Some of these studs do not allow anyone to view their bulls, as they want you to only see the pictures and videos that show the bulls in their best light.
Several years ago, we leased a 10 month old bull to ABS. We had purchased him to use in our herd and had paid close to $9000 for possession and 2/3 semen interest. ABS wanted him to go directly to their stud in Wisconsin and we were told that we should have the bull back to use in time to use him the following spring. When spring arrived, we were told that they wanted to continue to collect the bull as semen sales were keeping their inventory very low. We reluctantly agreed to this, thinking we should be collecting some good royalty cheques to make up for not having him for natural service. One year after he had gone to stud, I stopped at DeForest, Wisconsin and asked if I could see the bull. I was told the same BS, and the ABS staff said that no visitors were allowed in their barns, because of the chance of disease. I was determined to see the bull, and after talking with several different ABS staff, I finally was told that they would take me to see the bull. After putting on my plastic shoes, a plastic hat to cover my head, I was taken to a building that housed the bulls. The bulls were kept in total darkness. There was absolutely no windows in the building at all. When the lights were turned on the barn errupted,with bulls roaring and pawing saw dust into the air. Probably 90% of the bulls were dairy bulls, 5% Brahman bulls and 5% beef bulls. My bull was tied in a concrete pen with a large logging chain tight around his neck and securely tied to the wall. He could move about 3 foot to reach a water fountain. He had another 4 foot of large logging chain bolted to his nose ring, and this chain just drug on the ground.
To say that I was shocked is an understatement. I asked how long he had been tied in that pen, and I was told he had been tied there since he arrived over a year previously.The only time he moved was to be collected and he was moved about 20 feet from his pen to a collection stall and then back to his stall. I could not see any hay anywhere in the barn, so I asked what they fed the bulls. I found out that the bulls were fed a pelleted ration twice a day that contained some fiber in it. The bulls in the barn looked like greyhounds as they had no guts to them at all. When we left the lights were turned off again and the barn went silent again.
I told the guy that had taken me to see my bull, that I was not impressed with what I had seen. He then said that maybe I now understood why they don't allow visitors to their bull barns. I told him that I wanted the bull returned to my farm as soon as possible. It took me 6 more months to finally get the bull home. When he returned, he was crippled up, he had no hair, and even though I was careful to only let him out into the sunlight for about 1 hour a day, his entire body sunburnt, and peeled. I had to cover his body with skin cream to relieve the sunburn. After a few weeks he was able to walk fairly normally again and I turned him out with a group of cows. He would follow cows that were in heat, but he never tried to breed any of them. We used him as a gomer for the following two springs and not once did this bull try to breed a cow. His semen was fine but he simply would not mount or try to mount.
To add insult to injury, I received less than $700 in royalty's from ABS ( for my share) and ended up with a $9000 gomer bull. I know that semen from this bull was marketed around the world and I also know that several thousand doses were sold and the entire inventory was sold in the next three years.
I am not saying that Select Sires is doing the same thing, and I certainly hope ABS have smartened up in their management practices. I am just saying that there may be other reasons other than " chance of disease" that no one can see the bulls at a stud.
