Suckler cows not coming in heat

Buncha Fives

Starting keeping a few sucklers this year and as we are only keeping a few it doesnt justify having a bull yet so we are using AI and will continue to use it as much as possible in the future. However the big problem I am having at the moment is that the cows are not coming in heat and I cant understand why.

Now I know some people will say they are coming in heat and we are missing them but I am adamant they are not, they are monitored closely by myself 2/3 times a day (working off farm by day) and by my father hourly during the day, further to this the cows lie in cubicles and there is never any sign of a cow passing blood which would indicate we would have missed the heat.

Some of the heifers are now 3 months calved, they have been getting a post calver minerals and the calves only suck the cows twice a day since they have been a week old. I spoke to a vet yesterday and he said to allow a strong a bull weanling to run with the cows and it will stimulate their heat and he will make it easier to spot them when they come in heat, anyone else got any suggestions?

dzer2

If the calves are strong and drinking all the milk you might have to feed the cows a bit other than that if they had a hard calving you might need to get them checked.

Buncha Fives

dzer2 wrote: »

If the calves are strong and drinking all the milk you might have to feed the cows a bit other than that if they had a hard calving you might need to get them checked.

Heifers were all in calf to easy calving AI bulls so all calved on their own, bar one which had a slight pull. I forgot to say the cows are eating 72DMD silage which was made in the end of May while the weather was dry, they are also getting 2kgs of meal/day.

bob charles

I would think that maybe you are missing the weaker heats, get a lend of a stag/rig and very soon you will know whats bulling, I would like to have a strong weanling chasing after cows bulling

Buncha Fives

bob charles wrote: »

I would think that maybe you are missing the weaker heats, get a lend of a stag/rig and very soon you will know whats bulling, I would like to have a strong weanling chasing after cows bulling

As I mentioned before im pretty sure we arent missing the heats because the cows arent passing blood, if i had only missed one cow i would say fair enough i probably missed the heat but we have 5 cows and we havent seen any of them in heat. If you dont mind me asking; what it a "stag/rig"?

bob charles

Buncha Fives wrote: »

As I mentioned before im pretty sure we arent missing the heats because the cows arent passing blood, if i had only missed one cow i would say fair enough i probably missed the heat but we have 5 cows and we havent seen any of them in heat. If you dont mind me asking; what it a "stag/rig"?

well first calvers would be slower coming back into heat but if you are on/off suckling they should be back in heat quickly. Stag/rig is a half bull, have bullock, incorrectly castarated male, they are feckers for mounting

Rovi

bob charles wrote: »

Stag/rig is a half bull, have bullock, incorrectly castarated male, they are feckers for mounting

And they are often well capable of getting a cow in calf too, so I wouldn't go putting one of those in with my cows!

pakalasa

I went through all this a few years back when I started suckling. Panick all round, when nothing came bulling.
First time calvers always slip back in calving date. Expect up to 6 weeks. So if they are calved up to 3 months, nothing unusual in this. I was going to say give 2 kgs of dairy nut, but you said you were already doing this.
As for heat detection - I tried cows on their own & looking at them 3 times daily. Then ran a bullock with marking harness, and finally best of all, the teaser bull with harness.
How many cows do you have? Vasectomising a young bull can seem expensive, but I knocked 2 years out of my last one. He killed at over 400kgs with no meal and I got bullock price, as under 30 months when killed. He earned his keep. A teaser bull, unlike a bullock or young bull, will shadow a cow for up to 2 days before she comes bulling. So they are no surprises when AI time comes.
Try and get your cows out early too, good grass and soft underfoot will help too.

Another tip - watch for scour in calves. Hormonal change during heat causes calves to scour. Tip from my AI man.

Durrus Boy

Scanned 40 autumn calvers myself yesterday of which c. 15 were first calvers. Had same issue in that 2 had never been served as were never seen bulling but scanner told me that they were cycling fine only obviously having silent heats.
Get a good scanner to have a peek inside and confirm all is Ok, he should then be able to tell you date of their next heat and you can work from there.

49801

rising plain of nutrition?
Are they on slats.... Might be slow to express heat if not sure of their footing