Breeding season 2015

trixi2011

Well were 5/6 weeks out from the start of breeding 2015 so what prebreeding work are people doing on farm ? We have all feb cavers metro checked and any dirty ones treated, early march ones due to be checked this week all cows are tail painted and will put a hand full of skinny cows on oad early this week.

Greengrass1

Dad said to me this morning that we should take out the heifers we want to breed the day before ai and put them separate from the autumn incalf heifers and as soon as there bred they can go back to join other oneS.
will make it easier I think

trixi2011

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Dad said to me this morning that we should take out the heifers we want to breed the day before ai and put them separate from the autumn incalf heifers and as soon as there bred they can go back to join other oneS.
will make it easier I think

would you keep them separate for the whole of breeding ? then you wont have to check two groups for bulling when repeats start. we are going with just bulls over our heifers as there on a farm 10 miles away with very poor facilities

Greengrass1

trixi2011 wrote: »

would you keep them separate for the whole of breeding ? then you wont have to check two groups for bulling when repeats start. we are going with just bulls over our heifers as there on a farm 10 miles away with very poor facilities

yeah could do that alright. Depends how much grass I have
we were thinking just have all one group again once they all had one serve

Greengrass1

trixi2011 wrote: »

would you keep them separate for the whole of breeding ? then you wont have to check two groups for bulling when repeats start. we are going with just bulls over our heifers as there on a farm 10 miles away with very poor facilities

How many bulls will you run together at the one time?
Think a bull will be something we'll have invest in here some time.
mate got a 15 mth old fr bull with 290 ebi for free when he bought a bunch of heifer calves

trixi2011

Greengrass1 wrote: »

How many bulls will you run together at the one time?
Think a bull will be something we'll have invest in here some time.
mate got a 15 mth old fr bull with 290 ebi for free when he bought a bunch of heifer calves

We will have 10 running with 240 most of them are only 15 months old there's 2 older bulls. Might spits them up into 2 groups of 120 see closer to the time. All bulls are crossbreed and + 220 ebi

Greengrass1

trixi2011 wrote: »

We will have 10 running with 240 most of them are only 15 months old there's 2 older bulls. Might spits them up into 2 groups of 120 see closer to the time. All bulls are crossbreed and + 220 ebi

Will you give any a rest?
Presume there well used to each?

yellow50HX

Well ours started during the week when we picked up a new bull, he went star tight to work so looks like calving will starting again next January.

trixi2011

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Will you give any a rest?
Presume there well used to each?

Will turn all out to start with and rest any that are looking worn out , will run them in teams of 4 with cows and rotate them every few day

Greengrass1

trixi2011 wrote: »

Will turn all out to start with and rest any that are looking worn out , will run them in teams of 4 with cows and rotate them every few day

They say one bull to every 20 empty cows/heifers.
alot of lads not using enough bulls if that's the case
kniw one man milking 300 cows all calved in 8 wks this yr. Has couple of bulls and brings the ciws to them. No AI

Deepsouthwest

Greengrass1 wrote: »

They say one bull to every 20 empty cows/heifers.
alot of lads not using enough bulls if that's the case
kniw one man milking 300 cows all calved in 8 wks this yr. Has couple of bulls and brings the ciws to them. No AI

2 bulls to 300 cows? Must be the most fertile Bulls in Ireland!

Greengrass1

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

2 bulls to 300 cows? Must be the most fertile Bulls in Ireland!

Sorry more than a couple. No idea how many but alot more than 2. Very impressive going though
was macrame young farmer of yr not too long ago

frazzledhome

Heifers will be ai'd as seen for first week. We usr Kmars. We will them estrumate remainder and ai. Bulls will mop up as they are not near home and leaves to work on cows. Ai on cows will start first Tues in May with all being tail painted on the Bank Monday. We run bulls in teams with 1/30 cows in the herd. Any OAD cows, lames etc will have Her bull in that paddock. When they calve we won't be thinking they are ai, the white head should be a give away

whelan2

let 15 heifers out with fr bull last thursday, plan was to let another 10 to him on friday but that didnt work out.Maybe tomorrow. Will start serving cows next week

keep going

Have 36 heifers for bulling and beginning to think it might be a bit too much for a yearling fr bull and was thinking of letting the hereford off with them as wellas he wont be doing anything anyway.have ye ever had problems with bulls together, one bull is older than the other so I suspect there mighnt be much fighting.the hd is currently in with the cows to calve so I could mix them for two weeks before letting themto heifers or would be better off mixing them on day they go out

stretch film

keep going wrote: »

Have 36 heifers for bulling and beginning to think it might be a bit too much for a yearling fr bull and was thinking of letting the hereford off with them as wellas he wont be doing anything anyway.have ye ever had problems with bulls together, one bull is older than the other so I suspect there mighnt be much fighting.the hd is currently in with the cows to calve so I could mix them for two weeks before letting themto heifers or would be better off mixing them on day they go out

Can you commit 10 days to ai and then let off younger lad on his own. You could sync like described earlier

stretch film

frazzledhome wrote: »

Heifers will be ai'd as seen for first week. We usr Kmars. We will them estrumate remainder and ai. Bulls will mop up as they are not near home and leaves to work on cows. Ai on cows will start first Tues in May with all being tail painted on the Bank Monday. We run bulls in teams with 1/30 cows in the herd. Any OAD cows, lames etc will have Her bull in that paddock. When they calve we won't be thinking they are ai, the white head should be a give away

Was at dg meeting last week . Farmer gives heifers one cc estrumate 33 days before breeding start and repeats 22 days before breeding . Reckons conception better when their next natural heat falls in first days of breeding season .

whelan2

keep going wrote: »

Have 36 heifers for bulling and beginning to think it might be a bit too much for a yearling fr bull and was thinking of letting the hereford off with them as wellas he wont be doing anything anyway.have ye ever had problems with bulls together, one bull is older than the other so I suspect there mighnt be much fighting.the hd is currently in with the cows to calve so I could mix them for two weeks before letting themto heifers or would be better off mixing them on day they go out

had 2 bulls with my heifers last back end, a fr and an aa, the aa bullied the fr no end, ended up having to take the fr out. Never saw anything like it,

Timmaay

whelan2 wrote: »

let 15 heifers out with fr bull last thursday, plan was to let another 10 to him on friday but that didnt work out.Maybe tomorrow. Will start serving cows next week

Not very early to be letting the bull out?

whelan2

Timmaay wrote: »

Not very early to be letting the bull out?

i was under pressure work wise with so many calving together this year, so going to calve heifers a week or 2 before the cows. Thats the plan anyway

farmerjj

Greengrass1 wrote: »

They say one bull to every 20 empty cows/heifers.
alot of lads not using enough bulls if that's the case
kniw one man milking 300 cows all calved in 8 wks this yr. Has couple of bulls and brings the ciws to them. No AI

One bull should do 40cows handy enough, one bull to 20 is given him plenty rest

keep going

stretch film wrote: »

Can you commit 10 days to ai and then let off younger lad on his own. You could sync like described earlier

Ai not an option, leaning towards the idea of letting him do 3 weeks now and then hd and give the young fella a week off before hitting the cows for a month

frazzledhome

farmerjj wrote: »

One bull should do 40cows handy enough, one bull to 20 is given him plenty rest

1 bull is not sufficient. I take your point about 40 cows. If you have 40 cows any 1 bull, he gets lame or hurt your business could take a big hit. The larger the herd and the longer the walks the ratio must drop

keep going

farmerjj wrote: »

One bull should do 40cows handy enough, one bull to 20 is given him plenty rest

Not if you want them calving quickly, he get alright but he will need time

farmerjj

keep going wrote: »

Not if you want them calving quickly, he get alright but he will need time

No disagree totally bull (mature bull that is) has no problem in doing 40 cows and would have most in calf by 6 weeks, have tried and tested this.

trixi2011

farmerjj wrote: »

No disagree totally bull (mature bull that is) has no problem in doing 40 cows and would have most in calf by 6 weeks, have tried and tested this.

May well work ok for you. but a 40 cow herd is different to 40 empty cows in a 200 cow herd were you might get 3/4 bulling the one day

Milked out

keep going wrote: »

Have 36 heifers for bulling and beginning to think it might be a bit too much for a yearling fr bull and was thinking of letting the hereford off with them as wellas he wont be doing anything anyway.have ye ever had problems with bulls together, one bull is older than the other so I suspect there mighnt be much fighting.the hd is currently in with the cows to calve so I could mix them for two weeks before letting themto heifers or would be better off mixing them on day they go out

The main issue with two or more in at the one time is them bucking the lad that's mounting, neighbour ended up with a bull with a damaged rod cos of it. If you could alternate every few days or maybe week on week off. I wouldn't syncronise them unless using ai would put too much pressure on young bull. Perhaps put bulls together in smallest pen you have to get used to each other

stretch film

what are diy AI users paying for liquid N for the year . was sent a bill for 275euro which is a big hike on last year iirc.

frazzledhome

stretch film wrote: »

what are diy AI users paying for liquid N for the year . was sent a bill for 275euro which is a big hike on last year iirc.

Nothing as AI company supply flask and N, take away with any surplus straws at end

stretch film

frazzledhome wrote: »

Nothing as AI company supply flask and N, take away with any surplus straws at end

that's an arrangement particular to yourselves I presume...very clean system

Greengrass1

Looks like I'm going to be calving a little earlier next yr
we have 5 AA supposed to be bullocks we kept from last spring.
let then off with heifers last week because we were sick of looking at them in the shed.
one lad mounting two heifers here.
Well able to produce semen by the look of it

mahoney_j

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Looks like I'm going to be calving a little earlier next yr
we have 5 AA supposed to be bullocks we kept from last spring.
let then off with heifers last week because we were sick of looking at them in the shed.
one lad mounting two heifers here.
Well able to produce semen by the look of it

Get them to the mart if sick of looking at them gg,trade on fire for last few months.first time in years I have no cattle to sell at this stage.sold them all through feb and March .12:13 month old fr bullocks averaged 1.90 kg,350 kg blue bullocks 990 340 kg aa 880.made no sense to keep them

Greengrass1

mahoney_j wrote: »

Get them to the mart if sick of looking at them gg,trade on fire for last few months.first time in years I have no cattle to sell at this stage.sold them all through feb and March .12:13 month old fr bullocks averaged 1.90 kg,350 kg blue bullocks 990 340 kg aa 880.made no sense to keep them

I'm sick of looking at them the other lad wants them left.
Its nothing to amount we had thank god

I'll have an excuse now to estimate them after 7 days 😆

Milked out

Those of ye that AI once a day will ye stick at it and is there any difference in conception rates versus morning and evening ai? On my own here these days so looking to save a bit of time. Thinking of holding whatever I see bulling previous evening and in morning after morning milking and doing them then.when I have calves and that sorted

Greengrass1

Milked out wrote: »

Those of ye that AI once a day will ye stick at it and is there any difference in conception rates versus morning and evening ai? On my own here these days so looking to save a bit of time. Thinking of holding whatever I see bulling previous evening and in morning after morning milking and doing them then.when I have calves and that sorted

never done it any other way here
serve what ever was bulling day previous nd what ever is bulling that morning

Milked out

Greengrass1 wrote: »

never done it any other way here
serve what ever was bulling day previous nd what ever is bulling that morning

Did u ever go thru the ones that repeated to see if they were ones that were bulling that morning or previous evening?

whelan2

ai once a day here, if one is still showing heat a while after being served i will ai her again. happy with once a day ai, enough going on without having more work to do

freedominacup

Four kids reared here never had one of these. Have one now though.

whelan2

freedominacup wrote: »

Four kids reared here never had one of these. Have one now though.

had them, remember turning it on at night and waking up again hours later to a scalding hot bottle

freedominacup

whelan2 wrote: »

had them, remember turning it on at night and waking up again hours later to a scalding hot bottle

Bit of trial and error to get the correct setting for thawing.

poor farmer

freedominacup wrote: »

Four kids reared here never had one of these. Have one now though.

Maybe you are going to start again (careful now) never say never.:):)

frazzledhome

freedominacup wrote: »

Bit of trial and error to get the correct setting for thawing.

Gave up thawing straws here years ago despite having the proper thawer. Load gun place in cow and job done, thaws inside cow in perfect temp

frazzledhome

Milked out wrote: »

Those of ye that AI once a day will ye stick at it and is there any difference in conception rates versus morning and evening ai? On my own here these days so looking to save a bit of time. Thinking of holding whatever I see bulling previous evening and in morning after morning milking and doing them then.when I have calves and that sorted

Oad here after breakfast and that's it for the day. All cows with paint removed or standing get ai'd. I find the breeding season to be much more tiring than calving as you must be there at every milking. One job you just can't leave to someone else imv

Mad4simmental

frazzledhome wrote: »

Gave up thawing straws here years ago despite having the proper thawer. Load gun place in cow and job done, thaws inside cow in perfect temp

+1 complete waste of time. More of a chance killing the straw going on and out of it than getting the perfect temp in the cow.

cute geoge

I will start ai next Monday and hope to stick with it for the full 6 weeks that will bring me up to the 1st of june ,A opinion on dovea bulls this year I will use jre and pzi mainly ,What bull would be best for br/fr type cows 5000l

stanflt

a lot has changed in 20 years
http://www.progressivegenetics.ie/Blog/Post-Detail/Happy-Birthday-20th-Progressive-Genetics

Greengrass1

Mad4simmental wrote: »

+1 complete waste of time. More of a chance killing the straw going on and out of it than getting the perfect temp in the cow.

Ai man here thaws them gers a good conception rate I think. ended up 10% empty this yr in winter herd after 6 wks breeding

whelan2

stanflt wrote: »

a lot has changed in 20 years
http://www.progressivegenetics.ie/Blog/Post-Detail/Happy-Birthday-20th-Progressive-Genetics

nice photo

stanflt

whelan2 wrote: »

nice photo

Do you know the man in the middle????

whelan2

stanflt wrote: »

Do you know the man in the middle????

i was looking at the other lads dickie bow

Reggie.

whelan2 wrote: »

i was looking at the other lads dickie bow

He looks the part alright