Basics for Selecting a Bull – Vet Guide 2025 🐂✔️

Hello! I’m Dr Duncan Houston BVSc. Choosing the right bull for your spring‑calving herd can impact fertility, calf performance, and long‑term profitability. Here’s a comprehensive 2025 guide on selecting a bull with strong structure, fertility, performance metrics, and overall fit for your operation—with support from Ask A Vet.

1. Structural Soundness & Conformation 🧱

Structural correctness ensures longevity and breeding ability. At selection:

• Overall frame: Bull should appear masculine, confident, and balanced.
• Hindquarters: Look for thickness and muscle development—clearly visible from rear view.
• Back & topline: A wide, straight back signals strong muscling.
• Feet & legs: Check for straight legs, strong pasterns, and well‑aligned hooves for weight-bearing and mobility.

2. Breeding Soundness Exam (BSE) 🩺

A veterinary‑performed BSE is essential—it’s more than semen quality:

• Reproductive exam: Physical evaluation of testes, epididymis, sheath, and penis.
• Scrotal circumference: Bigger size typically means earlier puberty in offspring.
• Semen analysis: Includes sperm count, motility rates, and morphology.
• Overall physical exam: Eyes, mouth, gait, BCS, and general health.

This exam detects sub‑fertility and ensures your investment can perform for breeding season.

3. Performance Records & EPDs 📊

Evaluate the bull’s genetic merit through:

• Expected Progeny Differences (EPDs): Estimates of traits like birth weight, weaning gain, carcass quality, and fertility.
• Accuracy scores: Higher accuracy means more reliable predictions.
• Fit to your herd goals: Choose bulls whose EPDs align with your production objectives (e.g., calving ease, feedlot weight).
• Supplementary data: Include actual performance, health, and fertility records if available.

4. Fitness & Temperament 🐂

• Condition: Moderate BCS (5–6/9) – not too fat or too thin.
• Mobility: Walks easily with elasticity—signs he can cover pasture without issue.
• Disposition: Alert, manageable, neither overly aggressive nor lethargic.

5. Managing Longevity & Reproductive Performance

Look beyond the first breeding season:

• Longevity traits: Bulls with sound feet and structure will last many seasons.
• Weekly breeding vet checks: Establish a schedule to evaluate performance.
• Fertility re‑checks: For bulls used multiple seasons, consider annual BSEs.

6. Matching Bull to Herd Environment

• Climate adaptation: Choose bulls with appropriate hair coat, breed type (Brahman, Continental, British), and disease resistance for your region.
• Calving management: For cow-calf operations with limited labor, select calving‑ease bulls.
• Feeding systems: Match bull frame size to feed availability—avoid oversize bulls on limited forage.

7. Role of Ask A Vet 📱

Ask A Vet supports your bull selection process by:

• Reviewing BSE findings and semen quality interpretations.
• Diving into EPD values relevant to farm goals—growth vs calving ease vs maternal traits.
• Assessing structural soundness via shared photos or videos.
• Designing breeding plans: bull number per cow, rotation protocols.
• Supporting ongoing fertility monitoring throughout the season.

8. Financial & Long-Term Profit Considerations 💲

• Cost vs return: Investing in a high‑quality bull saves time, vet costs, and improves calf crop performance.
• Herd improvement: Each calf inherits 50% of the bull’s genetics—correct choice compounds over generations.
• ROI analysis: Talk with Ask A Vet to project gains and cost-benefit of selection choices.

9. Selection & Buying Timeline

1. 2–3 months pre-breeding: Scout bull sales and bull farms.
2. 1–2 months before breeding: Perform BSE and structual scout.
3. 2–4 weeks before breeding: Perform vaccinations and adjust nutrition.
4. Breeding season: Monitor tests, serve behavior, and breeding activity.
5. Post-season: Re-BSE if carrying to another breeding season.

10. 2025 Take‑Home Messages

• Structural correctness ensures function and longevity.
• BSE is essential—it confirms fertility beyond semen.
• EPDs guide genetic improvement aligned to your goals.
• Body condition, mobility, and temperament matter.
• Ask A Vet provides expert guidance throughout the process.

Conclusion

Selecting a bull isn’t just about appearance—it's a strategic decision affecting fertility, calf performance, and herd direction. By combining structural assessment, rigorous fertility testing, performance data, and temperament scoring—and integrating Ask A Vet guidance—you strengthen your breeding program, enhance your calf crop, and support profitability and animal wellbeing in 2025 and beyond. Ready when you are to find the right bull for your herd! 🐂❤️