How has Ai gone so far?

briangriffin

im just wondering how people are getting on with AI this Year? ive noticed here on our small farm 40 dairy cows that we have alot of repeats. half were scanned incalf 2 weeks ago but even the maiden heifers seem to be coming around again this week.The beef bull is with all at this stage so hopefully he will get the job done.

bogman_bass

All AI this year (as every year) and all in calf

whelan1

we are liquid milk and scanned 56 in early april and 53 where in calf , all to ai... will scan again soon

bogman_bass

If cows dont go in calf lads can be very quick to blame the straws when usually its an on farm problem. Check for BVD and lepto

whelan1

think thats why oliver mc donnell doesnt write in the farming indo anymore:rolleyes:

reilig

We had a lot of repeats this year, and of course its the cows. We had a lot of repeats with the bull too. Our AI technician recons that the amount of repeats that we have had was due to the wet summer last year and the lack of nutrients taken in by the cows from poor grass and lack of sunshine.

Incidently, its ai for us for the rest of this year too. My chaorlais bull got lame on friday and I got a hoofcare operator to have a look at him cause I thought he might have a stone in the hoof or something. Hoofcare operator could find nothing with the hoof. I got the vet who identified it as a stifle joint out of place which was caused by a bad landing when mounting a cow and can be recognised by the bull kind of dragging his foot. Spoke to a bone setter who put back stifel joints of animals for us before but he recons that the bull is too big and too heavy to knock and put the bone back into place. He says that it is weakened and will surely pop out again. Its the factory for him I'm afraid. At least he's heavy and will be worth a good bit - although I have to wait for another 2 weeks before I bring him to allow for a penicillen injection that he received 2 weeks ago to clear from his system.

I'm a bit disappointed as we have him for 6 years and he has been the most trouble free bull ever, but feel too that it might be a good time for a change. I use ai belgian blue on a lot of cows, and I could use it on a lot more. So I may consider buying a belgian blue bull to run with my cows and just use ai on heifers.

pakalasa

I've had a lot of repeats myself this year. I used a vasectomised bull with chin-ball marker for the first time. A lot of cows came bulling only a month after calving. However I did had a lot of repeats.
I put this down to 2 things. The bull was following and trying to mount the cows for up to 3 days before standing heat, so I might have ai'd a few too early. Also I was AI'ing a lot closer to cavling so there would be a reduction in conception due to this also.

Recently though I've had a couple come back in heat a full month after first service. My experienced AI guy says he "doesnt like to see that", so I might bite the bullet and get them vaccinated for BVD and Lepto next year.

AI'ing cows at grass, when you're working full-time is hard enough without all the repeats.

Muckit

Your dead right, AI'ing beef cows and working full time is tough. I had to laugh when I read an article in the farmers journal sometime back about a farmer in Nenagh who had no problem in seperating a bulling cow from the herd on his own with a temp electric fence strand, and miraculously it only took half an hour before the cow was back in the field again! Now the farmer was fulltime at it and DIY AI'ing, but come on!! :rolleyes:

pakalasa

Would you believe that I can get well over 1/2 the cows in the yard just by calling them to a small bit of meal. Under 5 mins, no problem. You have to keep giving them a small bit every few days though, to keep them interested.
I have a few then who head for the far corner of the field, you'd swear they can tell by your body langauge or something. I intend culling these , as they're slipping back in calving dates too.
I keep the quitest heifers too as replacements and make a pt, when herding of going right up to them to get them to be relaxed been handled.

bogman_bass

briangriffin wrote: »

im just wondering how people are getting on with AI this Year? ive noticed here on our small farm 40 dairy cows that we have alot of repeats. half were scanned incalf 2 weeks ago but even the maiden heifers seem to be coming around again this week.The beef bull is with all at this stage so hopefully he will get the job done.

Its a bit of work but it pays off and that hand full of meal is worth its weight in gold. Its a lot easier to use the carrot instead of the stick with cattle if at all possible.
I try and go out every evening and just squat down in the field and let the calves get curious and sniff round me a bit. they see I'm not going to hastle them and pay no heed when I walk around them when they are a bit older

tismesoitis

had'nd the greatest year as far as conception goes about 55-60% held to 1st service. d last two years we were between 70 and 80 the last few years only 6 out of the 73 are incalf to bull. no problem getting them in either. we have paddocks and move them every morning so when u call them they think they're being moved and come running up the pass.20 minutes to ai a cow all in.

charityboy

reilig wrote: »

We had a lot of repeats this year, and of course its the cows. We had a lot of repeats with the bull too. Our AI technician recons that the amount of repeats that we have had was due to the wet summer last year and the lack of nutrients taken in by the cows from poor grass and lack of sunshine.

Incidently, its ai for us for the rest of this year too. My chaorlais bull got lame on friday and I got a hoofcare operator to have a look at him cause I thought he might have a stone in the hoof or something. Hoofcare operator could find nothing with the hoof. I got the vet who identified it as a stifle joint out of place which was caused by a bad landing when mounting a cow and can be recognised by the bull kind of dragging his foot. Spoke to a bone setter who put back stifel joints of animals for us before but he recons that the bull is too big and too heavy to knock and put the bone back into place. He says that it is weakened and will surely pop out again. Its the factory for him I'm afraid. At least he's heavy and will be worth a good bit - although I have to wait for another 2 weeks before I bring him to allow for a penicillen injection that he received 2 weeks ago to clear from his system.

I'm a bit disappointed as we have him for 6 years and he has been the most trouble free bull ever, but feel too that it might be a good time for a change. I use ai belgian blue on a lot of cows, and I could use it on a lot more. So I may consider buying a belgian blue bull to run with my cows and just use ai on heifers.

gave cows a mineral drench after calving different looking cows after it ,scanned them on sat gone scanned 25 all in calf ,any problem calving the blues

reilig

charityboy wrote: »

any problem calving the blues

Had a conversation with vanderbadger about this yesterday and we both agreed (I Think) that if incalf cows are fed properly then you will have no calving problems with the blues. ie. determining how much you need to feed a cow per day and then sticking to it - never letting the cows feed ad lib. Making them go hungry for a few hours each day if the eat their daily allowance of silage. If you can, put them on a diet of hay or stray 4 to 6 weeks before they are due to calve and if you can't, then really strictly adhere to feeding them a fixed amount of silage. This will involve pushing it up to them morning and evening with a grape if you feed bales or blocks of silage.

Cows don't need to have silage in front of their head 24/7.
We had 16 cows calve BB calves last spring. Not one of them were assisted.
Out of about 40 others that calved to our own Chaorlais bull, we had a few assists, and only 1 vet call. I admit that the cows carring the BB calves were fed more carefully than the others.

pakalasa

I think it is better for their digestive system though to feed some extra straw if restricting silage a lot. I restrict silage before calving and I noticed that the cows got a little scoury.
It is not good to let the rumen go empty. (I read this in the IFJ too).

I think it works better too with BB calves than Charolais, as restricting puts less flesh on the calf. With BB's this is more effective as the bone structure is smaller to begin with. Easier for the calf to get up and suck too, if not carrying that extra weight.
If bone locks on bone, not much you can do, have to take the side door!