Is your bull ready to do the job? Five boxes to tick before he goes forth and multiplies
You want your bulls match fit and ready to rise to the occasion before going anywhere near the sale ring or mating paddock.
A bull can look the part in the paddock and still have an underlying reproductive or physical issue that affects his ability to work. That’s where bull soundness examinations can provide valuable information for both vendors and buyers.
Gener8 Reproduction provides comprehensive semen testing, morphology assessment and BULLCHECK Accredited VBBSE services, available on-site or on-property across the north.
Testing before the sale
A breeding soundness exam can be used as a pre-sale check on a young bull or to investigate fertility worries in an established herd sire. VBBSE should be done regularly for your herd bulls to ensure they are all working as they should and identify any low or poor performance bulls that may be impacting your bull power.Gener8 Reproduction’s vets are BULLCHECK Accredited and take a detailed history before assessing four key areas of the bull:
- A general physical examination and assessment of the reproductive tract
- Examination of the testes and measurement of scrotal circumference
- Collection and crush-side assessment of a semen sample
- Lab analysis of sperm morphology
You’ll get a better picture of a bull’s reproductive soundness than just looking at his physical appearance. Gener8 recommends completing all four components, especially for high-value bulls, bulls destined for single-sire use or bulls carrying heavier mating loads.
What does a bull soundness examination tell you?
The soundness exam isn’t a guarantee that a bull will get every cow pregnant and it’s not designed to rank one bull as being “more fertile” than another.
It gives an objective assessment of important physical and reproductive characteristics linked with a bull’s ability to breed. A bull needs to be physically capable of finding cows in season, mounting them and completing service. Injuries or structural problems can get in the way. Think of it like a risk assessment. It’s not designed to find the diamonds, it’s to remove the low or poor performance animals in the herd or find the ones you don’t want carrying your name to sale.
Genera8 vets look at the testes, take scrotal circumference and do a crush-side assessment of a semen. It’s then shipped off to the lab for an analysis of sperm morphology. Just producing semen doesn't tell the whole story, the quality and characteristics also need to be considered.
The serving assessment looks at the bull’s libido and mating ability as the last step. We want to assess your bull as a complete breeding animal, not just a bunch of test results.
Don’t leave it until joining
You don’t want to find out something is wrong once the bulls are already out with the cows.
Testing before the breeding season means there’s time to act on the results so if something does pop up, there’s a chance to treat the condition, re-test the bull or come up with a new plan.
And just because a bull successfully joined cows last season doesn’t mean he should automatically be assumed sound this season. Injuries, illness, age and other reproductive problems can develop during a bull’s working life.
What if a bull doesn’t pass?
Finding a potential problem doesn’t instantly mean a bull needs to be culled.
Depending on the circumstances, your Gener8 vet might recommend treatment and re-examination, different management, monitoring, removing him from the breeding program or replacement.
The important thing is finding out early. If a problem is identified before sale, the vendor can make an informed decision about the bull’s future. If it’s identified before joining, the producer has time to work out what to do next.
Either way, information gives you options. Don’t wait until preg testing to discover that a bull wasn’t working properly.
Getting bulls ready for the job
A bull is a big investment and testing is a part of it. Depending on your production system, preventative health measures such as vaccination and parasite control may also form part of the pre-joining plan.
And keep checking in. A bull that’s sound on day one can become injured or sick during the joining period. Monitoring bulls throughout joining is just as important as checking them before they go out.
Want to know where your bulls stand? Talk to the Gener8 Reproduction team about bull testing and reproductive assessments before sale or joining.