We had a rodeo of sorts 5-6 years ago and ended up with 6-7 13-14 month old heavy bred weaned heifer calves. 1 died trying to calve, 1 I pulled the calf but ruined the heifer for future breeding, 1 calved at the salebarn with the other breds a few days later. Since then we always give 10cc of Dex to all heifers at weaning in November and then again at worming in March. Does anyone else do this? Why or why not? Trying to decide if we should continue. We sell in July and guarantee open heifers. This year we had 2 breds and got hit pretty hard on them. I knew they might be bred but couldn't catch them in time to abort so took a gamble.
Aborting heifers
- Thread starter Lucky
- Start date
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wbvs58
Well-known member
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
Easiest to give Lut (PG) 2 weeks after bull exposure - unless they were with a bull over 100 days prior to shot. I would NOT quit trying to abort if you have a history of breds.
How long do you run a bull?
How long do you run a bull?
I have 3 that I'm keeping. They're 13-14 months old right now and bull/brother hit them about 60 days ago. I plan to give them lute/dex in a week or two when I work them.
It's easier than keeping them separated I feel like. Have had folks disagree with me plenty on that one though.
I wonder about longevity with said practice. This will be the third small bunch I've handled this way.
Some say the lute/dex combo didn't abort for them. I'm thinking they waited too long though.
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
Lute is after 10 days - before 100 days, I believe.
All my heifers get Lute at weaning. But I also pull the bulls 6 weeks prior to weaning.
Lucky
Well-known member
Nope just 10cc Dex
Edited to add...if I was 100% sure a bull had gotten in with the heifers after weaning I'd Lute them also. Dex is less than $1 a shot so cheap insurance.
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Lucky
Well-known member
I run the bulls for 90 days. Generally pull them around August 1st and wean November 15th. I'm not too worried about my bulls breeding them. I have a better set up than I did when this happened but you still never know.
simme
Old Dumb Guy
Keep in mind the "bull" may not be the one you suspect. If you pull your herd bull after a short breeding season, some of those bull calves may be getting an early start and breed early cycling heifers before weaning. Depending on breed, weaning age and when you separate bull calves from heifers, it can happen occasionally. Hopefully commercial herds have castrated bull calves well prior to that. But for those that miss a bull calf or keep bull calves to sell as breeders or those that never get around to cutting the bulls, a single shot of Lut a couple weeks after separation is pretty good and cheap insurance.
wbvs58
Well-known member
Travlr
Well-known member
That's why I band and tag as close to birth as possible. Any bull gets separated (May through mid-July) before the heifers get big enough to breed.
lithuanian farmer
Well-known member
Currently no issues here, as our heifers are later maturing, but I do give a shot of prostaglandin for the oldest weaned heifers, if there were a capable age bull calves with them. Never a bad thing to be safe. Using Dex as well for others if they want to abort until a certain fetus age.
sunnyblueskies
Well-known member
Interesting. Never heard of the practice on planned abortion on young heifers. Don't know of any neighbours around here doing this either. Not knocking you, just saying I wasn't aware of the practice.
So my question, how old are these heifers when they are accidentally bred?
Does the induced abortion of a first pregnancy affect the heifers future cycling at all?
I completely get the reasoning of why you would do it. A wreck is a wreck and if you can avoid that, bonus. Just don't understand how this can be a constant re-occuring scenario. My choice would probably be to figure out how to avoid the possibility of those heifers to be bred. Like @Travlr said.
Not saying that we never had a wreck with a heifer happen either, but once or twice in 20 years isn't the same situation that you are dealing with.
Which breed are your heifers? Curious if early maturing females is a genetic trait?
So my question, how old are these heifers when they are accidentally bred?
Does the induced abortion of a first pregnancy affect the heifers future cycling at all?
I completely get the reasoning of why you would do it. A wreck is a wreck and if you can avoid that, bonus. Just don't understand how this can be a constant re-occuring scenario. My choice would probably be to figure out how to avoid the possibility of those heifers to be bred. Like @Travlr said.
Not saying that we never had a wreck with a heifer happen either, but once or twice in 20 years isn't the same situation that you are dealing with.
Which breed are your heifers? Curious if early maturing females is a genetic trait?
I had a heifer bred as young as 4 months old. Very rare in my predominantly Angus herd but shyt happens. I pull the bulls 6 weeks prior to weaning when the heifers are appx. 6 months and they all get a shot of Lute at weaning. But it can still happen if a neighbors bull jumps the fence and one year, we had a stag that still was able to breed.
No, it's not reoccurring, but Lute is relatively cheap insurance. And no, it doesn't affect future cycling or ability to breed back.
A friend of mine rarely pulls the bulls in a timely manner, Lutes all the heifers at weaning, and averages about 5 abortions. Plus, they wean later, when the calves are appx. 8 months old. I chalk that up to poor management but not my monkeys, not my circus.
Silver
Well-known member
Teen pregnancies can be an issue here. It happens my cows are in pretty big, thick country when the bulls should be pulled so it just doesn't happen. We get them out when they come down into the hay fields in the fall. We don't give Lute to everything, but try to watch close to catch any breds, or watch close when they are close to calving.
