AI

[ellen&dan]

Hello everyone,
I was just curious how many of you ai your own cows? Do you do it yourself, or do you get the vet or ai technician to do it. Also, do any of you do any embryo transfer?

 

[Bez!]

Hello everyone,
I was just curious how many of you ai your own cows? Do you do it yourself, or do you get the vet or ai technician to do it. Also, do any of you do any embryo transfer?

If you hit the "search" button and type in AI, embryo, AI Technician and so on - you will get so much info that it will take you a week to read it all.

It will include a pile of folks you might want to contact via pm if you need some serious info on how to go about this.

You might throw a little info our way - in other words - WHAT do YOU do?

If you are a pro, most will have questions for you.

Oh, welcome aboard,

Bez!

 

[jenna]

Hello ellen,
We ai all our own cows. I primarily do the ai work, and my mom fills in when needed. I started ai'ing about two years ago after graduating from school (animal science major). because we breed about 1200 cattle a year (Dairy and beef) it is about all I do.

 

[Karl]

My uncle and I AI our own cows and heifers. We aint to bad either. We usually get about 95% to settle. Some of our friends have us AI their cows as well.

 

[randiliana]

I AI our own cattle too. This will only be my second year at it, and we only did half a dozen last year.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

We're 100% AI. My husband does all our AI - for about 35 years now.

 

[K-SHIRES]

Hello everyone,
I was just curious how many of you ai your own cows? Do you do it yourself, or do you get the vet or ai technician to do it. Also, do any of you do any embryo transfer?

I do all the AI breeding on the place. Technician service pulled out of our region a few years back - too few operating farms left. Went to school, learned by doing. Turned out to be a big improvement for us. Haven't done any ET work.

 

[K-SHIRES]

My uncle and I AI our own cows and heifers. We aint to bad either. We usually get about 95% to settle. Some of our friends have us AI their cows as well.

95% to Settle- If so, STRONG LIKE BULL!

 

[Jovid]

My uncle and I AI our own cows and heifers. We aint to bad either. We usually get about 95% to settle. Some of our friends have us AI their cows as well.

:shock: Way above the norm

 

[MikeC]

My uncle and I AI our own cows and heifers. We aint to bad either. We usually get about 95% to settle. Some of our friends have us AI their cows as well.

In one pass? If so, that's a dang good rate. I don't think I've even seen a bull get that kind of conception rates with one breeding.

Dang!!!!!!!They can even smell when it's time. I ain't quite that good yet.

 

[buckaroo_bif]

My uncle and I AI our own cows and heifers. We aint to bad either. We usually get about 95% to settle. Some of our friends have us AI their cows as well.

Do you visually heat check? What sort of synch protocol do you use ?

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

We expect to get 95-100% - but that's the whole breeding season - 45-60 days. Never had a cleanup bull for 30+ years - if they don't breed and didn't have a REALLLLY good reason - they get shipped.

 

[buckaroo_bif]

We expect to get 95-100% - but that's the whole breeding season - 45-60 days. Never had a cleanup bull for 30+ years - if they don't breed and didn't have a REALLLLY good reason - they get shipped.

do you use heatwatch systems Jeanne?

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

We expect to get 95-100% - but that's the whole breeding season - 45-60 days. Never had a cleanup bull for 30+ years - if they don't breed and didn't have a REALLLLY good reason - they get shipped.

do you use heatwatch systems Jeanne?

Yup sure do - I heat watch at dawn, dusk and several times in-between. :shock:
I do use "tools" such as a crayon stick to mark their tailhead, if rubbed off I look for other signs. Occasionally use K-Mar or the new "scratch off" tabs that Genex is selling. I like them, but I learned the hard way - don't apply them to the back of the cows at the same time you run them thru the chute for delice or deworming - eeekkkss - they all fell off.
I will put them on if I won't be able to "heatwatch" close - like gonna be gone all day or evening and EXPECT one to be in.
Also, will use Lut as a "tool" - if I see one messing or showing signs, but never catch in standing heat, I'll wait the 6 days & bring her back in. Don't use it to syncronize. We try to breed the heifers 2 weeks prior to the cows.

 

[ENNOT]

We use AI quite a bit, but still use a cleanup bull. One time through the chute is all they get to keep our calving season together. We use it on our registered and commercial cows. The best advantage is the wide arrange of genetics you add to your herd.

We use CIDR's and Lutalyse on all first calf heifers. We also use this on the registered cows. Commercial cows will get a shot of Lutalyse so we can AI a larger group each day, rather than whenever they come back in. Then we turn bulls in with groups one week later.