# young bull not gaining weight



## Angie (Dec 27, 2005)

I have a young bull I bought at auction this past spring. He doesn't seem to be gaining weight loke he should. He is mostly angus I think. Does anyone have any suggestions on why this is or what to do to help him gain weight? Thanks!


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

Angie, provided you are giving the animal free choice quality feed and he is not gaining then I would think the animal needs treated for parasites. Get some pour on ivermectin and treat him twice with only a short 10 to 12 day interval. I have seen dwarfism in cattle but it is not common.


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## JeffNY (Dec 13, 2004)

I had dwarfism rear its ugly head with this one cow several times. The cow would calve, 6 months later the calf was the size of a small calf. That one particular one died, she had another, I sold him at an auction. I received 1.00lb because he looked like a calf, he was 9 months old. Her other calves grew better, faster but never gained as much beyond a certain point. I shipped her because of it. So that calf if it isn't parasites could very well be dwarfism. Is the head sort of big, or slightly bigger compared to the body, looks a little out of paportion? I've noticed with the ones that didn't grow from that cow, their heads were out of wack some, not obvious, but compared to others they weren't right.


Jeff


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## Jennifer L. (May 10, 2002)

He might be a Jersey cross (called Black Jerseys around here). They are all black and really look like they could have a lot of Angus in them. Is he not gaining weight and looking skinny, or just not blocky like you think a beefer should look? Other wise I agree with worming him good and proper.

My neighbor have a large Angus herd and have had one dwarf show up in theirs. I've never seen it in my Holsteins at all. 

Jennifer


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## genebo (Sep 12, 2004)

My neighbors have now had two Angus bull calves that wouldn't grow. They looked like very young calves right up until they died at about a year old.

One was inspected and was found to have internal organs that had grown until they shut down the bull's breathing and it smothered.

It's some kind of dwarfism that stops the growth of the skeleton but lets the organs grow full size.

However, in a third case, a heifer grew very slowly and only reached the size of a Dexter, about 1/2 the weight you'd expect. She's healthy and happy.

Genebo
Paradise Farm


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

Not enough info. Is he gaining frame, and not flesh? A young critter on a non or low grain diet will grow this way. The first thing a cow critter will do is grow frame. If it gets extra, it will ad flesh, if not it will ad flesh when it is framed out.


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