It amazes me, year after year, when we PAP test bulls, that they figured this out! It’s an amazing procedure. I made a video about it years ago, you might want to watch.
A quick poke and the needle lands in the jugular, often leaking blood from the mighty vein.
A long catheter is threaded through it, clear down to the bull’s (or cow’s) heart.
Hooked up to a transducer, the catheter is pushed further into the heart, and on the screen comes the measurement we’re looking for. Pulmonary arterial pressure is measured. The readout tells us immediately if we’re going to keep the animal or not. High numbers may lead to High Mountain Disease aka Brisket Disease. Hypoxia or respiratory distress can lead to death. Often, all it takes is taking the cow or calf to a lower elevation where the distress is not evident. Since you don’t want this in your herd, culling bulls that have it is an easy way to reduce your risk.
Within a few minutes, the test is complete. The bulls continue to get a couple of more tests, one for semen viability and another to test for trichomoniasis in the bulls we will run in common with other ranches.
When people belittle agriculture, I immediately flash to these days. These advanced procedures and tests give ranchers an advantage unheard of just a few years ago. This lifestyle is much more than just letting cows eat grass, and I wish more people realized that!
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So very true. We don’t realise all that goes into ranching and farming. My nephew is an agronomist and his soil analysis gives the farmer advice on the best crops to grow in that soil.
Wow! This is so interesting. I’d never thought about what might happen to a cow/bull going from low to high altitude. I mean people adapt after a day or so. I just assumed that cattle did something similar. Better for them to be born at high altitude in the first place. Veterinary science has come a long way. People don’t realize what goes into raising that beef on the table.
Keep up the good work, Carol.
Bulls are dehorned? Bred to be that way (no horns) or both?
Keep spreading the word Carol because I find it frightening that so many do not realize where there food comes from or what it takes to produce it. A friend in Colorado was complaining that the farmers got precedence for water allocation rather than her lawn . I reminded her that the farmers were growing our food – duh. She did quit complaining, at least to me. 🙂 I seldom comment, but always read.