Im gonna use Angus as an example for this question. If someone has 100 head of reg. angus heifers or cows and AI's them to lets say New Design, this person also puts in a Angus clean up bull. All this is done with the intentions of selling the calves as breeding bulls or replacement heifers in a Registered sale. Since AI is not 100 percent all the time and the cleanup bull possibly could have bred a cow and a bull calf came about how would you know for sure it was the New Design or the cleanup bulls calf? And how would you honestly market this animal in a registerd sale as a New Design son when it could be from the other bull? Or do you pregnancy check the cows first after AI to see if they took before you throw in the cleanup bull? Ive just always wondered how the Registered breeders did this by using cleanup bulls of the same breed other than using like a hereford bull as cleanup to make baldies to really show which ones are AI calves and not. I hope this makes sense. Thanks
AI and Clean Up Bull Question
- Thread starter CopeMan
- Start date
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Good bookkeeping is essential and you should know exactly when you AI'ed each cow.
What I do is I AI , check for signs of heat the next cycle and if she doesn't come back I"ll put her with the cleanup bull, so theoretically there would be a 6 week gap between the AI and cleanup bull calving dates. This is fine for the first to be bred in the breeding season, however the ones that do come back get AI'ed again and then I wait 17 days before they go to the cleanup bull. The problem usually arises with the late calvers where time of rebreeding is essential.
Usually you know which is which bull's calf, but there would always be one or two that calf right inbetween the possible two dates. on these a dna test is your only option. Just send tail hairs with the follicle intact from the calf and from the cleanup bull for testing. This way the cleanup bull can either be proved as the sire or excluded. instead of the hair from the cleanup bull you could send a straw from the AI sire for the same procedure.
I usually have a cut-off date for AI calves after which it will be the bull's calves, but this really isn't all that impossible to manage as it may sound. I realy don't even need a cleanup bull.
What I do is I AI , check for signs of heat the next cycle and if she doesn't come back I"ll put her with the cleanup bull, so theoretically there would be a 6 week gap between the AI and cleanup bull calving dates. This is fine for the first to be bred in the breeding season, however the ones that do come back get AI'ed again and then I wait 17 days before they go to the cleanup bull. The problem usually arises with the late calvers where time of rebreeding is essential.
Usually you know which is which bull's calf, but there would always be one or two that calf right inbetween the possible two dates. on these a dna test is your only option. Just send tail hairs with the follicle intact from the calf and from the cleanup bull for testing. This way the cleanup bull can either be proved as the sire or excluded. instead of the hair from the cleanup bull you could send a straw from the AI sire for the same procedure.
I usually have a cut-off date for AI calves after which it will be the bull's calves, but this really isn't all that impossible to manage as it may sound. I realy don't even need a cleanup bull.
Victoria
Well-known member
The Canadian Angus Association requires that any animal of questionable parentage has to be DNA tested. All registered breeding bulls must have their DNA on file before one of their calves can be registered. So tail hair follicles of the calf are sent in and the sire is determined by that. This is not just for AI of course but for any time that a cow may have been bred by a different bull. Both last year and this year we were flooded and had all our fences knocked out so our purebreds were in with two bulls. On top of that last breeding season some were also being AI'd. So we have a couple of cows that have been exposed to three different bulls. It would be a wreck if it weren't for DNA tests. It costs about $50.00 a calf if we send it in, I think it is $40.00 if the society requests it but at least we can register the calves then and people can buy with confidence.
Victoria
Well-known member
alabama":u722hpq7 said:
Must be nice.
we deal a registered rare breed, and dna testing is the only way to be really truthful with your buyer. Any AI bull has to be genotyped in our registry, and that makes it easier, as someone else pointed out. :cboy:
