One of those deals....

[Cibster]

A friend of mine bought a yearling bull from a breeder this spring and turned him in on some heifers, some 1st calf heifers, and a few cows. Probably about 15 head total. Well, he preg checked them the other day and most of the females the bull was with turned up open. I've seen the females the bull was with and they were pretty skinny, especially the 1st calf heifers. He asked me what I thought he should do. He thinks the bull is/was/went bad. He said the bull passed a BSE before he came to his place. I told him 1st calf heifers are the hardest to get bred back, but maybe the bull was bad. He wanted to know if he should call the guy he bought the bull from and see if he would do something for him (refund, new bull, ect). I've sold a few bulls before, but never had to deal with a situation like this. And right now he doesn't know if the bull is good or not. I kind of thought he should get the bull semen checked now just to see. So, as breeders, what do you all think would be fair in this situation? What would you want the breeder to do for you or what would you tell my friend to do? Just one of those crappy situations the whole way around. I hate to tell my buddy his heifers weren't in real good condition going in to breeding season because maybe it's not their fault, but as a person who has sold bulls I also hate to blame it on the bull. Just wondering if anyone has had to deal with this from either perspective. Thanks!

 

[Taurus]

Tell him truth that the heifers are not in good condition for breeding.

 

[dun]

Check the bull and if he's good have the vet eplain to him about BCS for rebreeding

 

[cowgirl_jenna]

yes, def. check the bull out, but I'd tell him the truth, print some info off or show him. just google cattle bcs.

I had a friend that got a few beef cows. She wanted me to ai them for her, so I went over and looked at them to decide what we should breed them too. They were on the skinny side, and I told her straight out. She was glad I mentioned it, and since we have gotten those cows fattened up to a good condition. Last year they had bad conception rates, this year being at the proper weight we got them all. I know all circumstances are not the same, but I'd feel worse for not mentioning something I think.

http://agwired.com/2012/02/20/crystalyx-beef-cow-bcs-app here is a app for that!!!
jenna

 

[Jessica06]

I don't remember what sale it was, but they defined a satisfactory breeder as producing 1 or more calves. Which seems pretty fair to me. Even if the bull had low libido, I think that's just the chance that you take when you buy any young bull..some of them just aren't going to work out, through no fault of the breeders'. As far as what the breeder should do above and beyond basic obligations, I think that's just something that everyone will handle a little differently depending on what they feel morally obligated, and able, to do.

We bought a bull several years ago. He had one calf but went bad probably soon after he settled the cow. I contacted the breeder, just to let them know for their own info. They ended up taking the bull back and letting us pick another, without us even asking. We still have the bull we replaced him with and he'll probably be here a while longer. I guess that made an impression on us, because we ended up doing a LOT more business with them.