sis, to see if this might be a risk. The diseases you might worry about or not worry about will often depend on your own herd situation, where you are located, etc. There are some trade issues in
which other countries won’t let you import cattle unless they are test-
lems developing in cattle,” says Hairgrove. “If I am bringing in any new cattle, this could be a concern, but especially when buying a bull because he will cover more country and have more potential for spread- ing parasites.” “It pays to take a fecal sample
There’s a big advantage to buying bulls well ahead of when you plan to turn them out with the cows.
ed for various diseases including bluetongue. “If you are in an area where this disease does not occur, and you buy a bull that might have bluetongue, he should be tested. These are questions you could dis- cuss with your veterinarian because these issues will vary in different parts of the country,” he says.
Parasites “Make sure a bull is not carrying
any internal or external parasites before he goes out on your pastures or mingles with your cattle,” says Gill. “You should get him in sync with your own deworming and de- lousing program. We’ve seen some instances where people brought in bulls that were loaded with para- sites and they didn’t know it, and undermined their deworming pro- grams.” A new bull may bring parasites
that are resistant to commonly used deworming drugs. “We know there are some serious resistance issues in sheep and goats, and now we are concerned about resistance prob-
104 The Cattleman October 2013
while you still have him quaran- tined (before he goes out with the cows), deworm the bull, and then check a fecal sample 3 weeks lat- er,” Hairgrove says. “Then you will know whether or not your prod- uct is doing a good job on those parasites. If the bull is still wormy 3 weeks after you treat him, this means your product didn’t work very well and you need to find something that will deworm him adequately before you turn him out on your pastures. Otherwise you’ll be increasing the risk for parasite resistance in your herd.” Depending on the time of year
you buy the bull, you may also want to check him for lice or mange mites. “Most of these external para- sites are seasonal and fairly self- limiting, but there’s no need to add them to your herd if your cattle don’t have them.” It’s always a good idea to know
the history of new animals and/or do some testing and checking before they are put into your own herd. All too often when a herd ends up
with a problem it was because of a new animal that was brought in. “By the time we get to the wreck we may not know where we got it,” says Hairgrove.
Quarantine We often talk about keeping new
animals quarantined for a certain period of time. “For most new bulls, however, the ‘quarantine’ period is simply the ride home,” says Gill. A 3-week quarantine may be adequate to know if the bull was exposed to some types of diseases in which he might show symptoms soon, but for diseases like trich, BVD-PI, Johnes, etc. this won’t help. The quarantine time is impor-
tant, however. It gives you a chance to know if the bull is coming down with some types of contagious dis- ease and gives you time to vaccinate him. It’s wise to vaccinate incoming bulls for all major diseases, includ- ing clostridial diseases. “A lot of people don’t vaccinate
their bulls and end up losing a bull. The quarantine period is when you can get all your vaccines into those bulls and make sure they are on your health program. Trich tests should have already been done, but if not, you can make sure it gets done, and do any followup testing,” Gill says. There is a big advantage to buy-
ing bulls well ahead of when you plan to turn them out with the cows. “Many people buy young bulls at a sale in March and turn them out in April and haven’t had time to do anything with those bulls. I person- ally like to buy a bull in October and have him ready for the next spring. This not only gets him on the same herd health program as the cows, but gets him toughened up and ready to go to work,” says Gill.
thecattlemanmagazine.com
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