I have a Brangus bull, approximately three and a half years old. Over the last month or so he has lost a good bit of weight. For about the last 3 months he has been breeding a herd of 15 cows. He is alert, mobile, and when the last cow came in heat (this past week) he was definately interested. There's plenty of grass, he grazes and will eat feed/ corn when offered. he was wormed with pour on about 2 months ago. I am concerned about the weight loss. Any ideas appreciated.
bull losing weight
- Thread starter D Land
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Has he lost weight in the past while breeding as well?
Could be one or a combination of many things, could be hardware, parasites not killed by the pour-on (for a number of reasons), illness, Johne's, feed related, or worst of all the bull is just a hard keeper.
I would take his fever, take a fecal sample, take a blood smear, insert a magnet, use a good injectable dewormer like Ivomec Plus that will cover a wide variety of parasites and repeat the treatment 4-6 weeks later. If there isn't much of an improvement and there is no real reason oout of the blood smear and fecal tests, feed him out and send him to slaughter being very cautious before retaining any heifers out of him.
Could be one or a combination of many things, could be hardware, parasites not killed by the pour-on (for a number of reasons), illness, Johne's, feed related, or worst of all the bull is just a hard keeper.
I would take his fever, take a fecal sample, take a blood smear, insert a magnet, use a good injectable dewormer like Ivomec Plus that will cover a wide variety of parasites and repeat the treatment 4-6 weeks later. If there isn't much of an improvement and there is no real reason oout of the blood smear and fecal tests, feed him out and send him to slaughter being very cautious before retaining any heifers out of him.
Avalon
Well-known member
KNERSIE":sdvygxsv said:
I like this approach and agree completly. If you dont want to take him to the vet just yet. Take a fecal specimen to them first. But definatley give him the injectible wormer. I would also be curious, did have a lot of cows to cover in a short time span? I had a bull at one point that we let take care of about 30 cows. Most came in and were bred within a 45 day period. That poor boy needed some R&R at the end o the time period. Some just work so hard during breeding season that they have more interst in covering the cows than eating. Regardless of the situation I'd still try to follow Kinerse's reccomendations. Worming and tests never hurt a bovine.
TheBullLady
Well-known member
15 cows shouldn't make him lose a bunch of weight. Especially since you've been feeding him.
I'd suspect something more like a virus.. or Johnes. Hopefully not Johnes, but that's about the right age. What does his manure look like? And how much weight do you consider " quite a bit"?
I'd suspect something more like a virus.. or Johnes. Hopefully not Johnes, but that's about the right age. What does his manure look like? And how much weight do you consider " quite a bit"?
