A. I.

[Sugar Creek]

Reading these posts over the last year has me interested in A. I. Had cattle since 1972 but no experience with A. I.
My daughters have some registered Red Poll heifers and reg. Angus heifers nursing their first calves, already bred back to a reg. Red Poll.
Thinking of selling him this fall and using A. I. next year.

I have decent facilities to catch them, they are gentle, I should have time to watch and I neighbor who has a tank and A. I. s his own herd. He is willing to help me.

1. How do the expenses of A. I. and natural service compare?

2. What should I pay my neighbor for use of his tank and breeding the cows?

3. Should I keep a clean-up bull? (about 20 cows)

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Expenses vary: Cost of semen, cost of A.I. service, etc. Definitely use a clean-up bull. Some A.I. is only 50% effective. Unless you are using an A.I. Facility/Service that does it commercially, expect you and/or your neighbor's results to be less than the average. Various issues involved...not like giving a vaccination...lol. If female comes into standing heat in about 21 and 45 days after the A.I. she didn't take. If she did take, have her palpated about 3 months or so after A.I.

 

[dun]

With good heat detection and an experienced technician you should be able to run around a minimum of 75-80% first service conceptions and 100% with a second service. A lot depends on the disposition of the cow, weather conditions, quality of the semen, quality of the semen handling/storage, nutritional plane and the technician skills. The weather and nutrition will affect conception even with a bull. No need for a clean up bull if the above criteria are met. If they don;t settle in 2 services and you've done everything right you might as well ship them rather then breed fertility problems into your herd if you're retaining heifers. If you're selling steers you want fertile cows also to take adavantage of the extra dollars for a larger lot being sold at one time. If you'e going to use a clean-up bull, why bother with AI, you'll have the bull costs anyway.
Semen runs from around 10 bucks to into the thousands. We used to charge 50 cents a cane per month for storage, for large volumes we charged a buck a month for an entire canister dedicated to one persons semen storage.
I don;t know what techs charge, it can run as little as 5 bucks to probably around 15 if he doesn;t haven;t to travel. Work out all of the details in advance.

dun

 

[Sugar Creek]

Thanks for the information. My neighbor is an experienced dairyman who, like Dun said, expects 80% on first service and near 100% by second if cow is sound breeder. He has not had a bull on the place in years, even for his beef cows. He is fairly new and I did not know him that well. Evidently, he is not just blowing smoke.
This board is great for those wanting to learn.

 

[MikeC]

The biggest drawback on AI'ing I have found while helping neighbors is "DETECTION". Since I can't be there to watch their cows for them, I try and explain to them what to watch for etc.

Beginners have a hard time picking up little things like; a cow laying her chin on anothers back, ruffled hair on the tailhead, or maybe one just standing by herself and bellowing.

There's a lot of difference between "Observing" and just watching them. Good observation is the key in a good AI program and the more experience one has, the better his program will be. I recommend to "newbies" to spend at least 30 minutes to an hour 2 times a day observing. Even then, most will just "ride through" the pasture and think they have done a good job.

If the time is not available to correctly observe cows in heat. AI is NOT the way to go.

 

[Brandonm2]

Thanks for the information. My neighbor is an experienced dairyman who, like Dun said, expects 80% on first service and near 100% by second if cow is sound breeder. He has not had a bull on the place in years, even for his beef cows.

He is really doing well. Getting dairy cows to cycle, show heat, and breed back is often a challenge. Many dairy herds have an avg calving interval of 14 to 15 months and failure to breed back is as common a reason for culling in a dairy as poor milk production. He must have a stellar set of cows.

 

[dun]

Thanks for the information. My neighbor is an experienced dairyman who, like Dun said, expects 80% on first service and near 100% by second if cow is sound breeder. He has not had a bull on the place in years, even for his beef cows.

He is really doing well. Getting dairy cows to cycle, show heat, and breed back is often a challenge. Many dairy herds have an avg calving interval of 14 to 15 months and failure to breed back is as common a reason for culling in a dairy as poor milk production. He must have a stellar set of cows.

Good managment takes care of a lot of those repro problems. One dairy that AI's 100% tends to let his calve every 14 months only because the production is so high it's hard to dry them off.
But I agree that dairy cows are generally harder to get bred reliably. But bulls can;t get them to settle either in most cases.

dun