# Semen and Trich testing



## CowboyRam (Dec 13, 2015)

Do you guys test your bulls for Trich, and do a semen test every year? I am thinking we should do it, but dad does not thing we need to. I don't think the bull has Trich, and I don't really want to put the bull out with the cows if he is shooting blanks; he probably is not shoot blanks, but you never know.

Also how many cows per bull do you run? I have three on 61 head.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

I think annual semen testing of a bull is a good idea & trich testing in a closed herd is a waste of $$$$$. 1 bull to 20 cows should be fine.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I only semen test before purchase. I never had a problem until a couple of years ago. Our black bull was with 20 cows and only 3 calved. The strange part is I sold him and the next year we had a good crop of calves from him. He was running with another bull, a Hereford, and we could tell who did whom.

Not sure what made him go blank for a season.

I guess I am a slow learner because I still do not test every year.

I try to keep a bull per 20 momma cows. One year I had 2 bulls with @ 100 momma cows. 50 were spring bred, 50 were fall bred. It worked for me.

We have a closed herd except for changing bulls. We do not test for trench.


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## chevytaHOE5674 (Mar 14, 2015)

I semen test every year. If for some reason the bull is shooting blanks (frost bite, cancer, injury, etc) I have a chance to find a replacement and salvage my calving season. If I don't test and get low/no calves (happened to a neighbor of mine) then you are SOL for income. I see it as cheap insurance to make sure I have the most successful breeding season possible.


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## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

I will not turn a bull out that hasn't been semen tested. Even if a buy a new yearling bull and he is guaranteed and the breeder says he was tested good, I'll still test that bull before turning him out. Alot can happen in even 30 days. We have our vet do a BSE (breeding soundness exam) every year and on every bull. I only buy virgin bulls and keep a closed herd so I don't test for trich. Also cows are vacciniated with Bovishield fp5 vl5 and the bulls get a similar killed vaccine at testing time.

Yes running the bulls through to test them can try a guys patience but I believe its worth it.

A yearling bull I will only figure can cover 12 to 15 cows in a season, a 2 year old I figure 20 to 25, once over 2 I usually figure 30 cows. Some bulls will breed more and some will breed less. It doesn't hurt to have a little extra bull power in the pasture in case one gets hurt or lame.

A neighbor once told me that you should always put 3 bulls in a pasture, as 2 will do the fighting and one will do the screwing


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## CowboyRam (Dec 13, 2015)

IHCman said:


> A neighbor once told me that you should always put 3 bulls in a pasture, as 2 will do the fighting and one will do the screwing


That was kind of my thinking, so that is why I have three bulls.

I know my uncle figures 20 cows to one bull; he out on the desert. He is selling all of his cows this next tuesday, and he was talking to someone that had their bulls out on the desert; I get they only had about 60% that got bred back. He is kind of worried that he will his herd will be the same. I guess we will find out, as saturday we haul them to the sale barn. Those cows came off that desert alful skinny this last fall.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Tim/South said:


> I only semen test before purchase. I never had a problem until a couple of years ago. Our black bull was with 20 cows and only 3 calved. The strange part is I sold him and the next year we had a good crop of calves from him. He was running with another bull, a Hereford, and we could tell who did whom.
> 
> Not sure what made him go blank for a season.
> 
> ...


Tim, I was thinking about your cows that didn't take. I am sure you vaccinate for Lepto....makes we wonder about a bad vaccine or a vaccine that was defective in regards to Lepto....or one that actually did not have the Lepto vaccine as it should.

Regards, Mike

From Drovers: https://www.drovers.com/article/bulls-may-fail-breeding-soundness-exams


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## siscofarms (Nov 23, 2010)

Test the bull every time you turn him in wether you use him for spring and then fall calving . Check him before each season . its cheap to have done and best insurance you can get . Even after all that , preg check the cows . Been doing the blood thing lately so you can do that 90 days after you turn the bull in and you'll know whats going on out there


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

Vol said:


> Tim, I was thinking about your cows that didn't take. I am sure you vaccinate for Lepto....makes we wonder about a bad vaccine or a vaccine that was defective in regards to Lepto....or one that actually did not have the Lepto vaccine as it should.
> 
> Regards, Mike
> 
> From Drovers: https://www.drovers.com/article/bulls-may-fail-breeding-soundness-exams


Yes, all are vaccinated for lepto.

The bull was a Brangus I bought at 15 months. He was Vet checked 6 ways from Sunday when I bought him. This was my first rather expensive bull. He was a good breeder the first two seasons, then skipped the third. He was a courting bull, stayed with a cow romancing. I should have caught it sooner. I noticed some cows cycling again. I thought it may have been because the calves pulled a little hard on them or it was not a fertile heat.

It cost me money. On the bright side, it gave those momma cows some time off from being barefoot and pregnant.


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

Vol said:


> Tim, I was thinking about your cows that didn't take. I am sure you vaccinate for Lepto....makes we wonder about a bad vaccine or a vaccine that was defective in regards to Lepto....or one that actually did not have the Lepto vaccine as it should.


This would be very, very unlikely.


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