best time to breed.

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Tbrake

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Crazy to me how different everyone's thoughts are on this. I have been told anywhere from soon as you first detect standing head, clear up to 16 hours after and every number in between. The guy I use always shoots for 12 hours after the patch is worn off. I check them 3 times a day. 7 am, noon, and 7pm. In the past I have always bred them that night, or the next morning. My question is what if she went into standing say 10:00 pm. You check that morning, then breed her the next night. That would be getting close to 20 hours. Would you miss her? And also what would you do to ones you find standing at the noon check? I assume breed them that night
 
I think you summed that up!

No matter how simple the concept when you are putting it into action, it can get confusing.

The cornerstone of my AI breeding program is: breed in a window between 6 to 8 hours following when you observe a standing heat. That is based on the concept that you want the spermatozoa to undergo capacitation in time to be capable of fertilizing the egg when it releases from the follicle. The Select Sires manual shows that window as being 4 to 12 hours. I prefer to narrow it down but both should result in good conception.

Regarding your questions:

1. My question is what if she went into standing say 10:00 pm.[I assume you did not observe this stand] You check that morning, then breed her the next night. That would be getting close to 20 hours. Would you miss her?

2. And also what would you do to ones you find standing at the noon check? I assume breed them that night
.

1. You go out at daybreak and find a cow/heifer with the chalk mark gone (patch rubbed) and her tail head shows signs of being ridden. I breed about 2 pm that day.

2. Standing at noon. Breed 6 pm.
 
Ideally I prefer to breed them 4-8 hours after I see them standing.
I kind of assume they were already in standing heat before I first saw them standing.
I've had them bleed off 4-12 hrs after service and then was very pleasantly surprised that they actually conceived
to that service.
 
Convenience is rarely mentioned but sometimes is the major factor.

Example: December 12. Calling for snow at 6 pm and temperatures falling rapidly from 40 degrees to low teens. You go out at daylight. You observe a good stand. You watch for 20 minutes. She stands again. If I know she is in a good standing heat at 7 am and bad weather is coming in. I will breed her at 1 pm. Note: my facility is not covered. I prepare my AI syringe in the house where I have my tank and access to a table and warm running water. I put the cow up, go prepare the syringe, and go out and get done.
 
Thank you guys. Helped a lot. So the ones I found in heat first thing this morning, 6 pm tonight is on the late side. Had a couple more I observed standing at 11 this morning, so 6 should be good for them correct?
 
Tbrake":1fepkxml said:
Thank you guys. Helped a lot. So the ones I found in heat first thing this morning, 6 pm tonight is on the late side. Had a couple more I observed standing at 11 this morning, so 6 should be good for them correct?

The ones standing at 11. I would breed about 8 give or take an hour. Sometimes patience goes a long way.
 
Problem is I hire a guy to do the breeding. Can't have him making a bunch of different trips here to breed. I need to learn to do it my self, that is on the list of things to do. Just went up and checked again and had 4 more new ones standing at 3:00. This is my first year doing heat detection. Starting to get very confused/ frustrated
 
Tbrake":256ooen2 said:
Problem is I hire a guy to do the breeding. Can't have him making a bunch of different trips here to breed. I need to learn to do it my self, that is on the list of things to do. Just went up and checked again and had 4 more new ones standing at 3:00. This is my first year doing heat detection. Starting to get very confused/ frustrated


Sounds like you used a timed AI protocol to be having so many come in at the same time.

What is the size of the group you are breeding? And how have they been setup or are you going on natural heats?
 
7 day cidr protocol, due to bad weather we left them in for 9 days. (He told me it didn't matter) Bred a few early on natural heat.
 
Tbrake":19vacgqh said:
7 day cidr protocol, due to bad weather we left them in for 9 days. (He told me it didn't matter) Bred a few early on natural heat.

Coordinate with your technician.

How big is your breeding herd?

The reason I do my own AI is for the circumstances you are experiencing.
 
I will often do them in the morning if I think they may have been horsing around for most of the night by the amount of damage to their skin but I keep a close eye on them and if they are still standing after midday I will give them a second dose.

If you hold off inseminating and they appear to have gone off by the time your technician gets there, still do them, it is usually not too late.

As you can see on Dun's chart the best time to breed goes well after standing heat.

Ken
 
Thanks a bunch guys. Bred this mornings standers a little bit ago, also bred the 11:30 standers. I watched them and they were both just coming out of standing. So we hit them with a straw, and are going to hit those 2 again in the morning. Anyone done this before?
 
Tbrake":e3ow08ep said:
Thanks a bunch guys. Bred this mornings standers a little bit ago, also bred the 11:30 standers. I watched them and they were both just coming out of standing. So we hit them with a straw, and are going to hit those 2 again in the morning. Anyone done this before?

Yes. I double breed if I am unsure of their estrus cycle.
 
I've bred hundreds of thousands of cows based on once a day observation with good results. You could probably do a little better if you really get down to specifics but I still only look at my own cattle once a day. If I do see something that is in a better heat than what I saw the day before I will usually go ahead and breed again but that doesn't happen very often.
 
cow pollinater":3l0d42kq said:
I've bred hundreds of thousands of cows based on once a day observation with good results. You could probably do a little better if you really get down to specifics but I still only look at my own cattle once a day. If I do see something that is in a better heat than what I saw the day before I will usually go ahead and breed again but that doesn't happen very often.
most all the dairy farms around have all their breeding done on once a day observations
 
Its not that tough, when you sync them. If you pull cidrs at say 8 am on Wednesday, usually 30% will respond at 48 hrs. I make 2 pm Friday my cut off for 7pm breeding on that afternoon. Then everything else gets bred at 7 or 8 am on Saturday morning.
 

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