Am I Crazy????

[BigBear56]

So I'm a total novice when it comes to AI. I found a gentleman that will board cows and AI them to a bull of your choosing, them blood test to confirm pregnancy. Similar to what folks do with horses. Eventually I may get to the point where I will go through the process myself but to get started I would prefer to go this route. IMO this heifer is the best one we've had yet. I know I want to breed for primarily maternal traits as I build my herd. This heifer is 7 months old and I would plan to breed her at 13-14 months. She's been penned up (as you can tell by the hay belly). Is she something worth spending the money on to AI? Where does she need help? Please be nice lol

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I won't say you're crazy but I'd probably lean towards buying a bred heifer that both has the genetics I'm looking for in both her pedigree and the calf she's carrying. Depends on your long term goals I suppose.

 

[WinterSpringsFarm]

She's a pretty nice looking heifer from those pics. I'd love to see a more natural picture of her so I could evaluate her a little better.

You haven't told us a breed, or pedigree or really any information about the heifer or your goals. So its kinda hard to make any reccomendations.

 

[BigBear56]

She's a pretty nice looking heifer from those pics. I'd love to see a more natural picture of her so I could evaluate her a little better.

You haven't told us a breed, or pedigree or really any information about the heifer or your goals. So its kinda hard to make any reccomendations.

Yeah I forgot to mention that. She's 1/2 reg Red Angus 1/2 reg Black Angus. I started my small herd around her dam. Below left. Her dam is out of a Leachman bull (have to look at the paperwork to tell you exactly). My goals are to improve maternal characteristics. Her dam is flighty but not aggressive and is a poor milker imo. I think she needs some help with bone and hair as well but 1 step at a time lol. I have my eye on Musgrave Redemption but is acc is low. A lot can happen between now and this heifer turning 13 months so we will have to see what happens with his numbers.

 

[WinterSpringsFarm]

Nice looking red angus cattle. If she were at my place I'd certainly AI her. Look through the Pure Beef Genetics catalog and see what tickles your fancy that has relatively good CE and BW numbers. I'm a fan of RA cattle and would go that route. I'd probably use Damar Next on her. Thomas Ranch had some nice ones last year, and I like the breeding behind that bull.

 

[wbvs58]

No your not crazy, good way to making a start using the vast pool of genetics available. I have been using a bit of Musgrave genetics of late. One that I have liked a lot in last years calves was Musgrave Apache.

Ken

 

[Stickney94]

You are not crazy -- although I'd add the caveat that I don't how much this boarding AI option costs.

As Ken says -- you can access so many good bulls using AI.

 

[Dsth]

IMO any cow/heifer that you think is worth keeping, is worth AIing. The option of the best proven bulls in the industry are at your fingertips. When I started to AI, I would ask my tech which bull he would recommend. Most are well trained to improve the traits that you are looking for. Don't worry about how she looks to anyone else. If she looks good to you, breed her to a bull that you like and hope for a nice replacement heifer from her. good luck

 

[BigBear56]

IMO any cow/heifer that you think is worth keeping, is worth AIing. The option of the best proven bulls in the industry are at your fingertips. When I started to AI, I would ask my tech which bull he would recommend. Most are well trained to improve the traits that you are looking for. Don't worry about how she looks to anyone else. If she looks good to you, breed her to a bull that you like and hope for a nice replacement heifer from her. good luck

Thank you. Cost would be roughly $150 plus the cost of semen. That includes boarding, Cidrs, sync, AI services, and blood preg test. I've checked with several prominent cattlemen in the area and all have said he does a great job. I also have a friend that sent a club heifer to him and had good things to say

I agree on letting the AI tech help make the choice. I was just going to give him my opinions on what she needs and let him make the call on who to use. Regardless of what happens, if I get a calf out of the deal I should have no problem recouping my costs. Ultimately AI-ing will be something that I will do at my place so I can hit the whole heard. I feel this is a good first step to dip my toes in the water.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Most AI bulls are high milk and high growth bulls, so you can easily end up with high maintenance cows. Be careful.

 

[Stocker Steve]

We do a little AI, and used to buy bulls from a guy who bred to hot high growth AI studs. A couple things happened:
- variability went up
- management effort went up
- cow size went up
- weaning wt. went up
- breed back went down
If your main goal is to sell profitable feeder calves, then yes, this is crazy.
If your main goal is to create fancy cows, then no, this is not crazy.

 

[Ebenezer]

We do a little AI, and used to buy bulls from a guy who bred to hot high growth AI studs. A couple things happened:
- variability went up
- management effort went up
- cow size went up
- weaning wt. went up
- breed back went down
If your main goal is to sell profitable feeder calves, then yes, this is crazy.
If your main goal is to create fancy cows, then no, this is not crazy.

It can merely be bragging rights, rarity, hobby or the picture cattle if you don't watch the bottom line. Good post. Semen companies are not selling semen for your benefit; they are selling semen for their profit. That's why faulty bulls are not pulled when the problems are known. The info is then "corrective matings" or recommended crosses to hopefully diminish the impact.

 

[callmefence]

Sell the heifer, buy a solid mouth bred cow have a paycheck on the ground in a few months instead of a year and half.... :2cents: