Nuflor and bull fertility

[darcelina4]

Im looking for a discussion about this bulls loss of fertility. I got a shorthorn bull calf born July 2, 2016. Mid may 2017 I put him with 6 heifers. June 30 I went to preg check via blood draw the heifers. I found his scrotum swollen. Took to vet. Diagnosed epididymitis. Gave 15cc la200, 45 cc nuflor, 10cc banamine to a 900 pound bull. Took back 3 days later and had the la200 and nuflor but no banamine. 2 of the heifers came back preg on the first test. Mid August took a highland/shorthorn heifer we were going to show to get to get ears tattooed. Palpate preg test called her open. End of August put bull back with heifers. Oct 1 preg checked 4 that previous test called open. 2 came back preg including highland/shorthorn. One heifer open came down with hardware and was treated and sold. Other shorthorn still open. Left bull with her all winter. In march 4 heifers calves including the one that the vet called open in August. I took the open heifer and bull to a different vet as I have no confidence in first vet. New vet could not find a thing wrong with heifer. Tested bull. He had an almost zero semen count. I looked closely and his testicles were half the size they were a year earlier. I culled him. Then I had a baby heifer get sick. Decided to give her nuflor. First time I had given nuflor at home so I carefully read packaging. It says on the box and on the bottle not to give to breeding animals as it causes testicular degeneration. So I am wondering if his loss of fertility was caused by the infection or by the nuflor. It cost me a really nice registered bull. I love the couple of calves I got from him. I have not discussed this with either vet.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I am not familiar with Nuflor being a problem for bulls. I do know that whole cotton seed fed to bulls is detrimental in their development. Interested to hear from others.
First off, though, you put a 10 month old bull calf in with 6 heifers. He was a bit young for that task.
This is what I found about Epididymitis:
"Inflamed epididymal tails are hot, swollen, and painful early in the course of the disease but chronically become small, hard, and misshapen. Treatment generally is of little value, and most affected animals are culled."

 

[elkwc]

I have read the same thing. When I've asked those who have used it opinions vary. Nuflor was my drug of choice for several years. Have mainly switched to Draxxin. Draxxin doesn't work as well on foot rot but overall like it and they say it won't cause issues with breeding cattle. I like too err on the safe side.

 

[Son of Butch]

Epididymitis depending on severity and cause can also lead to sterility, so Nuflor might not be solely to blame.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Butch - my thoughts also. "IF" vet diagnosed the problem correctly, who cares if it is bad for bulls?? Should have offered to castrate or remove just the infected side.

 

[Dempster]

Nuflor is commonly used in bulls with foot/hoof diseases, in-spite of the label precautions. It is not unusual that your vet did that. However, everything else your vet did was unusual. A 900 # bull should receive about 40 cc of LA 200, not 15, if giving a standard sub-q dose. Additionally, banamine can be given at 1-2 ml/100#, the 2ml/100 dose is probably a lot more common than 1, I would of thought the vet would of given closer to 18 of that, but 10 is still within the labeled dose. I'm going to take a stab in the dark and guess that this vet does a fair bit of horse work, not as much on cattle.

I don't know that I would expect epididymitis to cause a noticeably enlarged scrotum, the epididymis is a relatively small portion of the testicular structure, but maybe you would see a little enlargement. Additionally, lots of bulls go through a bout of epididymitis, end up with a hard epididymis, and continue to have acceptable fertility. It is possible that side shuts down and the other testicle takes over total production, but there are also bulls out there where both epididymis are hard and they are still fertile. Given the significant enlargement and subsequent shrinking of the scrotum, it is more likely the testicles underwent some severe stress prior to your vet visit that caused the enlargement and ultimately caused them to shut down, which is why they shrunk and the bull is no longer fertile. It's not likely your vet did anything to contribute to this process, and there probably wasn't much else they could of done to prevent it. A scrotal measurement at each visit would of been interesting to track.

 

[Son of Butch]

Given the significant enlargement and subsequent shrinking of the scrotum, it is more likely the testicles underwent some severe stress prior to your vet visit that caused the enlargement and ultimately caused them to shut down, which is why they shrunk and the bull is no longer fertile. It's not likely your vet did anything to contribute to this process, and there probably wasn't much else they could of done to prevent it.

+1
Well said.

 

[elkwc]

As one vet says many times you can't be certain of the cause. And regardless of the cause on this bull I try to use Nuflor on non breeding stock only. As one stated about the tetanus shots there is a reason they put the warning on the label. We each have to decide the level of risk we are willing to take in each situation.