Limo bull problem

Fat Cant

I bought a Limousin bull back in march which was 12 months old at the time in roscrea limo sales and his icbf figures looked great . He has some great AI breeding in him . I noticed after buying him that his back legs touched off one another when he would walk .
Put him with the cows for march april and then took him away and put him to a field of good grass by himself . He started to go down hill very fast so I injected him for fluke and worms but made no difference to him . Got the vet out to look at him and he said he didn't Know what was wrong with him . He now looks like a big friesian .He cost me alot of money at the time .
Has any of you experienced this before ?

vanderbadger

Fat Cant wrote: »

I bought a Limousin bull back in march which was 12 months old at the time in roscrea limo sales and his icbf figures looked great . He has some great AI breeding in him . I noticed after buying him that his back legs touched off one another when he would walk .
Put him with the cows for march april and then took him away and put him to a field of good grass by himself . He started to go down hill very fast so I injected him for fluke and worms but made no difference to him . Got the vet out to look at him and he said he didn't Know what was wrong with him . He now looks like a big friesian .He cost me alot of money at the time .
Has any of you experienced this before ?

any young bull I have bought has gone off a good bit in their first season but usually come back around over the winter when housed. Now your one sounds a bit worse than that..has your lad been bulling cows for you?

pakalasa

I had a weanling heifer once like that. She walked like like a woman in a tight miny skirt...:D. Her front legs were fine. She was a simmental, by HKG and out of a simmental cow I bought in. I put it down to maybe inbreeding, as I didn't know the sire of the cow.

Fat Cant

vanderbadger wrote: »

Fat Cant wrote: »

I bought a Limousin bull back in march which was 12 months old at the time in roscrea limo sales and his icbf figures looked great . He has some great AI breeding in him . I noticed after buying him that his back legs touched off one another when he would walk .
Put him with the cows for march april and then took him away and put him to a field of good grass by himself . He started to go down hill very fast so I injected him for fluke and worms but made no difference to him . Got the vet out to look at him and he said he didn't Know what was wrong with him . He now looks like a big friesian .He cost me alot of money at the time .
Has any of you experienced this before ?

any young bull I have bought has gone off a good bit in their first season but usually come back around over the winter when housed. Now your one sounds a bit worse than that..has your lad been bulling cows for you?

Yeah think he worked don't see any billing after him but still have to do the scanning to be sure

vanderbadger

Fat Cant wrote: »

Yeah think he worked don't see any billing after him but still have to do the scanning to be sure

usual story sure, probably on a fair bit of meal and suffered a bit when he came off it, you could send off a hair sample for DNA testing if you were worried that his pedigree isnt what its supposed to be

reilig

Fat Cant wrote: »

I bought a Limousin bull back in march which was 12 months old at the time in roscrea limo sales and his icbf figures looked great . He has some great AI breeding in him . I noticed after buying him that his back legs touched off one another when he would walk .
Put him with the cows for march april and then took him away and put him to a field of good grass by himself . He started to go down hill very fast so I injected him for fluke and worms but made no difference to him . Got the vet out to look at him and he said he didn't Know what was wrong with him . He now looks like a big friesian .He cost me alot of money at the time .
Has any of you experienced this before ?

How many cows was he running with?

Did he bull them? ie. are they in calf now?

Was he put in a field on his own? Bulls won't normally stay in a field on their own.

Did you give him any meal?

Sorry to be sharp with questions, but this is what you will be asked if you go back to the owner or the society.

This may not apply to you, but pedigree societies and owners are being plagued by bull buyers looking for refunds on bulls that they paid big money on. Normally the problem is that the bull has faded away. Young bulls, around 12 months old, are not fit to be let run with 20 cows for a whole season. Bulls brought to sales like the ones in Roscrea are fed to the last. If you let them out on normal pasture, stop feeding meal to them (which probably made up 75% of their diet before you bought them), and run them with a load of cows, then you cannot expect them to hold condition.

To be honest, if you are looking for recourse on him, your vet will want to come up with a better diagnosis.

bbam

pakalasa wrote: »

I had a weanling heifer once like that. She walked like like a woman in a tight miny skirt...:D. .

Now that made me laugh out loud

Black Smoke

Too many young bulls, are just pumped up with meal before sale, and for that matter almost from birth! Coming off that diet and into a field of cows, especially in a bad year like this, is a hell of a shock to the system.

cow man

may needs multi vitamin

whelan1

tbh 12 months of age is very young for a bull to be working with cows, we would never ever sell a bull that young for cows or even heifers

manjou

Have had same problem with bulls in past just change of diet and they came right and after winter looked fine. now try and buy 6 months before need them so give them time to acclimatise

Kovu

Fat Cant wrote: »

I bought a Limousin bull back in march which was 12 months old at the time in roscrea limo sales and his icbf figures looked great . He has some great AI breeding in him . I noticed after buying him that his back legs touched off one another when he would walk .
Put him with the cows for march april and then took him away and put him to a field of good grass by himself . He started to go down hill very fast so I injected him for fluke and worms but made no difference to him . Got the vet out to look at him and he said he didn't Know what was wrong with him . He now looks like a big friesian .He cost me alot of money at the time .
Has any of you experienced this before ?

Did you notice straight after buying him that he walked like this?

If so, I would question that straight away, rather than chance him out with the cows. Seems to be what we'd call hock legged down here, if you noticed it straight after.

flatout11

young bull + a lot of cows ......... gonna be thin agfer ward,
the bulls walk would of been like that before you bought him... not much you can do about that just one of the things you would try to avoid but it wouldnt cause him to melt in itself.
the bull went down fast because he was coming of a high plane of feeding to grass only coupled with a increased workload,
also he was probably cutting his teeth during the summer which wouldnt help, in reality it would take some thime for him to put on condition again
eg from bcs 2 to 3.5 could equate to gaining 200kg - assuming he still has some growing to do as well
feed the bull for a while.... whats 500kg of meal when you spent a few thousand?

Bizzum

I'd be walking crooked and with a hump on my back too if I had to go through what some of these young bulls have to go through.

snowman707

Bizzum wrote: »

I'd be walking crooked and with a hump on my back too if I had to go through what some of these young bulls have to go through.

but i bet you'd have a smile on your face :rolleyes:


back on topic as mentioned the bull was too young (LM especially I would always recommend at least 16 months)