“It’s not so easy as doing some rough math and figuring out,” USask extension economist Kathy Larson says in the video. “There’s a process called Capital Investment Analysis that this tool does. It works back your revenues and cost of the lifespan of that bull and works it back to a present value basis.”

The calculator requires producers to enter a dozen numbers (on costs, maintenance and salvage value) to get a bull value and ‘bull cost per calf.’ The video features several producers speaking about the tool.

The video and a link to the tool is in the Blog section of beefresearch.ca.

The post Use some higher math to avoid the bull appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Crop insurance levels in the U.S. are based in part off of new-crop futures prices during the month of February. As a result, seasonal trends often lead to softer prices during the month, according to Scott Capinegro of Barrington Commodity Brokers at Barrington, Ill.

China should also be moving to the sidelines during its Lunar New Year celebrations, which will take some of that demand out of the market, he added. Brazil’s harvest is also getting underway, putting additional pressure on grain markets.

While the nearby trend may be steady to lower, “when I look at corn, I still think some new highs are possible… if China steps in and buys some more,” Capinegro said.

“If you have the patience and you’re a bull, buy the dips and it seems to be working in the grains.”

From a chart perspective, Capinegro said front-month corn still had an upside target of $5.75 per bushel (all figures US$). “Whether that will be the March contract or the May is hard to say… but any breaks around $5.15-$5.25 will be a good value to re-own.”

For soybeans, “we could push into the $15 (per bushel) range, and maybe as high as $15.50, but we have to get through the February seasonals,” according to Capinegro.

Dry weather at planting time could provide the eventual incentive for a move higher, he added.

“I’m still bullish for 2021, but you have to pick your spots.”

— Phil Franz-Warkentin reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

The post CBOT weekly outlook: Corn, soybeans may see seasonal slowdown appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

This article will go into the cause, treatment, clinical signs, and outcomes expected when dealing with penile warts. All purebred breeders will get some eventually and commercial cattlemen may have some crop up on mature bulls that developed (usually on two-year-olds).

Penile warts are caused by a virus very closely related to the one which causes body warts. Cattle that are essentially wart free can still have penile warts, you just can’t see them unless the penis is extended.

The majority are found at semen evaluation time. This is one of the many reasons why the veterinarian likes to get protrusion of the penis so the entire area including the prepuce can be visually checked. If warts are detected, a lot of veterinarians deal with them right away and once removed they are rechecked for complete signs of healing at a later date.

Depending on the location they may require tricky surgery to remove. Many along the shaft can simply be cut away, but those near the tip have more complications. Removing the warts near the tip may damage the end of the penis or its nerve supply, making breeding difficult as bulls require that feeling near the end to find the vulva. Warts are sometimes wrapped around the entire end of the penis and incorporate the urethra. In removing these, a rent can be created whereby urine and ejaculated semen exit before the end. In some instances, if this distance is not too great and complete healing has occurred, fertility will not be affected. In others, it will be the veterinarian’s call as to whether too much damage has been created.

Warts vary in size from the size of a pencil eraser to others as large as baseballs (in rare cases). Each case takes some planning, depending on size, location, blood supply, and the size of the stalk or attachment. But the majority can and will be successfully removed. When removed, large warts may require some suturing to close the cut or to control bleeding, but small warts are simply removed and left.

Some warts are what I call smooth with no rough surfaces and don’t bleed when handled. I usually leave these and simply note them on the evaluation form as to size and location. Warts can reoccur especially if they were not fully removed. For reoccurrence and making sure healing has been complete, I tend to recheck two to three weeks later before a clean bill of health is given.

Fertility is affected when warts rip during breeding and blood mixes with the semen, which is not a good thing. Blood has a detrimental effect on sperm so anything causing bleeding is not good. Very similar to body warts once recovered, I seldom see them reoccurring which is why they are a rare event in a mature bull.

In my experience, warts on purebred operations are a very sporadic occurrence. I may see a few cases one year and none for several years. In herds with repeated problems with penile warts, vets on occasion have had an autogenous vaccine made up. This involves sending a sample of the warts to a lab. A vaccine is made and then administered. Whether this is necessary is between you and your veterinarian. With a hit-and-miss incidence, I haven’t found it necessary. But you know Murphy’s Law in the purebred business — warts will occur on your very best bull.

Warts are always worth trying to remove as we have nothing to lose. The bull is rendered non-functional so unless they occur on a marginal bull, have your veterinarian at least attempt to remove them.

Warts do happen on older bulls. If they were semen evaluated as yearlings, warts may have developed subsequent to that time. In cases where we can’t get the penis to protrude, warts may have been present and were not visualized. By collecting semen on the one side smaller warts on the back side of the penis may go undetected.

Producers are always told to try and observe breeding on a new bull. We want to make sure the bull mounts, enters the cow, and ejaculates. But another thing to watch for are any growths (i.e. warts) on the penis. Any time you see blood or a bloody discharge from the penis, warts are a possibility. If large enough, warts can even be seen as a movable swelling inside the sheath, much the same as a broken penis or cut penis may appear.

Purebred and commercial producers should always keep an eye out for penile warts when bulls are breeding.

Remember, in the vast majority of cases they can be treated and the bull eventually returned to full breeding function.

The post To ensure breeding soundness, make sure warts are treated appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

In its early days, the Manitoba Bull Test Station was a way for cattle producers to evaluate their genetics before genetic testing became de rigueur in the livestock industry.

Opened in 1963 near Douglas, just east of Brandon, the Sire Indexing Centre (as it was known then) had one simple goal — to test bull performance under a controlled set of management practices and allow producers to select (and sell) the top performers.

That hasn’t changed in the nearly 55 years since then — but the agriculture industry has.

“Back in our heyday in the ’80s and early ’90s, we fed roughly 600 purebred bulls. Now we have around 100 to 150 bulls on test every year,” said station manager Tyler Winters.

“The thought back then was that if you were a producer, you could see how you were doing compared to everybody else, and then provide good bulls for the commercial breeders to buy.

“That hasn’t changed a lot, but the numbers are going down.”

That’s largely a result of purebred breeders having sales at their own facilities, said Jeff Ross, vice-president of the station’s board of directors.

“It’s simply because of a change in the industry with independent producers having their own production sales,” said Ross, who produces Shorthorn cattle near Brandon. “That’s taken the numbers out.”

Bull testing

While single-breed sales have become more popular in recent years, the Douglas bull test station is the last remaining public multi-breed station in the province. Angus is the predominant breed there — over half of last year’s bulls were Angus, with the other half going to Limousin, Shorthorn, Herefords, and Charolais bulls.

Every bull is fed the same diet, regardless of the breed.

“We want to see what these animals can do,” said Winters. “The real test is on weight gain. We shoot for three pounds a day, and anything above that is just more genetics than anything.”

In a typical year at the station, purebred breeders bring their cattle to the station at the end of September or early October, when they’re put on a 28-day ‘warm-up.’ The warm-up period puts all of the cattle on the same diet in the same environment — allowing producers to test the true genetic potential of their animals.

At the start of November, bulls are weighed and then put on a typical backgrounding ration of 13 per cent protein pellets and free-choice hay for roughage — “something with not too much power to it to let them grow into their body a bit,” said Winters.

“We don’t push them too hard. We want their genetics to do what they’re supposed to do.”

The bulls are weighed multiple times throughout the testing season, which runs until February, at which point they’re evaluated for things such as average daily gain and weight per day of age.

“These are statistical numbers that a purchaser here at the station will perhaps use in his purchasing decisions when choosing one bull over another,” said Ross.

The animals are put up for sale in the spring. The whole process — including feeding, testing, advertising, and selling the animal — typically costs about $1,200 per bull (depending on feed prices).

Last year, the station also launched a ranch horse sale to diversify its business, to good results.

“It was standing room only,” said Ross. “Most everybody with a ranch horse probably has some cows. If they have some cows, they probably need a bull. We’re just trying to expand our opportunities to promote the bulls that are for sale here.”

Lakeland College testing

But the cattle sector has changed in the 50-plus years since the Manitoba station first opened, and that will make it tricky for it to regain the numbers it had in its glory days.

The traditional bull test done at the station is falling out of fashion, partly because birth weights have increased as a result of selecting bulls with the highest daily gain. Now, producers are targeting lower birth weights and higher feed efficiency.

That’s the type of testing that’s happening at Lakeland College today.

“The bull test here is not the same as the traditional bull test,” said Obi Durunna, livestock research scientist at Lakeland College. “We want to focus on testing bulls for feed efficiency, especially residual feed intake.”

The reason for that is threefold. First, feed is expensive, representing between 50 and 70 per cent of the variable costs of producing an animal, said Durunna.

“If we can identify which animals are more efficient at consuming feed without compromising on other traits, that’s more sustainable and a better route to productivity and profitability,” he said.

Feed efficiency is also “moderately heritable,” so it’s likely that any offspring of feed-efficient animals will likewise be more efficient.

“The next generation is also improved if you use such animals for breeding,” he said.

And finally, bigger isn’t necessarily better when it comes to bulls.

“When you use a feed-conversion ratio or a feed-to-gain ratio to select animals, the selection has tended toward keeping bigger animals,” said Durunna. “But bigger animals wouldn’t necessarily translate to animals that are more feed efficient.”

Lakeland is currently testing about 30 bulls from a local producer who wants to know the efficiency profile of his animals.

“The intent is to have feed efficiency included in the production goals and breeding objectives of the producers,” said Durunna. “Producers don’t need to test all their bulls. If they have weighed all other factors on the bulls and decide to test just the few that they’re interested in, this type of testing would serve them well in improving their herds.”

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While longevity is longer than beef bulls, we rarely talk about breeding capacity. The bison industry does not utilize artificial insemination like the beef industry (although it can and has been done), and so the value of the good breeding bulls has gone up, as they should.

How best to utilize these highly valued bulls with the performance behind them is the key. Just like the beef industry, the bull represents half the genetics in your herd and certain traits, such as performance and carcass qualities, are quite heritable. Breeding season pretty much starts in August so this article is quite timely.

In its early stages, the word on breeding in the bison sector was always to run one bull for every 10 cows. We know now that is not the case, but what is their breeding capacity? I will describe some first-hand information on what we find with semen evaluating, and future work that will be done in free-ranging herds. This should help us all decide how to run our herd bulls.

When performing semen evaluations over the years, one thing that was very evident was semen quality (both motility and morphology) was very similar to beef bulls. Their testicle size on average is a lot smaller than beef bulls, but concentration of the semen as well as volume was always more than adequate. There are a percentage of duds or lower-fertile bulls, just as we see in the beef industry, and injuries from being horned can scar up the preputial area such that extension of the penis cannot occur. These bulls need to be culled out much as they would in a cattle operation.

These conditions are much more serious if they occur on the dominant bull in the herd as he may prevent other less dominant bulls from breeding.

Once caught and restrained in a good bison chute, bison are, if anything, easier to semen evaluate than beef bulls.

I use the smallest cattle probe, and low stimulation will usually get protrusion of the penis every time and a good semen sample to evaluate. Rapid swirls are not uncommon. They mature later than beef bulls, so don’t evaluate anything less than 18 months and preferably close to 24 months is the place to start.

There is no question breeding capacity is much higher than the 1:10 ratio already mentioned. Many breeders run in the area of one bull per 20 to 25 cows, and conception rate and calving interval is not sacrificed. In some cases, it is improved because of less fighting and competition between bulls.

I personally have run one group of 25 to 29 cows with one mature bull and have excellent conception and a short calving interval. The worry with a single-sire mating is if the one bull does develop a problem, conception can really be affected, as there is no backup. Also, bison cows are very hard to see in heat and it is hard to observe bison bulls breeding, so problems are not detected until later. Rather than taking a chance, most breeders don’t run single-sire groups for that simple reason.

Beaver Creek Ranch on Syncrude property at Fort McMurray registers its wood bison calves, so all calves in the late fall are parentage tested to determine the exact sire. With this information we have breeding capacity information in multi-sire herds.

In the early days, one herd of 72 cows ran with 10 sires. This created lots of competition and breeding pressures. The most dominant bull in this group (an eight-year-old) still managed to sire 24 calves. Five other five- to eight-year-old bulls sired six to eight calves each and some four-year-olds sired one or two calves.

Dominance plays a large role in breeding in our bison herds. Currently there is a genetic researcher in Texas who is going to sample a free-ranging park herd. It will be interesting to see just how the numbers play out. My guess is we will see the dominant bulls doing most of the breeding. As the subordinate bulls get older and stronger, they exert more pressure and at five years plus (when they are at their prime) do more breeding.

In another breeding herd at Beaver Creek with a two-bull breeding group, a five-year-old bred 21 of 26 cows with a four-year-old breeding the remaining five cows. Capacity of these mature bulls is definitely in the range of 25 cows. It appears lots reach peak performance at five years of age.

Further research will tell us when the older bull’s capacity becomes reduced. I personally have tested several bulls over age 10 and semen still had a very high count as long as ability to breed was not hindered by injuries, lameness, etc.

As with beef bulls, it is a mistake to put bulls even in age and stature together. They spend more time sparring to establish pecking order and less time breeding. With a large age difference there is no question as to dominance so fighting rarely starts.

Terrain and size of the pastures will also determine bull-to-cow ratio. If the herd gets split up, you need enough bull power to cover all the groups. Bison naturally breed in the late summer or early fall just as grass quality is diminishing, but conception rates are generally very good. But as with cattle, maintain a good mineral program especially before and at the breeding period.

With all the evidence out there capacity of our bulls can be increased. This should save everyone lots of dollars from overwintering more bulls than necessary. We want bulls breeding and getting pregnancies — not fighting. Therefore, only the top-quality bulls should be used. Select the ones for growth, conformation, and temperament and I am sure you will be happy with the results.

If in doubt over any of the bulls, have them semen evaluated. As long as the chute is adequate to restrain them as already mentioned, they are no more difficult to do than a beef bull. They can even be done in the late fall or winter if that is the only time you handle them.

Happy breeding season and to the continued expansion of the bison herd in Canada.

Some beef producers run both livestock, and others have made the transition over from cattle. The fencing needs and handling are slightly different. There is also, like beef cattle, a bison code of practice addressing the various aspects of production focusing on animal welfare. All the codes of practice can be accessed by looking at the website of the National Farm Animal Care Council.

The post Bison sector has learned how to make best use of bulls appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

McDonald’s Canada, Beefbooster, and BIXSco — the company now running the Beef InfoXchange System — recently collaborated with Livestock Gentec to analyze two million records of carcass data. The analysis found calves sired by Beefbooster Terminal Cross bulls were worth $219 more than the average value of calves processed by packing plants from 2012 to 2014.

The Calgary company has been using production data since 1970 to breed superior bulls, but this data gave it an exact dollar figure on the quality of carcasses of cattle sired by its bulls versus average cattle.

“We can take carcass information and say that there’s value between the different breeds and the different bulls,” said Jennifer Stewart-Smith, chief executive officer of Beefbooster.

“You will know whether your cattle are grading or yielding well, just by looking at (the data). If you wanted to dive deeper into it, then you could start making breeding decisions based on that information, if you wanted to refine the animals that are producing more of those types of carcasses for you.

“The more information you have on how well your cattle do, the more that adds to you being able to make better decisions.”

However, there is a major hitch — as it stands right now, cow-calf producers don’t get paid more for producing cattle that grade higher.

“That’s always going to be a problem,” said Stewart-Smith. “That’s part of the reason they don’t want you to know anything. Their model is based on us (cow-calf producers) not knowing how well the cattle are doing.

“Now that we know and this is out there, and we know the potential of the cattle that are making more money, there’s a better chance of being able to get more money. But right now, they’re not paying us for that, not at all.”

However, packers have been limited by a lack of data, too. They know which cattle are more valuable, but they wouldn’t normally know who raised them.

“And the producer certainly didn’t know that there is that value on his/her carcasses because we really haven’t had that carcass information to analyze,” noted Stewart-Smith.

Another gap is that feedlots are not putting any data into BIXS yet. Data quality was another issue. Because the two million records entered into the Canadian Livestock Tracking System for a federally sponsored project in 2012-14 didn’t have the birthdates of the animals, BIXSco had to mine its data to find birthdates. It found them for 127,000 animals, so the sample size was relatively small.

Although not definitive, this study will be a stepping stone to other projects of this nature.

“This is a very, very first step,” said Stewart-Smith. “But it does prove that yes, the information is valuable, can be shared, and can be used by producers to make better decisions in their herds.”

The analysis also produced two other significant findings.

One is that calves slaughtered before 19 months of age — versus those slaughtered at 24 months — had higher-value carcasses. And if they are slaughtered at 18 months instead of 24 months, 1.2 fewer tonnes of carbon dioxide are generated per head.

The analysis was co-funded by the Alberta Livestock Meat Agency and McDonald’s as part of the latter’s verified sustainable beef pilot project. The goal was to evaluate the usefulness of sharing data across the beef industry. The study shows a robust database “has the potential to increase the economic viability, social responsibility, and environmental sustainability of the entire Canadian beef community,” said Jeffrey Fitzpatrick-Stilwell, McDonald’s Canada’s senior manager of sustainability.

The carcass valuation was done using a grid employed by Cargill at its High River plant that captures weight, quality, and yield grades. More details of the data can be found in the report — go to www.mcdvsb.com, click on the News tab, and then scroll down to find a link to the report.

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But knowing a few of the basics about a cow’s reproductive system can help get you on the way to creating an artificial insemination program, said Colin Palmer, associate professor at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan.

“The ultimate goal is to put semen at the right place and the right time. There’s nothing more complicated than that,” Palmer said during a recent webinar hosted by the Beef Cattle Research Council.

Many people have technical problems involving liquid nitrogen tanks or other equipment for thawing semen. It also takes a lot of practice to learn how to put the semen through the cervix into the uterine body.

“Lots of people are daunted by that and take AI courses to try and figure out what is going on,” he said.

Start with cows rather than heifers, and accept it will take a bit of practice before becoming good at inseminating, he said, adding the alternative is to hire an insemination technician.

Cows only display estrus for a short time during their heat cycles. Heat cycles average about 21 days, and estrus only lasts between 12 and 18 hours (although it can be as brief as two hours or as much as 50 hours).

“The only true sign that a cow is in estrus or heat is that she stands to be mounted,” said Palmer.

• Read more: AI could be a big bang for your buck for beef

Many animals won’t even show this, or only display this sign for a short period of time. Secondary signs of estrus include chin resting, mounting other animals, bellowing, restlessness or clear mucous discharge coming from the vulva.

“If you see a red mucous discharge coming from the vulva, it is too late, and you have missed the ovulation window by at least a day,” said Palmer. “We need to get that semen into the uterus at least four to six hours before ovulation.”

In order to detect heat, you should observe your cattle at least twice daily at 12-hour intervals for about 20 to 30 minutes. It’s best to observe the cattle in a paddock where they have good footing. On windy, cold or rainy days, cattle will huddle up under trees to get out of the wind, and may not be inclined to show the symptoms of estrus.

Another way to tell if cattle are in heat is to keep records. Cows come into heat about every three weeks.

“Write it down if you think there’s some behaviour, and if you see the same behaviour about three weeks after, that’s a pretty good assurance that that’s the type of heat she displays,” he said.

Estrus detection aids or teaser bulls that have been surgically altered can also be a good way to detect estrus.

“No matter how you’re doing it, heat detection is a time-consuming activity,” he said. “We learned in all our studies that 10 to 15 per cent of cattle don’t display any behaviour that is obvious to the human eye.”

Variability in the heat cycle is based on follicular waves. Follicles develop on the ovaries. The eggs are inside these follicles, and they will eventually be released and ultimately, fertilized. A large percentage of cattle have either two or three waves of follicular development. Cows with two waves of follicular development will ovulate during the second wave, while cows with three waves of follicular development ovulate during the third.

“With our programs, we are able to not only focus on the second and third wave, but we can focus in on some of these other waves through the use of hormones that we employ,” said Palmer.

Two-wave cows have heat cycles that are about 18 to 20 days, while cows that have three follicular waves have a 20- to 23-day heat cycle.

“It isn’t really important whether they are two- or three-wavers. It’s important to understand that there are follicles that we are trying to focus in on and the reason for this estrus cycle length,” said Palmer.

Ovulation occurs about 22 to 27 hours after the onset of heat.

“You can inseminate her in that time, but she ovulates after she goes into heat,” said Palmer. “Because the length of heat is variable, it is good to measure the time of ovulation from the onset of heat rather than after she goes out of heat.

“If you were to be able to breed a cow when you really should, to optimize pregnancy rates, it would be in the latter half of when she is in standing heat.”

This gives the sperm time to get into the uterus, and move through the fallopian tubes to the egg. If the semen is deposited too far in advance before ovulation, the semen won’t be viable. Semen from natural-service sires will survive longer in the reproductive tract than semen that has been frozen and thawed. Semen doses can be as low as $10 and up to $100 a dose for purebred animals.

Artificial insemination should be timed for mid-estrus.

“The old rule used to be if you saw a female in heat in the morning, you should breed her in the afternoon around 5. If you saw her in heat in the evening, you should breed her the next day.”

Palmer recommends that producers talk to their veterinarian or an artificial inseminator to pick an insemination program.

Vaccinations should be completed at least two weeks before insemination. Producers need to have adequate facilities, including good cow-handling chutes and adequate labour to handle the insemination process.

“AI is time sensitive, and you have to have adequate help to move them through the chute,” he said.

Cows should also have good nutrition, and a good bedding area.

“Wet, sloppy, dirty areas can be stressful for animals. Stress on them can influence ovulation rates.”

Once the insemination program has been determined, all protocols should be written down.

Cows that are all inseminated in one day will not all calve in one day, but over a 14-day period.

“There will be a peak, and you need to be able to handle a large number of calves over a short period of time, particularly if you are cold-weather calving,” he said.

The post The secret life of your cow’s reproductive system appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“Natural-service breeding is still the most common. Probably some of the hesitancy is the feeling that it is more expensive to use fixed-time artificial insemination,” Kathy Larson said during a webinar hosted by the Beef Cattle Research Council.

According to the western Canadian cow-calf survey last year, only 10 per cent of Alberta producers, 13 per cent of Manitoba producers and 14 per cent of Saskatchewan producers use artificial insemination in their beef herds.

The national beef strategy has called for a production efficiency increase of 15 per cent by 2020.

“Increased uptake of AI among commercial producers was mentioned as one way to reach that target. That’s why it’s important to chat about it,” Larson said.

Most people don’t think about the actual costs of maintaining a herd sire, Larson said.

“The cost of fixed-time AI is not that much higher than natural service. If you are paying $7,500 or more for a bull, it’s only really about $10 more,” she said.

• Read more: The secret life of your cow’s reproductive system

Bull prices can range widely, from $4,000 to about $10,000 and bulls are generally good for about four years. For every year that a bull is in a herd, it depreciates by about $725. General maintenance costs for one bull, including feed, labour and semen tests are about $750 a year. There’s also a risk of loss, which increases based on a purchase price. Larson calculated that a bull that costs about $7,560 costs about $3,000 a year to maintain. If that bull is servicing 25 females, the cost is about $120 per female serviced.

In 2013, Bart Lardner, senior research scientist with the Western Beef Development Centre, conducted a comparison between 40 cows bred using natural service, and 40 cows bred using fixed-time artificial insemination. Calves were born and weaned in 2014.

The natural-service cows were bred in a 60-day breeding season. The artificially inseminated cows were bred using a controlled internal drug release (CIDR) and a co-sync program. Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone (GnRH), Cisterellin, Prostaglan, and Estrumate were administered, and a technician performed the AI. Total costs for the artificial insemination worked out to about $130 per cow.

The artificially inseminated cows had pregnancy rates of 97.5 per cent, compared with 92.5 per cent pregnancy rates for the natural-service cows. The AI cows had a shorter calving span of 64 days compared to 69 days for the natural service.

The comparison

Artificially inseminated cows had higher birth weights. There was high calf loss on the natural-service side, and 90 per cent of the AI calves weaned a calf, while only 77.5 per cent of the natural-service cows weaned calves.

While there were more weaned calves on the artificially inseminated side, they ended up a little lighter.

“This is not what you’re looking for,” said Larson. “We would tout that you’re using AI to get better genetics and higher weaning rates, but for this one-year demonstration, we did see slightly lower adjusted lower weaning weights. Given all the other improvements with the conception and wean rates, we had an additional 4,100 pounds of weaning weight or pounds of calf weaned when we weaned those calves at the start of October 2014,” she said.

That additional overall weaning weight was worth about $11,250.

Larson also conducted a partial budget analysis for the implementation of fixed-time AI. The costs of AI were about $3,300, and the revenues about $11,250. Reduced revenues included a reduced amount of cull bull sales, and fewer opens to sell. There were reduced costs because fewer bulls needed to be sold or purchased. Improved conception also meant that fewer replacements needed to be purchased, resulting in a reduced cost of $4,925. When Larson crunched the numbers, she found a net profit of $2,070 for the one-year example. This number would change depending on the year and operation.

The post AI could be a big bang for your buck for beef appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

In many instances, a favourable outcome is highly attainable. And with today’s bull prices this may be good news.

The location of the swelling says a lot about its cause. Generally if the penis has been broken the swelling is just ahead of the scrotum. Swellings lower down on the sheath are common with lacerations to either the penis or the prepuce.

A broken penis is the result of a rent created in the sinus of the penis. Blood accumulates in the sinus causing the erection. A sudden bend to an erect penis such as being hit when breeding will cause such a break. Then in subsequent breeding attempts, blood is pumped out through this defect. The blood is trapped in this location causing the visible swelling. The degree of swelling therefore depends on how many breeding attempts have been made before the producer can pull the bull from the breeding herd. Some bulls will be turned off sexually and may not attempt further breeding.

To diagnose a cut penis, your veterinarian will either sedate the bull to have a good look at his penis or use an electro ejaculator to be able to visualize it. Cuts are the result of breeding in bush, over fences, etc. Some bulls are more prone because of their aggressive nature. A few polled bulls have a tendency to have their sheath prolapsed constantly. All these things greatly increase the likelihood of lacerations and tears.

Complications involve several scenarios, which can be vastly different in each case. Large cuts can result in infection and subsequent scarring which could prevent the bull from extending his penis, therefore not achieving intromission. I personally have seen a case where 100 per cent of a herd was open because the herd bull had a scarred-down penis from an injury the previous year. This is another very good reason to semen evaluate and make sure the penis can be fully extended.

If severe swelling has occurred, the prepuce may be prolapsed. This can also occur with broken penises and the resulting drying, swelling and cracking of the prolapsed prepuce causes a serious complication. Hydrotherapy with medicating ointments is often prescribed. The swelling must be brought down to allow retraction of the prepuce back into the sheath. In all these cases the bulls can be immediately shipped for emergency slaughter as long as no medication has been given. However, a vast majority can be treated so depending on age of bull and his value to your herd this option is always available.

Treatment is not complicated or costly; some labour and the tincture of time with sexual rest resolve many of them. Broken penises require hydrotherapy initially and then a long sexual rest. A few months later the bull may be tested to see if erection is possible. About 50 per cent of the cases will heal (if caught early before large swellings have occurred), but they do have a higher incidence of reoccurring than normal bulls.

Surgery was tried more often in the past but because of the large blood clot that formed, infection is a very real complication. Prognosis is no better than the conservative medical approach. The blood clot is absorbed over time and as long as adhesions are minimized with hydrotherapy, infection is unlikely.

Cut penises involve careful scrutinization by your veterinarian. Flushing medication up the sheath along with hydrotherapy and systemic drugs are used in bad cases. Minor cases will be left with just sexual rest and time. If breeding is allowed, the laceration may be extended. As well, blood is very detrimental to sperm. With fresh cuts this mixing of blood and sperm can result in very poor fertility.

Many minor cuts heal on their own as we see from the scars on penises at semen evaluation in subsequent years. These cuts most likely occurred the previous breeding season. The seriousness of the injury will determine prognosis and estimated return to function. Some minor cuts will be healed and the bull ready to use in two to three weeks, but they should be checked to make sure complete healing has occurred. A high percentage of cuts will heal however, keeping that bull till the next breeding season may be warranted depending on the value of the bull. Again, that choice is made based on the value of the bull, his age, and when in the breeding season the laceration occurred.

When checking your bulls during the breeding season watch for full extension when breeding, blood on breeding, and keep a careful watch of the sheath area for any abnormal swellings. If anything is noticed, pull them immediately and get them attended to.

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