It’s time to start preparing for spring joining, here are our top 5 tips for the health of your bull battery.
1. Get them in good working condition.
Commencing joining at no less then 3.5/5 BCS and ideally not dropping below 3/5 throughout joining. Poorer bulls may lack functional reserve or semen quality. Overfat bulls are a significant physical breakdown risk.
2. Vet bull test.
This ensures infertile bulls can be culled and highly fertile bulls are priority joined.
3. Vibrovax every bull, every year.
This is non-negotiable. Vibrio is on the rise and is economically devastating.
4. Only buy virgin bulls.
Trichomoniasis (“Trich”) is also increasing in NSW. It is an STI (sexually transmitted infection) causing infertility/early abortion, and infected bulls become long term carriers. For the same reason: avoid buying cull cows and heifers as future breeders, stick to PTIC females or unjoined heifers as they are much safer options.
5. Monitor bulls closely throughout joining.
Remember that in an average 12 week joining, each individual cow has a maximum of 4, 12 hour windows of standing heat (and less, if she calved late, is slow to cycle or loses an early conceptus). So, joining bulls must be continually monitored for soundness and injury. Even a short period of joining reluctance or inability can be costly. Take note of pecking order and dominance. If you encounter problems, the sooner they are addressed the better the outcome, both in cow pregnancy rates and bull longevity in your breeding herd.
Comments