AI questions?

[dun]

I would have her tested. If she's clean I would make sure any bull I bred her to was also clean. If she's a carrier, if she has a calf that appears to be of seedstock quality I would test the calf. If she's a carrier each year would be a crap shoot to see if the calf ws clean or not. But if she's really a top cow I would sure go for it.

 

[ousoonerfan22]

Sent an email asking what to do.
Do you know if this test will be expensive?
If it was your cow would you forget about ai'ing her?

I was hoping to raise a good bull instead of paying $2000 to $3000 for one,sounds like I better start saving my money.

You should be thrilled to find a good bull for that money rather than having ONE cow to TRY to raise a bull out of. What will you do if she throws a heifer for the next 3 years?

BTW by the time you get a bull raised to where he will breed for you you will have close to that in him and there is no guarantee that you will like him!

I know my price range is low but right now I can't afford to pay much more than that.I know even though my cows(35) are not top notch cows I need to buy the best bull I can afford for really nice calves.

I was worried about the cow having heifers thats why I was asking about the sexed semen but it sounds like not too many have much faith in it.

I'm wanting a bull that will throw high growth muscular calves and that will be tough in my price range.

 

[dun]

I know my price range is low but right now I can't afford to pay much more than that.I know even though my cows(35) are not top notch cows I need to buy the best bull I can afford for really nice calves.

That is the key, what you can afford. It may not be a world changer but if it's a herd changer (for the better) at least it's a place to start.

 

[3waycross]

Here's a suggestion. Look around your area. 100mi radius. Look for a really solid program and go talk to them about buying a calf that has all the potential you are looking for and then offer to buy it off the farm instead of off the bull sale. I personally love it when someone does that. It saves me from feeding them all winter and it gets cash flow going. In the end I make just as much. I would bet you can find someone like that. Where are you located?

 

[Katpau]

I'm wondering if the local vet can do this test?

I have my testing done by Stockman's Resource. You can find information at stockmansresource.com. Their cost is $20 per sample. They are very nice people to work with and less costly than going through AAA. You can check on the status of your other registered cows by going to the American Angus web site. Enter your cows registration number in the box called "animal search". You will see your cows pedigree along with her epd's. If she is a possible carrier of a genetic defect it will be noted at the bottom of this information.

 

[hereford]

I've liked the image maker calves.

I don't think sexed semen is worth the added expense.

Why would you think this? Sexed Semen on some of these bulls is just about $15 more than conventional. Genetics are cheap compared to the overall value of the calf produced. With the current cow herd being freakishly low, females out of the right matings are going to be worth quite a bit of money over bull calves. Going the other way, the right bull calves are going to be worth big $ over females too.

Why would you let $15 or even $20 get in the way of producing a calf that is potentially worth a minimal of $500 over the undesired gender? :roll:

 

[hereford]

Sent an email asking what to do.
Do you know if this test will be expensive?
If it was your cow would you forget about ai'ing her?

I was hoping to raise a good bull instead of paying $2000 to $3000 for one,sounds like I better start saving my money.

You should be thrilled to find a good bull for that money rather than having ONE cow to TRY to raise a bull out of. What will you do if she throws a heifer for the next 3 years?

BTW by the time you get a bull raised to where he will breed for you you will have close to that in him and there is no guarantee that you will like him!

I know my price range is low but right now I can't afford to pay much more than that.I know even though my cows(35) are not top notch cows I need to buy the best bull I can afford for really nice calves.

I was worried about the cow having heifers thats why I was asking about the sexed semen but it sounds like not too many have much faith in it.

I'm wanting a bull that will throw high growth muscular calves and that will be tough in my price range.

There have been over 12 million straws of sexed semen produced and used. There wouldn't be that many if it didn't work.

 

[Double R Ranch]

Although sexed semen isn't supposidly quite as fertile it is used with great success. We have our order in for heifer semen this breeding season to almost guarantee our first calf heifers have smaller heifer calves. Making their first calving season easier on them and in turn hopefully a quicker recoop time. Our commercial angus Cows that we know produce our highest selling steers we will put bull semen in.
If this is the correct move for us........ Who knows. We will know the following calving season. To each his own!
I agree with the bull theary though. It takes a while before you know if your "bull" prospect will fit what you want, pending no problems before breeding age. It's not cost affective for us to raise our own bulls when there are so many good bulls out there.
Also fully agree with the gene testing.
Just my two cents ;-)
Double R