Biopryn - Your thoughts

[ranchmom77]

We are going to preg test this fall and I came across another thread with users recommending Biopryn... I've never heard of it before but alot of you use it with good results. Is it hard to get the blood from under the tail?

I'm thinking about bringing it up to Brad that we should try it because we have cows on three different pastures until after weaning and would have to call the vet out 3 different times to preg check. Not to mention that Biopryn is non-invasive and we could draw blood the same time we do the fall pour-on.

Have any of you had any negative experiences with it? Also, how much does it cost? I couldn't find that on the website. I found where you can order the needle kits, but is there an additional cost for the lab testing the blood?

Been trying to convince them to preg test for 2 years now (I've only been here that long) and they finally listened to me!

[Bigfoot]

The cost is almost nothing, like less than $3 per animal. They are fast with the results. Seems like about three days. The closer you live to a lab probably the quicker the results. I didn't do too good with the needle they sent. I use a syringe to draw blood from under the tail. I would think with the drought, and a lot of people culling there would be much interest in checking for open cows. No need scrounging up expensive low quality hay to feed open cows. I plan on testing all mine ( that I don't know are bred) at weaning time. The old ones and the open ones have to leave.

[MartinFarms]

I have used Biopryn for the last two seasons and will continue to use it. It takes a few cows to use to finding the vein in the tail but after the learning curve it extremely easy to use. The test costs $2.40 per cow plus needles,tubes, and shipping. There are a few videos on youtube showing you how to draw the blood.

[hooknline]

It's extremely easy and extremely accurate.

[Beauford]

I just used it last month for the first time and it was the first time I ever did a tail bleed.I will do it from now on it was very easy and fast got the results back in less than a week and it was less than $3.00 per cow.

[cow pollinater]

Gloves are really cheap and if you have enough help you can cut costs and use the same glove for all of them and the results are imediate.

[dun]

Gloves are really cheap and if you have enough help you can cut costs and use the same glove for all of them and the results are imediate.

AND you know how far along the pregnancy is!

[hooknline]

Biopryn is just another tool in the toolbox though. It's got it's uses as much as a glove or a ultrasound wand. It sure is nice having that choice now though

[ranchmom77]

Good deal guys.. thanks!

I sure would like to know how far along they are when we test.. definitely some pros and cons to all options..
Thank you for your input!

[Chris H]

Buy the needles & vacuum tubes from a livestock supply place, if you can use 100. You'll pay quite a bit more in smaller quantities from the places that do the test, at least that's what I've found.

We're testing next Saturday, the 18th. Any cow testing positive will calve by the end of April. We'll pull the bull and any cow not testing positive will be retested in 4 weeks. That narrows down a calving timeframe, and will allow culling this summer instead of waiting until the fall for that decision.

We did have 2 cows not calve this summer when expected. They tested positive to calve in June. They are bagging now and look like they'll calve with the fall cows in early Sep. It's not 100% reliable, but neither is vet checking; a cow can slip a pregnancy for different reasons after testing positive.

[Double R Ranch]

We have been using BioPryn for several years. Makes the short bred cattle very detectable. 30 days, draw blood, a week later (give or take) you have your results (usually takes dang near a week to get there). Palpation at 30 days I have never seen effective. Makes that cow that's open detectable if you missed heat detection. Cull or re-breed. Saves money.
I can preg check at a few months via palpation. Also they can do BVD testing at the same time.
Can now do the blood draw and shipping in my sleep. Will continue to use it year after year. If the postal service would get the package there in a reasonable time it would be a perfect system.

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Use UPS.

[Chris H]

We use UPS and usually it's been getting to the lab before noon of the day after I ship it. It's about a 3 hour drive for us, if we took it. This year it got there after noon so it took another day for test results. We pulled blood on a Saturday, shipped Monday, results back on Wednesday. We had a bunch of cows calve in May & June this year due to the heat & a bull that took a holiday last year. We pulled the blood on Aug 18 on any cow 60 days post partum. The group of cows that calved between May 1 & June 18th probably couldn't have been palpated successfully. I'm trying to cut the herd a bit and most of those cows are available for sale. Almost all are bred and are due by April 30th according to the blood test. I can advertise them now, as opposed to waiting until they're far enough along to palpate.
It's a tool that works for us.

[TXBobcat]

I've read different things on the web regarding shipping of samples and wanted to double check how others are shipping.

I plan to draw blood this weekend, and place samples in refrigerator until they are shipped on Monday (around noon). I plan to use UPS to ship. My understanding is that you group the samples (tubes) into groups of 10 or so, wrap in paper towel, and place in a sealed baggy. Then the baggies would be put into a box and shipped.

My question is, do the samples have to be shipped with an ice pack or not?

[hooknline]

No they don't.