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Bull trouble

randiliana

Well-known member
We had bigger problems than just a cow missing an ear tag when we checked cows on Sunday. This fellow just isn't quite normal. Vet says that it could be an infected sheath or a 'broken' penis. Right now he is still at pasture 2 hours from home, so we can't do anything til can get him back here. That was supposed to be tomorrow's job, but the truck is broken, so it will have to wait a few days, unfortunately.

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This really sucks, cause he was our #1 pick of the bulls at the sale where we got him, and we really, really like him. On the plus side, at least we are not going to be short on bull power, as there is another bull in with him, and only 35 cows, so at least, we don't have to find another bull.

So what are your experiences with either scenario? We have dealt with a sheath infection before, and the bull did come around for breeding the next year. Vet says there is an 80%+ chance that if treated he will be good for next year.

We have never dealt with a 'broken' penis before. Most people around here simply can them. I'm hesitant do do that with a $3000 bull if there is a reasonable chance of him healing up and breeding again. Vet says there is about a 50% chance, maybe......
 

leanin' H

Well-known member
Hope it is a sheath infection as they are pretty treatable. A broken equipment problem is usually hard to fix. I have seen it happen when a bull mounts a cow and gets hit by a second bull. Good luck.
 

Aaron

Well-known member
I am going to be looking over my shoulder this entire week now.

Today I kept looking at the clouds, while checking fences deep in the bush with a barb fence on one side and a line of electric on my other side, thinking about what happened to your friends and breaking out a bit of a cold sweat.:shock:

Now I will sure be running in the morning down to the neighbour's place who is renting the bull I got at Bill's, from me. Make sure his equipment is working.

Never had a problem with a broken penis. Had one bull breed his dam over a barb wire fence by accident about 10 years ago. Took a full month of daily antiseptic treatments into the sheath to get the swelling down and repair the damage.
 

Ned Jr.

Well-known member
He looks broke to me. :( You may still be able to save him if you feel he's worth it. The sooner you get him in and start treating him the better, he'll make it worse trying to breed. Give him some bute for a couple days, penicillin for a week and cool down the swollen area with a water hose twice a day for a week. He doesnt look like his penis is prolapsing but if it does put some lube on it to keep it from drying out. If you do all this and he does seem to heal OK you'll need to get him checked later to make sure the scar tissue doesn't sidetrack his penis.


Good luck.
 

Silver

Well-known member
Sorry about your luck. We've had more bulls break themselves over the years than I'd like to count, I've never heard of them healing up to be any good though. We've always shipped them first chance we get. Quite often when they are broken they are hanging out and looking pretty obvious, other times they stay inside the sheath but you can see a definite deformity as well as the swelling. But if there is a way to save him it sounds better than pounding him at the auction.
 

burnt

Well-known member
We had a good young bull look exactly the same last year only he seemed to prolapse as well. The vet said ship'em and we did. However, we were fortunate to have bought him kinda reasonable so while we were out a breeder, we were able to salvage our investment and even had a few really good calves out of him this spring.

It seems like there is always something to keep the job interesting . . . .

Sorry for your misfortune and I hope he is treatable.
 

RobertMac

Well-known member
I had a high dollar bull get his penis stepped on...spent more money at the vet school...ended up with a lot of open cows the next year.
 

randiliana

Well-known member
Well, the plan right now is to bring him home and find out what the problem is. When we talked to the vet, he said bring him over and he would figure it out, providing we didn't want to can him.

I was going to go up and get him today, but the truck has a serious shimmy problem and we can't go over about 30 miles an hour. Gotta get that fixed first.

If it is broken, this is the first time we have had one of those. We've dealt with an infection before, and had a custom guys bull get fighting throught the barbed wire with it hanging out :shock: . That one was real bad, swollen up to about 6 time normal, hanging out and cuts all over it. Had one prolapse his sheath too. But never a broken one.

Knersie, I'm sure that your bull will be fine, at least, I sure hope so. And, you're not the only one keeping your eye on the clouds now days.

Ned, thank you for the advice. I do want to try to save him, and with the loss we are guaranteed to take if he gets canned, I think it is worth a try. That and the fact that we both really like him. Of course it isn't the one we are looking for a reason to get rid of.

Silver, there is no obvious deformity that we could see, it seems to be uniformly swollen, so hopefully that isn't the problem.
 

randiliana

Well-known member
RobertMac said:
I had a high dollar bull get his penis stepped on...spent more money at the vet school...ended up with a lot of open cows the next year.

Well, if we do end up keeping him around, he will be tested and watched long before the breeding season rolls around. But I think he is worth the attempt, and other than a bit of money for antibiotics we will only be out the feed bill.....
 

kolanuraven

Well-known member
randiliana said:
RobertMac said:
I had a high dollar bull get his penis stepped on...spent more money at the vet school...ended up with a lot of open cows the next year.

Well, if we do end up keeping him around, he will be tested and watched long before the breeding season rolls around. But I think he is worth the attempt, and other than a bit of money for antibiotics we will only be out the feed bill.....

Could you get another truck or have someone go and get him?

If it's just infection...the longer he stands with it going on....the harder it will be to get him over it.


Poor boy....
 

hillsdown

Well-known member
Randi if it is broken and you have FL5 insurance on him he is covered. It won't help you with this breeding season or even finding a decent replacement this late in the year but will help with your cost of buying a new bull for next year and recoup some of your cost.
 

randiliana

Well-known member
hillsdown said:
Randi if it is broken and you have FL5 insurance on him he is covered. It won't help you with this breeding season or even finding a decent replacement this late in the year but will help with your cost of buying a new bull for next year and recoup some of your cost.

Nope, no insurance. This is the first time we have ever needed it.

Fortunately, we don't have to worry about finding another bull. There were 2 bulls in with 35 cows, I think that one bull should be able to finish the season without any trouble.
 

hillsdown

Well-known member
I make sure that I have FL5 on my working bulls just in case. Learned the hard way from a neighbor a few years ago who had bad luck with injuries one year with three of his bulls and no insurance. Hubby is one that thinks insurance is a waste of time but when you need to use it it sure comes in handy..

Hopefully it is just an infection of some kind that can easily be cleared up. Good luck with him as he is a really good looking bull and I bet he will throw some beauties.
 

Cal

Well-known member
That second bull being in there, esp. with a fairly small number of cows, is probably why he's hurt in the first place.
 

randiliana

Well-known member
hillsdown said:
I make sure that I have FL5 on my working bulls just in case. Learned the hard way from a neighbor a few years ago who had bad luck with injuries one year with three of his bulls and no insurance. Hubby is one that thinks insurance is a waste of time but when you need to use it it sure comes in handy..

Hopefully it is just an infection of some kind that can easily be cleared up. Good luck with him as he is a really good looking bull and I bet he will throw some beauties.

We generally run bulls separately, so usually don't have to worry too much. That and they are run together year round otherwise seems to make a big difference. We've thought about insurance, but just haven't done it.
 

randiliana

Well-known member
Well, went and got him home today. Vet had a look and said it is a sheath infection that has spread to the penis. With treatment he should be good to go in a few weeks, which won't happen here, cause we pull the bulls about then anyways. But, he should be good for next year.

Turned out to be a good thing we went up there. Found all the cows mixed in with the heifers. Not good, cause the cow bulls, just are a bit on the iffy side for the heifers. This bull and his partner couldn't find anywhere else to fight on their 2 1/2 quarters than the corner with the gate, then they crossed the next quarter and destroyed that gate too. Got at least 1 heifer bred hereford now, we will have to watch her next spring. Shouldn't be too many though, they were where they belonged on Sunday. Got em in, separated, gates fixed and put back where they belonged fairly easily. All the while, watching the sky, lots of thunderstorms in the area.
 

lightninboy

Well-known member
I suppose it could be an infected sheath or a hematoma.

"About one-half of bulls with a hematoma removed from the breeding pasture and given three months sexual rest will recover and be able to breed cows again. Slightly more bulls will recover with medical or surgical care."

http://www.angusjournal.com/articlePDF/Vet%20Call%2002_09%20AJ.pdf

"spontaneous recovery occurs in >50% of the cases given 90 days sexual rest"

http://www.vetmed.lsu.edu/eiltslotus/theriogenology-5361/food_animals.htm

He was removed from the cows over a month ago. I didn't notice anything wrong with him then, but maybe I didn't look at him enough.
 

Justin

Well-known member
Cal said:
That second bull being in there, esp. with a fairly small number of cows, is probably why he's hurt in the first place.

maybe, maybe not. i think it is more risky only running one bull, unless a person is able to check every day and do some swapping if the first bull gets injured. IMO
 
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