Extreme Cold Weather Affect
- Thread starter 504RP
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SBMF 2015
Well-known member
If they didn't have enough bedding and were in less than adequate condition. I've seen bulls freeze their testicles.
If it's a bull that has the potential to improve your cow herd, and you like him then he's worth retesting. If he's just a clean up bull then find a replacement and send him down the road.
If it's a bull that has the potential to improve your cow herd, and you like him then he's worth retesting. If he's just a clean up bull then find a replacement and send him down the road.
Rancher
Well-known member
Never heard such bs on bull nuts. All male animals including us cowboys have-um hangin to keep them cool. nuts keep at least 15 degree cooler have best fertility, My bulls see 60 below zero sometimes and never freeze them jewels, yes I said never.
The reason i ask this question is because i had a 5 year old bull test bad on it's semen sample.
Vet said alot of bull's more than normal were testing bad for some reason this year and he thinks it was because of our record breaking cold temp of - 11 degrees we had for one night, it did stay below zero for a few nights when that happened. The vet said he thinks that is why so many bulls tested bad this year. I told him that didn't make since because cattlemen run bulls in alot colder weather for alot longer than we do here. The vet said that thoes cattlemen put their bulls inside barns to keep them in during weather like that ?
Vet said alot of bull's more than normal were testing bad for some reason this year and he thinks it was because of our record breaking cold temp of - 11 degrees we had for one night, it did stay below zero for a few nights when that happened. The vet said he thinks that is why so many bulls tested bad this year. I told him that didn't make since because cattlemen run bulls in alot colder weather for alot longer than we do here. The vet said that thoes cattlemen put their bulls inside barns to keep them in during weather like that ?
kenny thomas
Well-known member
You better get a different vet. How many members put their bulls in a barn. I know of 1 and he winters everything in a barn
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Rydero
Well-known member
No barns for the bulls lol. Lots of bedding. I've seen them badly frostbit elsewhere but I've never had one with significant damage, not sure why - maybe some bulls are stupid and lay them on ice, or no bedding. A fair number of bulls will fail a first test and pass at a later date, but maybe that's everywhere.
How cold and bad does the weather get in your area ?
Nick Wagner
Well-known member
I’ve got angus cows with white teats because of frostbite and a calf with half ears, bulls run with the cows most of the year. In cold weather those jewels are tucked up tight. Other thought is that I’ve been told sperm cells take about 60 days to develop, that was end of March or so.
Rydero
Well-known member
-40 with nasty winds for extended periods every winter.
My vet said a lot of bulls didn't pass their BSE this year. Coincidence? But we rarely get the epic cold for extended periods of time and I suspect a lot of them don't provide bedding. I don't keep my bulls in a barn, but they have a livestock shelter - and yes, with lots of bedding.
Buck Randall
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Bulls can, and do, freeze their testicles, but it's not strictly a function of cold weather. I'm sure they're fine at -60, as long as they're dry (and they will be when it's that cold). The places where I've seen problems are when the bulls were wet and the temperature dropped dramatically. A cold rain or warm snow followed immediately by below zero temps will do it.
Did your vet have any opinion as to what he thought might be the reason so many failed the BSE this year ?
What kind of problems have you seen happen to bulls when that happens ?
Buck Randall
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Damage to the epididymis, causing them to shoot blanks. Some of them had visible frostbite on the bottoms of their scrotums.
I don't know of anyone in my location that puts their bulls in some kind of shelter during cold weather nor put any kind of bedding down.
I have seen several open sided barn type shelters that I think we're bilt for shade more than anything else.
I bilt one of thoes myself in the pasture I winter my bull in along with a few cows to keep the bull company.
They use the shelter during rain and snow. I never put bedding down underneath it though. I think it would accumulate alot moisture in any bedding material along with manurer.
Came up on a cow that had fail into a beaver den beside a small branch.
All that you could see was one side of it's head from behind it's ear to its nose.
I guess when it fail through it might have thrashed around trying to get out and the bank caved in around her covering all of her up except for its head.
I was deer hunting along the branch and as i stepped over what I thought was a hole. I looked down just as i stepped over and the cow blinked its eye.
Spooked me so bad that my step turned into a up and over flight across the hole. It was in the all and leaves had been falling that had covered up all the dirt around the hole. Other than the hole itself nothing looked out of place.
After i got my heart back in my chest I flipped the safety off my deer rifle with it pointing in the hole as i eased back up to it to see what that was that had blinked.
It was a full grown black cow. So worn out that the only thing it could do was blink its eye every now and then and ocassionly flick its ear.
Contacted the owner. Found a few days latter they had taken a back hoe, bilt a road through the woods to the branch. Dug the cow out and put it in a barn where it died from hypothermia according to the owner.
Said that all except the cows neck and head was submerged in cold branch water after it had fail into the beaver den.
All that you could see was one side of it's head from behind it's ear to its nose.
I guess when it fail through it might have thrashed around trying to get out and the bank caved in around her covering all of her up except for its head.
I was deer hunting along the branch and as i stepped over what I thought was a hole. I looked down just as i stepped over and the cow blinked its eye.
Spooked me so bad that my step turned into a up and over flight across the hole. It was in the all and leaves had been falling that had covered up all the dirt around the hole. Other than the hole itself nothing looked out of place.
After i got my heart back in my chest I flipped the safety off my deer rifle with it pointing in the hole as i eased back up to it to see what that was that had blinked.
It was a full grown black cow. So worn out that the only thing it could do was blink its eye every now and then and ocassionly flick its ear.
Contacted the owner. Found a few days latter they had taken a back hoe, bilt a road through the woods to the branch. Dug the cow out and put it in a barn where it died from hypothermia according to the owner.
Said that all except the cows neck and head was submerged in cold branch water after it had fail into the beaver den.
Made of concrete blocks. Cool in the summer but warm & insulated in the winter with bedding - just scrape it out. Clearly, I don't "put" them in there.
Bulls are in that pasture until it's time to move all but the heifer bull, when I move the heifers over.
What Buck said. In addition to the brutal cold, we had a ridiculous amount of rain, ice & snow. In Kansas, there will be wind; 40 mph is not uncommon. We get rotten cold snaps, but it generally only lasts a day or so - not 2+ weeks like this year.
Nesikep
Well-known member
Might be acclimatization of the cattle too, northern cattle might have a bit more fur and are more ready for cold than southern ones, so just looking at temps might not be a good indicator of how cold they're feeling it
