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TIMELY TOPICS
The Rockbridge Cattlemen’s Association is spons o r i ng a breeding soundness exam day for bulls on Monday, Nov. 4, at the Shena ndoa h Valley Agriculture Research and Extension Center (Mc-Cormick Farm).
Cattle producers can take advantage of a well-built weather-proof facility with helpers on hand to ensure safe and efficient handling of their bulls. Cost is $65 per bull, payable day-of the exam. Exams will be offered beginning at 10 a.m. and cattle producers can sign up for time slots to minimize their wait time.
Some cattle producers may question the value of spending hours loading their bulls and transporting them to the north end of the county. But the safety of the facility, along with helping hands to ensure the bulls move smoothly through the exam process with minimal stress, is an easy way to complete a task one could argue is the most important management task any cattleman can accomplish in a single year. If a cow experiences reproductive failure, the farm looses one calf. If the bull experiences reproductive failure, the farm could lose 10, 30, or even 60 calves.
Bulls need to be checked at least annually for fertility and reproductive function. Bull fertility can be lost if the bull has suffered an infection with high fever, prolonged heat stress, or physical injury. All three of these can occur and go unnoticed on the farm until months later when cows that should be calving fail to do so.
Generally, it is preferred to conduct breeding soundness exams about three weeks before the start of the breeding season. This gives the stockman time to source another bull should their bull fail the exam and yet it is close enough to breeding season that it is unlikely some calamity will occur between the exam and when the bull is expected to breed cows or heifers.
The Nov. 4 exam date should be good for bulls that are expected to service fallcalving cows, but a breeding soundness exam conducted even six months before the bull is expected to breed is better than no exam at all.
Cattle producers who would like to sign up to have their bulls examined on Nov. 4 or would like to get more information about breeding soundness exams can contact me, Tom Stanley, at the Rockbridge Extension office at (540) 463-4734 or by email to [email protected].
