AI and Preg Checking Your Own Cattle

[Twisted]

How many members here do their own AI and Pregnancy Checking of their herds? How accurate are you? Did you start out that way or improve or falter after some experience?

 

[kenny thomas]

How many members here do their own AI and Pregnancy Checking of their herds? How accurate are you? Did you start out that way or improve or falter after some experience?

I took classes to do both. Never got good at AI.
Took preg check class last spring. I haven't done it enough yet to get good at it. But can tell if a cow is bred or open.

 

[GoWyo]

I A.I. but have vet do fall vaccinations and preg check. He buys 3-4 bulls a year from us for his family ranch down in Kansas and does text consults when I have issues needing immediate attention. I would like to sleeve up and check a few when we preg check so I can learn to check the odd one myself before hauling to the auction barn.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Draw blood and send it off for preg checking. Only downside is having to wait a couple days for results. So it means another trip thru the corral to sort off the opens.

Vet is 100+ miles away so not economical to pay him to come preg check.

 

[wbvs58]

Being a Veterinarian I guess I have a leg up with it however I never did much preg testing in cattle during my career, probably had more experience with horses. I didn't do any AI work either. I've never felt I was good at knowing what was happening in there and probably have been too gentle. I always remember at Uni a fellow in our prac group put his finger through a horses rectum and of course it died so that put the wind up me a bit. I started inseminating my cows about 16 years ago and I used to miss quite a few but each year I have improved, last year I think was my best year out of 50 inseminations I only missed one of them and strangely when I checked them I am pretty sure she has conceived to the AI so I might be better than I thought. I am rising 73 now so I can't expect to continue improving though with experience you tend to develop techniques to overcome the weakness you get in your hands with age especially with some of the big old cervixes. Some years they seem easier to do than others and I think this is related to the season and the quality of feed they are on, bad years it can be dry and rough in there, good years too squirty and gassy and sucking gas into the vagina when mounting other cows.
On preg testing I try to catch them at around 4 months and it helps to differentiate between me and the bull plus I watch them closely when they are due back in so I have a pretty good idea if I got them or not. I only give them one round of AI now and then it is up to the bull. My goal is to have them calving within a month. I synchronise them in batches of 10 about 2-3 days apart as I fatigue easy but things are busy for a couple of weeks there. One of the big problems with becoming proficient is that you are only doing it for a short period once a year.

Ken

 

[wbvs58]

I guess I didn't answer your question. I think accuracy depends on when you check them. At 4-5 mths when you can start to bounce the fetus there it doesn't take much to learn and have good accuracy. If you want to test at around 8 wks it may take a bit to get the feel for it. I will do heifers at that stage but I am very gentle with them, I generally wait a bit longer when things are well established and safer. The advantage of tight calving and joining has them all at about the same stage.

Ken

 

[SBMF 2015]

I don't A.I. but I do Preg check. Not as accurate as I would like but I am as good as some vets around here.

My best friend does all the A.I. but we still have someone else do our ET work.

 

[kenny thomas]

Draw blood and send it off for preg checking. Only downside is having to wait a couple days for results. So it means another trip thru the corral to sort off the opens.

Vet is 100+ miles away so not economical to pay him to come preg check.

The blood test can actually be done and get the results at your place now. Takes just a few minutes.

 

[RustyTub]

The blood test can actually be done and get the results at your place now. Takes just a few minutes.

Can you expand on this and tell us what/who exactly you use?

 

[Hpacres440p]

The blood test can actually be done and get the results at your place now. Takes just a few minutes.

What is that test called? Is it as cheap as the $3/test 3 day type?

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

The blood test can actually be done and get the results at your place now. Takes just a few minutes.

I know it can. But have you read up on it? It has a process that in my opinion isn't conducive to sampling a large group in a reasonable timeframe. You need to draw blood, shake it, draw it up and add it to a test, then wait 5-30 minutes for results last I read about it? In that 5-30 minute window I will have blood drawn on 20+ animals and they will be off and gone.

He is speaking about the "IDEXX On Farm" or "PregnostX" brand tests. Last I looked they were nearly $10 per animal.

 

[moses388]

I use the Alertys blood test Kenny Thomas mentioned, but I preg test only ones I'm questioning. I do AI and cut nuts. Rarely have 1 with horns, which I have the vet cut.

In that 5-30 minute window I will have blood drawn on 20+ animals and they will be off and gone.

Correct. Perform all the blood draws and then run the individual tests. You don't run the tests chute side.
Idexx {click here} - Current price is $238 for a box of 25 tests. That does not include needles, EDTA tubes, marker, etc.
my sample photo {click here}

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

So if you don't run them chute side then what is the real advantage?

I just drew blood last week on a group of 30. Cost of needles, vacutainers, postage, and lab work came out to $3.56 per animal. That's 1/3 the price of just the at home test...

 

[Farmgirl]

Just used the Pregnostx test. Almost $10 per test but includes all materials needed. Have used the Biopryn test for years where you draw blood and send it off. Pregnostx is from the same company. Slightly more expensive but has its advantages. Got a 6 test kit from Valley Vet.

 

[Dsth]

I enrolled in an ABS class about 40 years ago when I was in the dairy business. had a few problems when first starting but things seemed to work out okay after more practice. Don't know if anyone can start out and claim to be an expert right out of the gate. I still do my own AI on my 30 cow beef herd. I have tried preg checking my cows in early gestation with the membranes slip, tried blood test, (both at home and send to lab) and vet check. none seemed to be 100% accurate. best results were with vet years ago by palpating at 30 - 75 days. He would almost always be within a day or two of my AI breeding dates, (he was the only preg check that I remember as being 100% correct.) Vets now use ultrasound and seem comfortably correct. I did not have good accurate results with the BIOPRYN blood test. I will preg check a cow that is overdue a few days and not showing signs of calving soon but by then I am just feeling for a leg or head that I can feel.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I've blood tested probably 300 cows in the last few year with BIOPRYN. I can say that 100% of the cows the test said were bred, did indeed calve out something on this farm.

The ones they said were open went to the sale shortly there after so I guess it's possible they could have been bred and calved at their new home?

 

[bird dog]

I also blood test with biopryn. Do not AI. After the blood test I run the cows into the pasture that adjoins the pens so they can easily be caught a couple days later to sort out any opens. I did 31 in January and had 30 test preg which was a pleasant surprise as I was afraid a few were open.

 

[TCRanch]

Lunch on the left, rugrat on the right. Yup, she's bred. Clearly, not an exact science but . . .

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

By the time you see the presence or absence of that rug rat on on the right you have potentially been feeding that open cow for a long time.

 

[Dsth]

I've blood tested probably 300 cows in the last few year with BIOPRYN. I can say that 100% of the cows the test said were bred, did indeed calve out something on this farm.

The ones they said were open went to the sale shortly there after so I guess it's possible they could have been bred and calved at their new home?

how far pregnant were your cows when tested? I'm guessing the farther they are, the more accurate the results. I was checking at 30-60 days. had blood test as open but confirmed bred by vet and tested pregnant and no calf when due.