test if bull is infertile

jfh

Hi Lads,

just wondering if anyone on here has ever tested a bull for infertility.
only bought him last year, he worked grand last year but have noticed a few cows repeating after him this year. also would insurance cover it
so is there much to it?
thanks

whelan1

pg did one of our bulls that we bought a few years ago, they came to the farm and tested him

Muckit

jfh wrote: »

Hi Lads,

just wondering if anyone on here has ever tested a bull for infertility.
only bought him last year, he worked grand last year but have noticed a few cows repeating after him this year. also would insurance cover it
so is there much to it?
thanks

Is he a charolais? Did you buy him at an official sale or privately? If you bought at an official catolgued sale, regardless of his breed, there should have been a full list of the 'terms and conditions' of the sale printed in the front of a catolgue.

Buyers definitely have rights, but when he worked ok the first year, you may not have a case.

reilig

Muckit wrote: »

Buyers definitely have rights, but when he worked ok the first year, you may not have a case.

You'll have no case if he worked ok for the first year. Society sales will cover him up to 6 months after the sale. You have to assume that if he is infertile then he became infertile while he was in your ownership and on your property. He was fertile when you bought him.

I'd suggest maybe scanning some of your cows that were already bulled by him as scanners will pick up pregnancy 30 days after. It could be a cheaper and easier option.

jfh

hey whealan1, any idea of the cost of this? no hassle if not, can give them a call myself.
was it a big job, i mean i presume your going to have to catch him on the job in the crush?

jfh

muckit, he's a limousin, worked fine the first year, went lame, father injected him with penicilin, have heard about that causing infertility before, but not sure..

whelan1

did he injure himself , cant remember the cost but tbh we had connections with pg at the time and there mightnt have been a charge at all, we had a cow in the crush , bull jumped and hey presto:D

David brown

whelan .what does pg mean.buying bull and told to test him for bvd

whelan1

pg is progressive genetics

Bizzum

jfh wrote: »

muckit, he's a limousin, worked fine the first year, went lame, father injected him with penicilin, have heard about that causing infertility before, but not sure..

I have heard links with this too. Also that treatment may have an impact on fertility a couple of months after treatment.

You will always have a few repeats. Can you quantify this?

Re: Fertility test, I think its done by a crowd in the south of the country. They come on-farm and carry out the test!

whelan1

tbh think that is bull**** excuse the pun

Bizzum

whelan1 wrote: »

tbh think that is bull**** excuse the pun

I recall seeing some work on the subject, but I would think if I looked I'd find work to disprove it. I recall too seeing that a challenge of some or other sort on a bull may not manifest itself fertility wise, untill some time later! But I dunno.
From looking at our own bulls over the years, they got knocks and nicks and the occasional injection didn't seem to slow them down.

I think the important point is though that the OP quantifies the repeats. A few repeats from 50 cows is a different matter than from 5 cows!

David brown

i agree. if bull needs injection ,i would be watching for repeats.

LostCovey

David brown wrote: »

i agree. if bull needs injection ,i would be watching for repeats.

Yeah, but the repeats are caused by whatever was wrong with the bull or the ram not the injection AFAIK.

Sperm takes weeks to make, so the effect is weeks later. If a bull runs a high temperature he may be firing blanks as a result several weeks later, but the fever is the cause of the temporary infertility, not whatever you give him to bring down the temperature.

The myth that penicillin causes infertility was peddled in the Journal for years and years by John Shirley in one of those columns in the IFJ (Sheep Management I think) where he used to photocopy last years column, and just add in this year's price of wool/the fluke forecast/the price of easter lamb.

A lad I know wrote to him and told him it was bull (sorry re pun) and he obviously tippexed the penicillin bit but kept photocopying the rest till he left the Journal and went to the Indo on a Tuesday.

Loads of people believe it, and no-one knows where they heard it.

LostCovey

bogman_bass

Bizzum wrote: »

I have heard links with this too. Also that treatment may have an impact on fertility a couple of months after treatment.

as someone who looks at semen under a microcscope everyday I can confirm this. Could take 5 months for him to come right

Bizzum

bogman_bass wrote: »

as someone who looks at semen under a microcscope everyday

I have to say I didn't that reply from anyone!
What species do you deal with? If you don't mind me being nosey!

bogman_bass

bovine. I work for one of the studs but I wont say which one. That way I can recomend bulls to ye from other companies or bad mouth ones from my own without getting in trouble

Bizzum

bogman_bass wrote: »

bovine. I work for one of the studs but I wont say which one. That way I can recomend bulls to ye from other companies or bad mouth ones from my own without getting in trouble

Fair play! I know what you're saying. We all have to be careful on here:D.

stanflt

bogman_bass wrote: »

bovine. I work for one of the studs but I wont say which one. That way I can recomend bulls to ye from other companies or bad mouth ones from my own without getting in trouble

the old milk board was some company to work for

jfh

bogman_bass wrote: »

as someone who looks at semen under a microcscope everyday I can confirm this. Could take 5 months for him to come right

hi bogman, do they usually come right after a while, it's not permanent?

jfh

don't think we'd get away with this kind of talk on anyother forum:D

bogman_bass

jfh wrote: »

hi bogman, do they usually come right after a while, it's not permanent?

if it is due to antibiotics he will come right eventually but it could take a long time.
another thing that kills bull fertility is over fat bulls. This business of pumping meals into a bull does nothing for him when he comes to do the business. Thats why you need to buy in plenty of time so you can slim him down

bogman_bass

When I'm chatting up young ones at the bar It either works as agreat ice breaker or else I get some very funny looks