be improved even a couple of weeks down the track. However like you I quickly lose confidence in a situation like that and would prefer to move on, as they say $hit happens and the tear quickly dries from the eye once things are behind us.

Ken
 
gizmom":3dh4xred said:
It could have been far worse, I am thankful it wasn't. We talked to our partner on the bull and jointly made the decision to send him down the road. Our partner had to retest him prior to us getting him back this fall he passed the second go with no issue, his white blood cell count was elevated. We chalked that up to the ole stuff happens category, but after this I told him I'm done I've lost confidence in the bull and am not willing to take the risk next year. Our partner feels the same way so far only minor damage has been done so why risk major damage.

Jscunn
Hank has no clue,no sign of infection bull is in good body condition just no and I mean a big fat zero on swimmers. We have had bull fail but never with zero. Sure scratching our head over this one, he is going to make some good looking hamburger.

We have put another bull in with the group and now have to decide what to do with the ones he missed. I know three of the 7 are going to break my heart.

Gizmom

I know someone that would be proud to haul them to Georgia.
 
gizmom":nw9l91hc said:
We took our two year old bull to the vet on 3/13 to get a BSE and Reich test. This is a partnership bull that we test prior to him going between partners. The bull was tested prior to turn out last bulling activity noted was 3/2. Vet did the BSE not one swimmer....repeat test not one swimmer. Needless to say I was in full blown panic mode he was on 41 head. We palpated anything called open we pulled blood. The good news we only called 7 open so it could have been much worse. Hopefully some of the ones we pulled blood on will come back pregnant.

Gizmom


This is why I have seen others post here to always have at least two bulls in a herd in case one is firing blanks.

That is a crazy situation how that bull went infertile so quickly, though. Luckily most of the cows are bred.
 
We've had it happen at least once, wondered why the neighbors bull was in our pasture all the time. Next spring we figured out what had went on when the cross calves started showing up.

The bull I used two years ago was slow breeding may have had something to do with the cancer I could see in his eye when I was done with him.

It messes up your plans when it happens, hard to carry an empty cow but it wasn't her fault.
 
Doesn't an elevated white blood cell count indicate an infection of some sort? Not positive but thats what I was thinking.
 
M
Yes elevated white blood count = infection at least I am 99% sure of that. He was treated with antibotics and retested and as stated all was good on the retest. But this time everything was good just zero swimmers, no dead sperm none with bent tails just zero. We have never had a zero, nothing nada before. When we palpated the shortest bred was called 48 days. Of the seven opens we only pulled blood on 5. Two were observed bred on March 2nd so no need pulling blood they need to be bred at least 28 days for the blood test to pick it up. Just disheartening.

Gizmom
 
Got blood work back today final result 4 open out of 41. This could have been so much worse. We saw one of the four cycle today and the bull we threw in getting the job done. Based on the results and our records he went bad about 32 days before we found out. Had it not been for needing to get his BSE and tric test for our partner we would have been longer figuring this out, heck with only four open we might have blamed the cows, so I am glad we caught it but at the same time sick about it, if that makes sense.

Gizmom
 
Neighbor has what appears to be a "Bull gone bad". He is 2, on 7 heifers of the same age he dropped one calf on time, her second birthday essentially. None of the others are springing, bagged, hollow at the pin bones, or low slung midsection. He just doesn't do what bulls do. Is totally disinterested in the cows.

I figure he hurt himself early on possibly when he closed the one heifer that was successful. Haven't had the vet out yet. Getting him up is somewhat of a problem....limited facilities.
 
had he been with cows recently? I've seen where a bull hasn't been used regularly for a while then get to breed a cow the day before being tested and he'll come up empty on a test and just needs to go breed a few practice cows to get the pipes clean so to say.
 
Jake

He had been in pasture with 41 head 37 were safe the last 4 he bred were open. We have notes seeing him breed 3 of the 4 so know he bred them, figure he was shooting blanks at that point.

Gizmom
 
Jake

No we didn't test for BLV to be honest didn't think to. The bull has not had his 3rd birthday yet and BLV usually hits older bulls. That being said it could be exactly what is wrong just showing up at a younger age. The outcome would be the same he is headed to the sale barn tomorrow morning, makes we wish we would have tested for it.

Gizmom
 

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