We just turned out our bull this past weekend and my Dad phoned me tonight to say that he has maybe pulled his stifle. Has any bulls recovered from this.
I have had this happen with a cow before and they never seem to get over it. Probably depends on how much damage was done and how valuable the bull is. If he is just an average, inexpensive clean up bull then I would replace him.
I have not seen many that ever fully recover, but if it is minor in nature it will still require lots of rest, and by lots I mean probably a few months. If he gets over it and you turn him out to quickly, he can injure it again, and then he will probably never get over it.
Most do not recover - however, that said Dr David Anderson at K State is doing some bovine knee repairs - if this is a valuable animal and you are near K State it might be worth a call
We have had 2 bulls do this. We rested both for 3-4 months with little to no improvement. We ended up selling both. The second bull was a replacement for the first one that hurt his knee. I'm a little leary about turning our bull out with that cow herd this year. :-\
In the 70's we had a valuable Weston bull that stifled. Weston's manager advised us that if he stifled a 2nd time (after healing & rest), that the bull would have to be carried out in a bucket. We salvaged him at stockyards to cut our loss.
That bull was a little straight on his rear legs, something that can obviously cause serious problems.
If he's anything special I wouldn't chance it again just let him rest and collect. If he's not so special you should either let it heal and give it another try or just replace him.