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kenny thomas

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Novaman's comment on another post got me to thinking. What % does everyone get AI with one cycle. As I stated I got only 44%. Not what I had hoped for.
 
kenny thomas":3956ufqm said:
Novaman's comment on another post got me to thinking. What % does everyone get AI with one cycle. As I stated I got only 44%. Not what I had hoped for.

With more practice and the cows getting more used to it the percentage should go up substanitally in subsequant years
 
kenny thomas":31fabhry said:
More practice will help but I only AI the heifers so they will not get used to it. Does your % go up with mature cows?

It doesn;t anymore, but I've been at it for several years (something over 30)
 
My wife does the AI work on our place. This past year she bred every cow but one on first insemination. The one she missed was AI'd 3 times, still didnt' take and was sold.
 
Provided that the heifers are big and old enough and in good condition your success rate should be higher with heifers than mature cows, but to AI heifers require more skill and patience than mature cows.

My % settled on first service varies from 70-90% for both heifers and cows, that is with either 1 or 2 shots Estrumate and then AI on observed heats.

This year I used CIDRs for the first time and although I don't know the exact success rates at the moment as I was still out of action when I would normally palpate 6-8 weeks after AI to determine which cows settled to AI it looks to also be about 70-75% just by observed heats the next round with the cleanup bull.

About 6 years ago I synchronised 10 heifers with the Crestar method and only 2 settled on the timed AI, never used that again.
 
I've got as high as 100% with CIDR's and time breeding but my long term average over a probably 5,000 plus cattle is probably around 65%. On breeding on observed heat the old fashioned way I'm usually over 70%. Your first attempt at A'I'ing can be daunting but don't give up.
 
if your catching your cows in true heat.your conception rate should be 50% or a tad better on 1st service.after 4 AI services all the cows should be bred.any open needs tobe turned in with a bull or sold.
 
if your catching your cows in true heat.your conception rate should be 50% or a tad better on 1st service

If you are breeding off of heat it better be a lot higher than 50%. The last figures I saw was around 70-75% with observed heats and 45-50% on timed AI. People that have been AI'ing for several years and keeping back AI sired replacements have been able to get timed AI pushing 70%.
 
bigbull338":17fhytex said:
if your catching your cows in true heat.your conception rate should be 50% or a tad better on 1st service.after 4 AI services all the cows should be bred.any open needs tobe turned in with a bull or sold.

I can't see how anyone can attempt to AI 4 times and then turn out with a bull and stay within a calving season or at the very least allow selection for fertility to start down the slippery slope.
 
An AI system is only as good as heat detection. Assuming the AI tech is qualified and you're time breeding off of CIDRs or shots 50% is about what to expect. IF you can do a good job of heat checking something around 70% is very possible.

There are always going to be those cows that for some reason won't settle AI, but will to the bull first time.
 
KNERSIE":2h6t68tk said:
bigbull338":2h6t68tk said:
if your catching your cows in true heat.your conception rate should be 50% or a tad better on 1st service.after 4 AI services all the cows should be bred.any open needs tobe turned in with a bull or sold.

I can't see how anyone can attempt to AI 4 times and then turn out with a bull and stay within a calving season or at the very least allow selection for fertility to start down the slippery slope.
if you had a 90 day AI season youd have 4 shots at getting her bred.an then turn her with the bull for 30 days.if she settles to the bull her CI is 13 months.
 
bigbull338":hfqsfhd4 said:
if you had a 90 day AI season youd have 4 shots at getting her bred.an then turn her with the bull for 30 days.if she settles to the bull her CI is 13 months.

By my figuring that would require you to breed them as soon as they calved.
 
KNERSIE":2knpu8nt said:
bigbull338":2knpu8nt said:
if your catching your cows in true heat.your conception rate should be 50% or a tad better on 1st service.after 4 AI services all the cows should be bred.any open needs tobe turned in with a bull or sold.

I can't see how anyone can attempt to AI 4 times and then turn out with a bull and stay within a calving season or at the very least allow selection for fertility to start down the slippery slope.

Ours get two bites at the apple. It used to be 2 AI breedings and if the didn;t settle they grew wheels. Now they get one AI and a month with the bull at the most. Anything that's open grows wheels
 
dun your right.but if you waited till they all calved that would push your CI to 15 months.this is a q where every1 has differant ways of seeing an doing things.
 
bigbull338":1ytc2psk said:
dun your right.but if you waited till they all calved that would push your CI to 15 months.this is a q where every1 has differant ways of seeing an doing things.

That's the reason for only 2 bites of the apple then a road trip. 45 day calving season or less.
 
I'm with Dun. What's the point of implementing an AI program if you don't take advantage of (IMO) its biggest perk...a tight calving season. A tighter calving season means that they can be synchronized together as a group after all have had a long enough post-partum interval to be cycling. You also have a more uniform calf crop at weaning because there is less difference between the oldest calf and the youngest.
 
Just finished ai breeding 50 cows in 3 weeks only had 2 return in the last couple of days. We use Estrotect (Estrus Alert) patches on the cows, we'll let it go now for another 4-6 weeks repatch & finish ai'ing than. We did have more open cows than we thought we should have had as we had run a bull in with the herd back in Nov/ Dec 08
 
My success rate has ranged from 65% in a bad year to 100% (on 12 cows) in the best. This last season I've achieved 82.5% on 40 cows (and 92.5% total pregnant after the bulls followed up on the early ones in heat) on a mating period of 40 days. This was all on natural heats and regular observations. I've been AIing for about eight years. My heifer rate isn't quite as good, but I get most of them. I use Kamars as an assistant, but only really as a confirmation that a cow has actually stood between observations - they're not reliable as a sole indicator. Heat detection was my full-time job this year because my home-grown bulls were AM suspects and I had decided to AI everything.
 
Following is a copy of part of an article from Angus Journal last October. It describes the protocol I use. Yes, this article is about me and a friend. Good reporter (Becky Mills)without much to work with.
Thoughts from everyone who AI's.

[Even though John and Bill Carter and Kenny Thomas join forces to artificially inseminate (AI) their heifers, all three still have full-time jobs to schedule around. Their solution is a timed-AI synchronization protocol set up by Tennessee veterinarian Edwin Robertson, a veteran in embryotransfer (ET).
"We've used timed AI for eight years now," Robertson says. "This has been the most effective
protocol for getting the most heifers and cows pregnant."

Here's the schedule:
x Day 0, 8 p.m. Inject GnRH, 2 cc Insert CIDR®

Robertson says the treatments can be started
in the morning, but the nighttime schedule worked better for the Carters and Thomas.

x Day 7, 8 p.m. Inject prostaglandin, 5 cc Remove CIDR

x Day 9, 8 p.m. Inject GnRH, 2 cc
"Make sure it is 48 hours after the Day 7 treatment," Robertson says.

x Day 10, 8 a.m. Breed
"Make sure this is 10 to 12 hours after the Day 9 treatment," Robertson says.

Before you even start to think about a synchronization
and AI program, Robertson says, you need to have your heifers and cows in the right condition.
"We're reluctant to breed heifers weighing less than 750 pounds," he explains. "I prefer they weigh 800 pounds and are at least 15 months old. Conception rates are usually lower on heifers under 15 months of age."
He adds, "Because of the hormone profile of heifers, in my opinion, anytime you attempt timed AI with heifers you will be disappointed unless you use a protocol that includes CIDRs."

For best results he says they need to be at least 45 days postcalving when the synchronization
program begins and 54 days postcalving at breeding.]
 

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