Question About Retesting bulls

[randiliana]

We had BSEs done on all our bulls a couple of days ago. The vet called the next morning and said that one had a bunch of bent tails, and another had pus in his semen. He says to give the one with the infection 4 treatments with micotil and retest in a month. And just to give the other about 3-4 weeks and retest. Problem is that in a month there won't be many bulls left on the market and I don't really want to be stuck with a leftover bull because of this. The one with bent tails is a 3 year old and the one with the infection is a 2 year old.

So..are these bulls likely to test good in a month, or should we just cut our losses now?

 

[knabe]

when was the last time the bulls were around cycling cows?

 

[randiliana]

They spent the winter with the cows, on the other side of the fence from the yearling heifers, and we had a couple dry cows turn up in late winter. They've been separated from the cows about a month.

 

[knabe]

preg check the dry cows.

 

[randiliana]

Dry cows are sold, and he is 1 of  6 bulls

 

[Duncraggan]

We had BSEs done on all our bulls a couple of days ago. The vet called the next morning and said that one had a bunch of bent tails, and another had pus in his semen. Did he say any are infertile or sub-fertile? He says to give the one with the infection 4 treatments with micotil and retest in a month. And just to give the other about 3-4 weeks and retest. Problem is that in a month there won't be many bulls left on the market and I don't really want to be stuck with a leftover bull because of this. The one with bent tails is a 3 year old and the one with the infection is a 2 year old.

So..are these bulls likely to test good in a month, or should we just cut our losses now?

The question is, are they fertile at the moment?  If not, prepare to buy a new bull, or two!
If more than the average number of females in their groups came up open last season, prepare to buy a new bull, or two!

Have they had their pre-season mineral supplement shot yet?  Can also be a big help.  Like knabe's suggestions as well.

BTW, two things, I hope you have asked your vet your questions in this thread already, and that if you haven't, that he is not an SP follower!  If I were your vet and I picked up on this thread I would seriously consider advising you to find another vet!  Lack of trust issues?

JMO

 

[chambero]

We had our bulls tested last fall on a day that turned out very cold and miserable.  We had four bulls test bad (vet was looking through the microscope immediately after collection).  3 of the 4 were total surprises.  I put two of the four on cows for about a month and then picked them up.  We retested all four 90 days after the first test.  One tested fine, the other three still flunked.

There are always bulls to be had any time of year.  You just have to make some phone calls.

 

[randiliana]

We had BSEs done on all our bulls a couple of days ago. The vet called the next morning and said that one had a bunch of bent tails, and another had pus in his semen. Did he say any are infertile or sub-fertile?
The question is, are they fertile at the moment?  If not, prepare to buy a new bull, or two!
If more than the average number of females in their groups came up open last season, prepare to buy a new bull, or two!

Have they had their pre-season mineral supplement shot yet?  Can also be a big help.  Like knabe's suggestions as well.

BTW, two things, I hope you have asked your vet your questions in this thread already, and that if you haven't, that he is not an SP follower!  If I were your vet and I picked up on this thread I would seriously consider advising you to find another vet!  Lack of trust issues?

JMO

OK,  I guess they would be subfertile at the moment. I'm not so concerned about that, if they are likely to improve before we need them. We won't be turning them out for 6 weeks or so. They were tested last spring before turn out (you know, that's just one of those things we do, every year to try and cover our butts) I'm not a newbie here, been around for quite a number of years, just haven't ever had to deal with these issues before. Next, we didn't have any unusual # of days last fall from these bulls, in fact, 95% or more of their cows have already calved out. If wed had problems last fall, I wouldn't be asking questions now, bulls would be long gone....about 6 months ago....

Pre season mineral shots, nope, but they are on free choice mineral all winter and spring so far.... They've been living with the cows....

As far as my vet, we've got 20 years worth of relationship there.... Don't think I'm going to worry about whether he sees this post or not. Although, I doubt he will. Can't see the harm in asking if others have dealt with this situation and what their experiences were. He's already told us there's no guarantees...

 

[randiliana]

We had our bulls tested last fall on a day that turned out very cold and miserable.  We had four bulls test bad (vet was looking through the microscope immediately after collection).  3 of the 4 were total surprises.  I put two of the four on cows for about a month and then picked them up.  We retested all four 90 days after the first test.  One tested fine, the other three still flunked.

There are always bulls to be had any time of year.  You just have to make some phone calls.

We'll retest at least the one bull, but it will be in about a month, and before breeding season is here. As far as finding bulls, they are always some out there, but Bull Sale season is pretty close to over and if we wait a month to look, most (if not all) of the Quality ones will be long gone. Don't really want to have to settle for a bottom end bull....

 

[Duncraggan]

On the other hand, you may, if you ask nicely, get a bull a breeder kept for himself and finds that he doesn't need.  Especially if you have a hardluck story as you do!