Bull selection can be the single, most powerful tool for genetic improvement in your herd. Since they will supply half of the genetics to all the calves they sire, the genetic influence of the bulls you introduce is far reaching, across generations & will impact on your profitability for many years to come.  So it is important you have objective information about his fertility, health status, structure/conformation, pedigree & genetic merit over & above mere opinion, whether ours or that of others.

This is the premise behind our bull testing regime; to provide independent, quantified, objective information describing as accurately as possible the breeding functionality of our bulls & the genetic potential they offer their progeny.  This will enable you to select those bulls best suited to your program & environment.

Though it is common to see photo's & video of fat, sappy bulls with captions like “depth & consistency”, “slick coated” & “easy doing” in the media hype of the bull selling season, the truth is that it is objective information which will enable you to select bulls best suited to your environment & program.  These are the bulls who will actually breed on to improve your profitability.

And ....... keep in mind, they don't have to be the heaviest or highest priced bulls on offer, to be the ones best suited to your environment & program.  "Best suited to your environment & program" is the key to them breeding on to improve your profitability, not their price or sale day weight!

We are one of only a few Angus seedstock producers to put their draft of sale bulls through such an extensive pre-sale testing regime. Notably, we are one of even fewer Angus seedstock producers who publish these results in our Bull Sale Catalogue.

(1) BULLCHECK™

To get females in calf, your bull must be reproductively sound.  Though he may present fat & with plenty of 'eye appeal' on sale day, this does not necessarily translate to reproductive soundness.  The 'gold card' for an objective fertility measurement of a bull's reproductive soundness is BULLCHECK™, a standardized descriptor of bull fertility, developed, conducted & endorsed by Australian Cattle Veterinarians (ACV) for this specific purpose.

BULLCHECK™ includes an assessment of legs, feet, joints, back, gait, head & shoulders for structural soundness , examination of reproductive organs including an inspection of the penis & sheath for the presence of infections, warts (?!) or injury, palpation of internal sex gland via rectal entry for the presence of irregularities which can indicate infections, assessment to ensure the penis can be extruded, measurement of scrotal circumference + both Sperm Motility & Sperm Morphology testing (see below), all conducted by an ACV accredited veterinarian.

Bulls who repeatedly fail one or more components of BULLCHECK™ in pre-sale testing are at best sub-fertile & at worst, most likely infertile.  They should not enter a sale ring in this state!  If you’re buying Angus Bulls out of a sale ring who are not BULLCHECK™ tested, then you’re assuming the lions share of the risk of buying an infertile or sub-fertile bull, though you're paying a price premium.

It is important to note that BULLCHECK™ is NOT a guarantee of bull Fertility.  This is because bull Fertility is never a constant. It varies over time in response to a multitude of stressors over which you may have limited control.  Nevertheless, a pre-sale BULLCHECK™ test is your best option to minimise your risk of buying sub-fertile or infertile bulls out of a sale ring.  It substantiates a bull has a high probability of being fertile & is fit for breeding purposes prior to him entering a sale ring.

A fair & reasonable ask, wouldn't you agree? 

We're proud of our commitment to Bull Fertility.  2025 will be the 19th consecutive year, in which we offer Angus Bulls at our Annual on-property Bull Sale tested by BULLCHECK™.

(2) SPERM MOTILITY

A crush side test for sperm quantity & its ability to move forward. At only about 60µm long, sperm cells need to be motile to get the job done!  Often referred to as a ‘crush side’ semen test, following collection of a semen sample, a drop is placed on a microscope slide & examined, 'crush side', to assess the percentage of live sperm cells moving forward.

A threshold guide for acceptable minimum Sperm Motility is >30% progressively motile sperm.

However, we set a higher benchmark & only those bulls testing ≥50% progressively motile sperm in their semen sample make our Bull Sale Catalogue.  Look for the BULLCHECK™ logo in our Bull Sale Catalogue to see Sperm Motility test results for each Lot.

(3) SPERM MORPHOLOGY

We are one of a select few Angus studs who pre-sale test & report Sperm Morphology results in our Bull Sale Catalogue.  Morphology of the sperm is the anatomy or structure of individual sperm cells.

It is not the same as Sperm Motility & we urge buyers not to confuse the two.

Sperm Morphology CANNOT be tested 'crush side'.  It requires a large, expensive & specialised laboratory microscope to examine a preserved semen sample. It assesses the percentage of normal & abnormal sperm cells in a semen sample.  Sperm Morphology testing will ‘weed out’ those bulls who are the true loser’s when it comes to fertility, which crush side Sperm Motility testing on its own cannot.

Why would you care about Sperm Morphology?

Sperm Morphology is a heritable trait, genetically related to the interval from calving to first oestrus cycle in females. Australian research has consistently shown Sperm Morphology to be positively associated with either pregnancy rate or calf output in beef breeding bulls.

Bulls who repeatedly fail to meet minimum standards for Sperm Morphology are at worst infertile, & at best, sub-fertile.  Though sub-fertile bulls may still sire calves, they'll likely be costly, late calves because their subfertility can produce a non-viable embryo so the female fails to conceive on that cycle.  Not her fault, but this forces her into the next joining cycle.  It is difficult for her to then break out of this late calving cycle, increasing her chances of PTE in a subsequent joining.  If you’re multiple-sire joining, it can be almost impossible to identify sub-fertile bulls as others in the joining team may cover for them. This exposes those fertile bulls to a greater risk of injury & thus more cost to you.

The recognised minimum standard for Sperm Morphology in Australia is:-

(a) >70% normal sperm for bulls used in single sire matings or AI

(b) >50% normal sperm for bulls used in multiple sire matings

Look for the BULLCHECK™ logo in our Bull Sale Catalogue to see test results for each Lot.

(4) BEEF CLASS STRUCTURAL ASSESSMENT SYSTEM

Structural problems impact negatively on both the reproductive & growth performance in your beef herd.  It is widely recognised that structural problems in bulls have detrimental effects on conception rates, calving patterns & thus profitability.  Similarly, females with inadequate structural characteristics are more prone to weaning lighter calves or conceiving later in the breeding season than their more functional counterparts.  These structural problems filter through the beef supply chain, reducing income & productivity for the producer, backgrounder, feedlot etc.

Prior to cataloguing, Eastern Plains Angus Sale Bulls have been independently structurally assessed by Liam Cardile, LRC Livestock, using the Beef Class Structural Assessment System.  Bulls deemed inadequate are culled from the sale draft & sold for slaughter.

Liam is an experienced assessor, & structurally assesses many leading seedstock herds in Australia.  LRC Livestock is not involved in any genetic marketing or specific breeding advice/consultancy, so there is no conflict of interest to influence their stock appraisal.  The merit & integrity of the structural data provided by LRC Livestock is recognised throughout the industry as being truly & fully independent.

Look for raw structural scores along with those for temperament, coat type & muscle score in the Lot details for each bull in our Bull Sale Catalogue.  Click here for more info on Beef Class Structural Assessment.

(5) RECESSIVE GENETIC CONDITIONS

The genetic status for recessive genetic conditions AM, CA, NH & DD is identified in the Lot details for each bull in our Bull Sale Catalogue.  Note that the genetic status for recessive genetic conditions is identified for animals as "Free", "Carrier", "Free Untested", "% Carrier" or "Affected".

For up-to-date & the most current information about recessive genetic conditions please visit Angus Australia.

We actively manage our stud herd for these conditions using DNA testing & pedigree information.

(6) PESTIVIRUS

All bulls catalogued for our Bull Sale are ear notch tested negative for Pestivirus.

Pestivirus (also known as BVDV) commonly causes (but not limited to) abortion, reduced fertility, stunted calves + a period of immune suppression which can lead to calf scours, pneumonia and other diseases.  It is spread by contact with infected animals & especially Persistently Infected (PI) animals (i.e. 'carrier' animals).

A PI bull, though it may exhibit no outward symptoms at all, present fat & sappy on sale day,& live a long & productive life, will shed & spread pestivirus in all its’ bodily fluids all its’ life.  Vaccinating a PI bull will not cure it, nor prevent it from spreading pestivirus.

An ear notch test is the best means of identifying PI bulls.  Minimise your pestivirus risk by purchasing bulls that have ear notch tested PI negative.  All our Sale Bulls have been ear notch tested PI negative.

Additionally they have also been vaccinated with Pestigard™ which will protect the bull should it come into future contact with pestivirus (which can commonly occur during transit).  We recommend an annual booster vaccination program for your bull.

(7) VETERINARY HEALTH

All bulls catalogued for our Bull Sale have been vaccinated with Vibrovax, Pestigard, 7in1, Bovi-Shield MH-One, single dose Rhinogard IBR intra nasal spray + treated with worm drench (Iverlab pour-on) & Selovin LA.

(8) JOHNES BEEF ASSURANCE SCORE

J-BAS8.  Eastern Plains Angus has a Johne's Beef Assurance Score 8 which means bull's are free to travel to all States.  We have been testing & monitoring for Johne's since 1998.

(9) EUROPEAN UNION ACCREDITATION SCHEME

Eastern Plains is an EU accredited herd.

(10) PERFORMANCE & PEDIGREE RECORDED WITH ANGUS AUSTRALIA

Our stud Angus herd is performance recorded & fully registered with Angus Australia & the TransTasman Angus Cattle Evaluation (TACE), formerly Angus BREEDPLAN.  Since the inception of formal performance recording of Angus cattle, now known as TACE, we have routinely submitted raw data measurements to assist in the calculation of Estimated Breeding Values (EBV's).

This includes birth weight & date, calving ease scores, 200D, 400D & 600D weights, scrotal size, ultrasound scan data for rib & rump fat, eye muscle area & IMF (marbling), AI & joining dates used to calculate gestation length & days to calving EBV's, mature cow weights, coat type scores, docility scores & structural scores.

DNA hair samples are also collected for genomics testing to calculate genomically enhanced EBV's & for sire verification.

Our long held practice of consistent & extensive raw data submission ensures EBV's for our Sale Bulls have higher accuracies.  Importantly this means they more truly reflect the genetic merit of that bull & more reliably predict the performance of his progeny.  Buyers can be confident Eastern Plains Angus bulls are fully registered, are backed by actual extensive data collection & formal performance recording.

All bulls in our Bull Sale Catalogue are identified as SIRE ASSURED meaning the bull has been DNA verified to his Sire, denoted by the superscript SV at the end of this name.

This provides buyers with peace of mind that the bull's pedigree is as printed in our Bull Sale Catalogue. 

(11) TICK FEVER VACCINE

All bulls have been vaccinated for Tick Fever with trivalent (3 germ) vaccine.