One sure fire way to find out if your bull is fertile is to bring your him to the 17th annual reproductive soundness exam clinic beginning at 8 a.m. April 6, at Milford Animal Clinic. The Kosciusko County Cattlemen’s Association will be providing beef producers the opportunity to have their bulls go through an RSE. Cost for the 15 minute examination is $45 for association members and $55 for non-members.

A few changes have been made for this year’s exam. There is a limit of 25 bulls, but we must have a minimum of six bulls in order to have the exam. It is requested that you prepay for the exam after you have scheduled a time with the Purdue Extension of Kosciusko County Office.

In the past, the event has had several last minute cancellations. This becomes a problem when due to the fact they have to turn others away because the vet believed they had a full slate of bulls. Refunds will be given on all cancellations prior to April 4.

Bulls are also required to be a minimum of 14 months of age. Too often bulls that are too young do not have a sample viable for testing.

Bulls will receive several benefits by going through the examination. Frame scores will be determined for each bull. A vaccination booster is also included in the fee.

Even if you didn’t have problems last season, the association urges bull owners to not think that this will grant a 100 percent guarantee that bulls will breed successfully this year. According to the association, it is common to hear stories of beef producers who had open cows because the bull did not do its job.

In addition, due to the cold winter season, there have been early reports that some bulls did suffer frostbite. Having your bull go through a reproductive soundness exam may prevent surprises later in the breeding season. In fact, in 2000 and 2001, four bulls were identified as poor breeders. The owners could not tell that by just looking at them. This could have easily cost these owners $10,000 or more in lost calves and open cows.

Why should you have your bull go through such an exam? First, research has found that about 20 percent of all beef bulls are lacking in some area of reproductive capacity. Often beef producers think once they get a bull and it has a successful calf crop, the bull will maintain its fertility throughout its lifetime. Of course, this is not always the case.

Unfortunately, producers sometimes do not find out about reproductive problems with their bulls until it is too late. Cows may be open in the fall if pregnancy checked. Worse yet, the producer waits until spring to find out that he has a reduced number of calves or no calves at all. It is estimated that each cycle a female is not carrying a calf can result in a loss of 35-45 pounds in calf weaning weights across the herd. Putting your bull through an exam 30-60 days before the start of the breeding season will increase the success of your breeding program.

If you are interested in having your bull evaluated, it is requested that you call the Extension Office at 574-372-2340 by April 4 to sign up, so that the day will move along as smoothly as possible. Information is also available on the Extension website at www.ag.purdue.edu/counties/kosciusko/ under hot topics.