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Bull Clinic Review
ELDON COLE
MT. VERNON, MO.
Fewer bulls came to the 5 days of bull breeding soundness clinics in March. The total bulls evaluated was 155. That’s well below our average of 225 the last few years. Rain and mud were given as the reason for the low turnout.
The percent of bulls passing the exam was 94.8 percent which is one of the better rates we’ve had. Normally we’re in the 90 percent range. One thing that caught my eye was the lower body condition score of the bulls. The 155 bulls averaged 5.5. One year ago the average was 5.7. That’s not a lot of difference but it seemed like I had a lot more 4’s and even a few 3’s which is a thin bull.
I keep track of the breed makeup of each bull in the program. One thing for sure the percent of Angus bulls continues to drop this time it was 24.5 percent. Coming in a close second was Red Angus with 19.4 percent of the bulls. Just four years ago 50 percent of the bulls were Angus and 9 percent were Red Angus. Following those breeds in popularity were SimAngus, Charolais and Polled and Horned Hereford.
About 50 percent of the bulls evaluated were Trich-tested and no positives showed up. If you’ve not had your bull or bulls tested, do it before turnout time. It will cost in the $50 per bull neighborhood but that’s cheap compared to the story I heard at one of the clinics. The fellow had a cow herd of less than 30 head and was expecting to have calves just any day back in February. When no calves showed up the veterinarian was called to preg check the herd and every cow was open. The bull was shooting blanks all last year. ∆
ELDON COLE: Extension Livestock Specialist, University of Missouri
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