Bull Clinic Report
ELDON COLE
MT. VERNON, MISSOURI
We again worked with four veterinary clinics in the month of October to focus attention on the importance of having bulls evaluated ahead of turnout time for the upcoming breeding season. The numbers were lower this fall and that seems consistent with everything else when you look at attendance at meetings, entries in the Missouri Steer Feedout, etc. I think some folks may still be spooked by COVID. The University continues to encourage vaccination for it, as well as flu.
Now back to the clinics. The number of bulls examined was 167. In March we had 171 so that wasn’t much of a drop but one year ago we had 190 and two years ago we saw 202. The fail or defer rate is still right around 10 percent. We started this event in 2005 and have data on 4752 bulls. The extremes on fail/defer we’ve had from 17 percent down to only 3.2 percent.
As usual, the main reason bulls do not pass is a percent normal sperm reading of under 70 percent. Six bulls had extension problems or had prepuce abscess issues. Twenty-six bulls had toe or hoof issues that will likely result in their needing hoof trimming or being sold in the future.
One bull came with a bad limp and the owner said it had just flared up the last few days The bull was tilted over and they vet assistant almost immediately proudly pulled a 10 penny nail out of the bulls hoof. He should be just fine.
The most annoying bull we encountered wouldn’t unload and acted like he was ready to fight anyone who tried to get him to unload and go to the chute. It took 40 minutes to get him from the trailer to the chute. Unfortunately, he passed the BSE even though the veterinarian said he wished he could have found a reason to fail him.
An item of note, since we started this program in ’05 Angus has been the majority breed. This fall Red Angus had 41 head with Angus having 39 bulls. Other interesting breed combos were Dexter x LowLine, Ultra Black, Ultra Red, Charolais x Braunvieh and Hereford x Brahman.
The average weight was 1619 lbs. with a range from 910 lbs. to 2510 lbs. The average age of the 167 head was 3.2 years with a body condition score of 5.8. The range on BCS went from 3 (very thin) to 8 (very fleshy), A bull breeding soundness exam is a very important practice especially if you’ve had some cows show up open. Just to be on the safe side, I’d invest $50 or so in that most important animal in your cow herd.
It’s a good time to update the bull on vaccinations, parasite, both internal and external types.
A bull that’s watched closely and given a BSE at least yearly will have a longer useful life and you won’t need to spend $3000 - $4000 or more to buy another bull so often. ∆
ELDON COLE: Extension Livestock Specalist, University of Missouri