Cows not coming bulling

Lady lou

I have about 10-12 cows that are not coming bulling. They are calved well over 3 months now and I have not seen any heats. We usaully get on fine just checking morning and evening for half an hour. No teaser bull. All AI.
Should we get the vet to check them?
They are on good grass and are looking good otherwise.

dohc turbo2

They could be having silent heats , i had 3 that I couldn't see bulling so cidr them , 1 came bulling after but I had my new bull by then , 12 is a good few animals to be having problems , hard to beat the bull or a teaser to pick them up

Sam Kade

I used cidr in two cows last year that never showed signs of heat and I also had a teaser bull with them. When I took the cidr out neither showed signs of heat and the bull didn't go near them. I ai'd at a fixed time and both went incalf. Ladylou I remember you from a few weeks back

The man in red and black

The most common reason for cows not showing heat is not observing enough. Studies have shown that if you want to spot >90% of the heats you need to watch the cows 4 times daily for 30mins each time. If calves are suckling the cows then this can inhibit the ovaries starting back cycling and it may be 12 weeks + before they display heat. This can be overcome by separating cows and calves for 48 hours, only let the calves in once a day to let them suck the cows. Keep out of sight the rest of the time. Not much fun but it breaks the maternal bond and allows the ovaries to resume cycling.

If more frequent heat detection is not possible I would consider using one of three options: 1. Use a bull. 2. Use a teaser bull with a chin ball to spot heats. 3. Fixed time AI program from your vet.

Kovu

I stand for 20 mins morning & evening with ours. You need to pick up on small signs like a clear swob from an animal, ears back like a donkey, general 'divilment' look to their heads. Marks on the tail or at the ribs on lighter coloured animals are a good indicator you've missed them.

Caught one heifer at 10am today, all were lying in the field but put them all up and walked them a bit. It's redwater land so we need to see them pee every day. Heifer pottered about a bit, came looking for a scratch, then went over and followed then leaped on another heifer a few times. AI'ed her there an hour ago, fecker was still looking to jump on others so may redo her in the morning.
With the thunder & humidity today there'll be a lot of cattle in heat tomorrow.

charolais0153

Kovu wrote: »

With the thunder & humidity today there'll be a lot of cattle in heat tomorrow.

Why's that

Kovu

charolais0153 wrote: »

Why's that

There's a few articles on it, I took the graph below from the first one I seen. Few hot days that's then broken by rain and cooler weather always brings an explosion of cows into heat around us. Most of the articles are based in the US but if you take the average heat our cattle are used to it works out about the same.

This is actually one of the better ones http://arch-anim-breed.fbn-dummerstorf.de/pdf/2009/at09p459.pdf

Buford T. Justice XIX

Lady lou wrote: »

I have about 10-12 cows that are not coming bulling. They are calved well over 3 months now and I have not seen any heats. We usaully get on fine just checking morning and evening for half an hour. No teaser bull. All AI.
Should we get the vet to check them?
They are on good grass and are looking good otherwise.

Get the vet to handle them straight away, every lost cycle is costing you money.

The very act of handling them will cause a few of them to come into heat and the rest may just need a nudge like estrumate to come into heat or maybe need a CIDR to come into heat.

You won't get them all but the ones you do get will more than pay for them.

ELP

I walked the cows this morning and two cows were sliming. They were showing no other sign of heat and there is a couple of bullocks running with them. Are they coming into heat or have I missed them. Should I AI

tanko

ELP wrote: »

I walked the cows this morning and two cows were sliming. They were showing no other sign of heat and there is a couple of bullocks running with them. Are they coming into heat or have I missed them. Should I AI

Yeah, i would Ai them today. I've often Ai'ed cows that were sliming, showing no other signs of heat and they went in calf. Did it with a cow last year and she had twin Charolais Bulls this year so it was well worth the price of a straw.

patsy_mccabe

It should a clear slime though, shouldn't it.

tanko

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

It should a clear slime though, shouldn't it.

Yeah, i think so.

sonnybill

Mine are dog slow this year .. Never had it as good grass wise and couple of those have been on grass since mar 13th ... I'm putting it down to the very dry weather .. Had one there tonight ..hopefully get a blast of them.. Have bullock with chin ball on the scene

ELP

In the end I didn't AI with no signs at all and not sure if slime was clear. My AI man said to leave them and watch them so I did. Thanks for advice anyway.

Grueller

sonnybill wrote: »

Mine are dog slow this year .. Never had it as good grass wise and couple of those have been on grass since mar 13th ... I'm putting it down to the very dry weather .. Had one there tonight ..hopefully get a blast of them.. Have bullock with chin ball on the scene

Same here but putting it down to the cold spring. All coming on since weather warmed up.

Miname

Mine came round very fast but the last couple of days I've a lot repeating. I thought they had settled in calf but a bit panicky now, Bulls are coming out next week and I might end up with a serious amount of culls if it's anything more than a chance few.

charolais0153

Ya I had a cow reapeat after 9 weeks last week. Its a bit of a downer