A.I. Business

[MULDOON]

I'm Interested in a A.I. company that will take the heifer and a.i. them It needs to be in central , south Texas.
If anyone knows of a good place, or knows what I would enter as a search topic.(A.I. Clinic)

 

[Tman]

Muldoon,

There is Bovigen in Seguin and Dr. Castleberry in Castroville. Where are you located ?

 

[txag]

There is also AgriMark near San Marcos. I have phone numbers for BovaGen & AgriMark if you want them.

 

[TheBullLady]

Ultimate Genetics in College Station

 

[MULDOON]

Thank you,
I thank ya'll for the feedback.
I was able to get in touch with Bovagen in Seguin.
They quoted me 70 to 90 dollars a head. Now that's with me buying my straws somewhere else ( Bovine Elite)Having the straws sent to them ,a nd them keeping cows for about 15 days.

 

[txag]

Thank you,
I thank ya'll for the feedback.
I was able to get in touch with Bovagen in Seguin.
They quoted me 70 to 90 dollars a head. Now that's with me buying my straws somewhere else ( Bovine Elite)Having the straws sent to them ,a nd them keeping cows for about 15 days.

you may want to check with some vets in your area. i know one out of brenham that does embryo and a.i. work and travels around a lot. there might even be someone (maybe a ranch manager for a bigger ranch) that would be willing to come do some a.i. work. if you have the facilities, it might be easier for someone to come over to your place to do it. if you don't want to watch for heat cycles, you could synchronize.

 

[la4angus]

Thank you,
I thank ya'll for the feedback.
I was able to get in touch with Bovagen in Seguin.
They quoted me 70 to 90 dollars a head. Now that's with me buying my straws somewhere else ( Bovine Elite)Having the straws sent to them ,a nd them keeping cows for about 15 days.

Actually this is not a bad price, considering that most AI tech's will charge $20.00 to $25.00 per head to come out to your place and AI for you. You would still have the purchase price of the semen.
If Bovagen will house the cattle for about 15 days, heat check them and breed at the proper time of their heat cycle, I would consider this acceptable.
If you have an AI Tech come out when you call him and he doesn't settle the animal you are looking at more semen to buy, another $20.00 or $25.00 breeding charge and loss of 3 weeks of production.
I know there is no guarantee that Bovagen Tech's will get the cow settled on first service but I think you have a better chance than trying to do it at home, especially if you are not around and don't know when she comes in heat.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

I'd go with a regular A.I. facility. They have the resources on site to heat check, syncronize if needed, etc. Board the cows before they come into heat and leave the rest to the facility. The A.I. facility we use charges $3.50 a day board and $8.00 to do the A.I. We also keep our costs down since we have over 500 straws on storage there from a number of different bulls. They charge 5 cents/straw/month for Nitrogen storage.

 

[txag]

the only problem i have w/the a.i. facilities is that the cows are pretty much dry-lotted or on very poor pasture. yes, they're fed, but we recently had a donor cow and calf come back from flushing (not from either facility i mentioned, although we've used both of them as well & the facilities are about the same). they were there longer than they were supposed to be (the technician had some scheduling conflicts & didn't go off the heat that we took her there on) & the calf came back weighing about 150 lbs lighter than she should have been.

just for a.i., i'd much rather do it at home. flushing is a little different because of the extra shots & handling. just my opinion, but i'd much rather keep my cows at home if at all possible.

 

[txag]

i just wanted to clarify my last post:

i'm not putting down any of the facilities. they are very good at what they do & they serve their purpose.

 

[MULDOON]

With my job , I don't have a set scedule. It's really hard to plan anything,
So I'm willing to pay the extra money.
And I am concerned , that my cattle will not be taken care of. I guess sometimes ya gotta gamble a little bit.

 

[txag]

With my job , I don't have a set scedule. It's really hard to plan anything,
So I'm willing to pay the extra money.
And I am concerned , that my cattle will not be taken care of. I guess sometimes ya gotta gamble a little bit.

hope i didn't scare you too much. we've used BovaGen & the cow & calf came back ok. the calf didn't have the same growth he would have had at home but nothing like i mentioned of our last experience. for the most part, they did a good job & i would use them again. i wouldn't have mentioned them if i thought they wouldn't do the job for you.

 

[la4angus]

With my job , I don't have a set scedule. It's really hard to plan anything,
So I'm willing to pay the extra money.
And I am concerned , that my cattle will not be taken care of. I guess sometimes ya gotta gamble a little bit.

hope i didn't scare you too much. we've used BovaGen & the cow & calf came back ok. the calf didn't have the same growth he would have had at home but nothing like i mentioned of our last experience. for the most part, they did a good job & i would use them again. i wouldn't have mentioned them if i thought they wouldn't do the job for you.

In Muldoons original post he mentioned that it would be hfrs. to be bred. There would be no problem with having a calf at side.

 

[txag]

With my job , I don't have a set scedule. It's really hard to plan anything,
So I'm willing to pay the extra money.
And I am concerned , that my cattle will not be taken care of. I guess sometimes ya gotta gamble a little bit.

hope i didn't scare you too much. we've used BovaGen & the cow & calf came back ok. the calf didn't have the same growth he would have had at home but nothing like i mentioned of our last experience. for the most part, they did a good job & i would use them again. i wouldn't have mentioned them if i thought they wouldn't do the job for you.

In Muldoons original post he mentioned that it would be hfrs. to be bred. There would be no problem with having a calf at side.

missed that! heifers would probably do better than an older cow or pair.

 

[sidney411]

Just a thought:

Our county extension agent came to our farm and helped us syncronize 2 sets of heifers now. He got all of the supplies and semen for us, (we paid for the stuff) and came to our farm and A.I.'d them for us. He didn't charge us any labor or other expenses except what he actually spent.

Maybe you could talk to your extension agent ade see if they would be willing to help you out.