Bulled does not mean pregnant, be careful of what you are buying!

06 Jan, 2019 - 00:01 0 Views
Bulled does not mean pregnant, be careful of what you are buying!

The Sunday News

Mhlupheki Dube

THERE was a hot discussion in one of the livestock social media platforms in which I am a member.

The issue was trending, as they say in the social media lingo, for two days and it was about a farmer who had been sold heifers as bulled and these had failed to drop any calves within the expected gestation period of nine months.

The concerned farmer was now seeking advice as he/ she felt cheated after having paid a premium on the basis that the heifers were bulled.

Now the whole two-day discussion centred on the meaning of “bulled” as used in livestock production.

I wish to share his views on the same subject matter just to assist fellow farmers who may find themselves in the same predicament or at least in a situation where they are buying heifers or cows with the same tag.

My own point of departure is that it is not always wise to pay a premium for a pregnant animal, be it confirmed, visibly in calf or just seen taking a bull. However, the risks or buying a false product will be reduced depending on which label of the above three it was.

A bulled heifer or cow simply means it was given to the bull or it was serviced by a bull and this does not in any way guarantee pregnancy or conception as it is rightfully called. Farmers will agree with me that it is not always that when a cow/ heifer takes a bull there is conception.

In some cases it will conceive on the next round of servicing. The equation is simple, bulled is not equal to pregnant and pregnant is not always equal to a calf. A lot can happen in between bulling, conception and calving. Therefore paying a premium on the basis that the cow/ heifer was seen being mounted is opening yourself to fraud.

I must hasten to admit that the term bulled in the livestock industry is loosely used to the extent of it being placed on equal footing with pregnant such that a farmer who buys bulled cows/ heifers is as good as a farmer who bought certified pregnant animals.

Sadly that’s not always the case as the situation of this farmer and many others. The risk of buying an open animal from alleged bulled cows/ heifers increases with the decrease in reputation of the seller.

In other words if you bought from a reputable farmer with clear systems and records and it is sold as bulled there are better chances of getting a calf compared to some fly-by-night seller who may very well have just sold you a fake label.

Therefore as a safer rule you should never pay a premium of a cow/ heifer on the account of it being bulled.

In some cases you may be sold a cow with physical attributes of a pregnant animal and you will be told that it is almost due to drop a calf anytime. This again can be fake as many farmers have found out. In my experience I have found out that there are some cows which almost look like pregnant cows especially when they are in good condition, say after pen fattening or when there is plenty grazing.

The vulva looks like that of a pregnant animal and the udder looks firm and dropping yet the animal will be empty. You may be sold a dummy! The next scenario is to be sold pregnancy certified cows/ heifers. This means a pregnancy diagnosis has been carried out by a veterinarian and the animals have been confirmed pregnant. This feels less risky but the risk of buying an empty animal is still there because pregnancy diagnosis is a specialised process which needs to be done by an experienced person, especially veterinarians. The diagnosis becomes even less accurate if the pregnancy is still young, especially less than three months and the method of diagnosis is through rectal palpation.

So you may pay a premium based on an inaccurate pregnancy diagnosis. I have met several animals in my line of work that had been confirmed pregnant by a veterinarian but turned out to be empty.

In fact if your idea is to buy two animals why not buy a cow with a calf on foot instead of buying a confirmed pregnancy.

What if the cow/ heifer has contagious abortion and it aborts a full term calf which you paid a premium for? What about if there is a dystocia case and you lose the calf, dam or both? Just buy two live animals, that is a calf and dam then you are safer! Uyabonga umntakaMaKhumalo.

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