Scanning cows

Dozer1

Hi Guys,

Getting worried that my bull mightn't be performing of late, have a second calver that was bulling yesterday and he wasn't too interested, as I'm a part time farmer didn't have time to hang around too long. was planning on scanning some of the cows to see if they are in calf, how long after bulling can I scan them to see if they have held? I haven't seen any of the other cows showing as repeats but still a bit worried.

reilig

Cows have to be at least 60 days gone in order to be able to scan them.
I have had a lot of repeats this year, both with the bull and with ai. My ai technician recons that it is because of the wet summer that we had last year - cows did not get the right vitimins and minerals. He says that next year should see a lot less repeats with the better weather that we have had. My bull is on overtime these days too - I move him to different groups of cows as I see them in heat. He is very quiet and I can load him into a trailer at the field gates on his own. He has had a lot of repeats to re-cover too!!!

whelan1

a good scanner will pick up a pregnancy from 28 days

Dozer1

yep just onto the vet there and he said 4 weeks, my problem is the bull is gone "lazy" had to put a chain on him as he's near alot of houses with kids so wanted to keep him quiet, he'd probably be alot more active if I took this off but someone getting hurt is a bigger issue as he's a 4 year old charolais and he's all day to find trouble...

John_F

we got genexcel to scan ours this year, hes v. good we found, he can scan anything served over 30 days, he advertises in the journal

@reilig the bull must know hes in for some loving :rolleyes:

max12

John_F wrote: »

we got genexcel to scan ours this year, hes v. good we found, he can scan anything served over 30 days, he advertises in the journal

@reilig the bull must know hes in for some loving :rolleyes:

how accurate can scanners be. I scan every year but all I'm ever told is that the cow is or isn't in calf.

it woudl be mighty to know a bit more exact as could plan holiddays around cows calving then.

reilig

max12 wrote: »

how accurate can scanners be. I scan every year but all I'm ever told is that the cow is or isn't in calf.

it woudl be mighty to know a bit more exact as could plan holiddays around cows calving then.

The guy that scans for me can tell me if its single or twins. He can tell you how many months the cow is gone too. But as I said above, the cow has to be gone at least 60 days. Anything less and he can only tell you whether she is in calf or not.

John_F

reilig wrote: »

The guy that scans for me can tell me if its single or twins. He can tell you how many months the cow is gone too. But as I said above, the cow has to be gone at least 60 days. Anything less and he can only tell you whether she is in calf or not.

+1 but its all down to the man / woman some are good some are not so good

dar31

had a lad in to scan for me a while back.
could scan 24 days and over. under 3 or so months he could give term to with in a few days. after that it get more difficult to tell as calf gets bigger.
at about the 3 - 3 1/2 month stage he could sex the calves. he would only give sex when he was 100% sure. will see how good he is this autumn, think he sexed about 10 - 15, and two set of trouble/twins;)
however the biggest problem scanning this early is that it is possible for the embryo to be lost, and the cow cycle again, not as a result of scanning though, but naturally.
leading to the usual problem... that scanner is useless he scaned daisy in calf last month, and sure was nt the bull following her around this morning:D

whelan1

we had an awful fella years ago that told me cows where not in calf and where , estrumated some of them they threw calves and culled off some and they sprang up:eek:

vanderbadger

what does it normally cost per cow

dar31

3-3.50 cow plus a call out charge of e4o can get better prices depending on numbers and handling facilities

LostCovey

dar31 wrote: »

3-3.50 cow plus a call out charge of e4o can get better prices depending on numbers and handling facilities

Anyone who can afford to buy a scanner can advertise their services, some of them are just chancers. It's easy to get a couple of years out of it before word spreads.

LC

dar31

LostCovey wrote: »

Anyone who can afford to buy a scanner can advertise their services, some of them are just chancers. It's easy to get a couple of years out of it before word spreads.

LC

word of mouth or reputation goes a long way generally.
usually the very good lads dont need to advertise as they are that bussy anyways;)

whelan1

our lad charges 3 euro and no call out fee , but he would generally be doing 20 or more at a time......we had a discussion before about scanners on here and even though some guys are at it years they can still be crap:mad:

vanderbadger

ive booked farm relief from limerick to do mine..have never done it before but have had lots of bull trouble this year, not sure if new bull did the business, have a few cows bulling lately that should be long bulled and while they are probably too soon to show up Im still curious to see if the bulk of them are in calf..

max12

dar31 wrote: »

had a lad in to scan for me a while back.
could scan 24 days and over. under 3 or so months he could give term to with in a few days. after that it get more difficult to tell as calf gets bigger.
at about the 3 - 3 1/2 month stage he could sex the calves. he would only give sex when he was 100% sure. will see how good he is this autumn, think he sexed about 10 - 15, and two set of trouble/twins;)
however the biggest problem scanning this early is that it is possible for the embryo to be lost, and the cow cycle again, not as a result of scanning though, but naturally.
leading to the usual problem... that scanner is useless he scaned daisy in calf last month, and sure was nt the bull following her around this morning:D

can you share this guy's details as that is what I'm looking for - a bit more accuracy. not too interested in the sex of the calves - more the calving date.

squarebale

Natural background embryo loss between day 28 and 60 is about 5%. Normal abortion rate thereafter is between 2-5% (and you should see some of these). So if you have barren cows in more than 1 in 10 cows after scanning at 28 days your scanner was bull****ting (in the absence of disease - nice get-out clause but not common).

bbam

My BIL had 25 cows scanned last year and the guy was right on their times within a week, Callout plus €4 per cow I think it was...

We're going to give it a try with ours this year and see how it goes...

vanderbadger

farm relief:95 euro for 20 cows

max12

bbam wrote: »

My BIL had 25 cows scanned last year and the guy was right on their times within a week, Callout plus €4 per cow I think it was...

We're going to give it a try with ours this year and see how it goes...

cna you give me the guys name or even PM the details. what part of the country are you?