Collecting Semen

[I luv herfrds]

Our big herd bull ,Pete, has gotten hoof rot. Vet came out and has treated him twice for it.
He is healing but slowly.
we really love his genetics and hate having to ship him. So I contacted a guy who does semen collection in Utah who is coming up in September so we are going to have him do a collection. Talked with our vet and he said there is a chance we might not get a lot out of him due to him being sick.

Will the hoof rot affect his semen production?

 

[Jake]

Our big herd bull ,Pete, has gotten hoof rot. Vet came out and has treated him twice for it.
He is healing but slowly.
we really love his genetics and hate having to ship him. So I contacted a guy who does semen collection in Utah who is coming up in September so we are going to have him do a collection. Talked with our vet and he said there is a chance we might not get a lot out of him due to him being sick.

Will the hoof rot affect his semen production?

Yes it can affect his production as well as the quality of the semen. He is still likely to produce freezable semen if otherwise healthy. Doing your best to keep get him over it will help the quality of the semen precollection.

 

[AllForage]

Did your vet actually jack his leg up and use a knife on the hoof? Perhaps he has a pus pocket that needs to be opened so it can drain. Hoof rot is our only real reoccurring issue due to our wet heavy clay. Some years worse than others.

 

[I luv herfrds]

AllForage they had to treat him in the pasture. When we get them in from the pasture the vet is going to check him over again and the jack his leg up.
when they first tried to get him in the weather had turned hot and they got him as far as they could. The vet was worried that if they continued to push him they could have over heated him and caused his death. Second time they came out got him farther but the same results.

 

[I luv herfrds]

Starting to wonder if it is hoof rot or not. When I first found him the inside of his right hoof was swollen above the hoof with a large sore there. Vet treated him twice. now the infection is on the outside of his right hoof and when I checked him today same type sore but it is leaking puss in 2 different areas. Called the vet again. I took a bottle of iodine with me and I sprayed his hoof to try to keep the flies off. Was moving better, eating. Saw him poop a real good one, not hard large lumps. Urine was a bit darker then I like to see, but was also sniffing the cows and showing an interest in the other bull sniffing cows; which he was not doing before.
Swelling on his leg has gone down a but is still swollen.

Hubby and I are both wondering if it is something else.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Starting to wonder if it is hoof rot or not. When I first found him the inside of his right hoof was swollen above the hoof with a large sore there. Vet treated him twice. now the infection is on the outside of his right hoof and when I checked him today same type sore but it is leaking puss in 2 different areas. Called the vet again. I took a bottle of iodine with me and I sprayed his hoof to try to keep the flies off. Was moving better, eating. Saw him poop a real good one, not hard large lumps. Urine was a bit darker then I like to see, but was also sniffing the cows and showing an interest in the other bull sniffing cows; which he was not doing before.
Swelling on his leg has gone down a but is still swollen.

Hubby and I are both wondering if it is something else.

Does not sound like "hoof rot" to me.

 

[3waycross]

Chris what did they give him for the foot rot......Nuflor and Banamine?

 

[I luv herfrds]

Not sure Vic. will have to ask the vet. Said it was a long acting antibiotic.

Since Pete is moving better hope they can get him in the corral and nip this in the butt.
Now wondering if he got into a cactus or could be something else.

 

[branguscowgirl]

It would be helpful of you had a pic of the sore, but this is what I am thinking.....
Could it be that he got gravel (dirt, sand ect.) up in his hoof between the wall and the sole and it blew out an abscess in the coronet band?
I see this quite frequently in horses. As soon as it blows out they have less pain and can walk better. But without epson salt and betadine soaks it will close off and abscess over and over again.

 

[I luv herfrds]

That is what we are all thinking now. An abscess. daughter and I are going to see what we can do to get him in tomorrow night. Been helping hubby move trucks in the morning then off to my job. Different shift tomorrow so I will be home earlier.

Laid awake most of last night trying to think of a way to get him in along with the other bull. Pretty sure I got a decent plan but everything can go wrong. Just hope we can get him in this other pasture much smaller and closer to the corral.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Wishing you luck!

 

[WalnutCrest]

Wishing you luck!

+1

 

[I luv herfrds]

Pete is in the corral! Almost got stuck once and a couple of swats with his yucky tail. Had to stop a lot to give him a break.
Once he was in and we ran the heifers and cows back out he laid down to rest. i gave him what was left of a core of grass hay and he went to eating like normal. Kept stopping to eat on the way in.

Did get a picture of his hoof.



Called the vet but also looking at what we can do with the epson salt soaks.

 

[3waycross]

Dam Chris that looks bad. I wish you luck!

 

[I luv herfrds]

Thanks, going to need it Vic.

 

[Ned Jr.]

That looks more like a injury than foot root to me being on the side like that. Bulls can take a long time to heal. The best treatment is to be prompt on bulls. I'd probably get him in and scrub it with a brush and disinfectant until all the old was gone and it was fresh pink and bloody. Then spray iodine on it and I'd probably hit him with 300 la and albon sulfur boluses. Or about 120 cc of long acting penicillin.

As far as getting him collected it probably wouldn't be the best time to try. Infection kills sperm. The chance of someone coming to your place and getting freezable semen on one collection would be slim to start with. Putting his condition and all the doctoring on top will only make it worse. There's a lot of places you can take him to in Montana to get him collected after he heals.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Yes Chris, good luck! That is a bad cellulitis. The soaks would definitely be good for it, but may sting quite a bit! He may not tolerate it too well. Hopefully the antibiotics will do the trick.
Still can't see if it is an abscess with the mud in the way. Can you tell?
Once you get it cleaned up real well, it wouldn't hurt to bed him on some real clean straw to keep it that way if you can......

 

[I luv herfrds]

Ok got him in the alley way to the chute; he won't fit so no reason to try; got a hose with water and just started soaking and spraying that hoof. Only brush I could think of was a toilet brush, but then remembered a vehicle brush. So I scrubbed it with the vehicle brush. Had some Underwood Horse Wound treat and I poured that on his hoof as I was scrubbing it. Not a happy bull. Some more puss came out. Not as much as I would have liked to have seen but better then nothing. Hubby looked at him last night and wondered if he had gotten bit by a rattle snake. I am starting to wonder that too. The swelling used to go from his pastern almost all the way up to his hip. The swelling is now between the pastern and hock.
There is an open wound in this area where you see where the blood is.
Ned no LA 300 but the 200. Got around 20cc in him.

Called the vet and told him we needed him out today.

brangus there is a large lump between the cleats of his hoof. Got a straw bale that got busted so going to put that in his pen.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Sounds like it is improving some. A "bite" sounds plausible, though I would think that you would have some black sloughing tissue by now.
Unless your LA 200 concentration is different than mine, "20cc" is not even close to touching it for that size bull.........
Glad the vet is coming out. Keep us posted.

 

[I luv herfrds]

I know the 20 is not enough. Was trying to inject him while he was jumping around. The rail road ties were placed wrong so trying to put that lead pipe behind him correctly was not possible. Figured it was better for me to walk away before I got angry and did something stupid.

He is walking better tonight. The swelling in between the cleats looks like it is coming to a head. Going to talk to the vet about lancing it.
The open wound is caked with dirt again.