ra[color=red][/color]ndiliana said:
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...