Breeding on natural heats

[Chris H]

How many still breed on natural heats? I've got 7 heifers in group of 9 that are out of our herd sire so I plan on AIing them. Being healthy heifers, they're all showing strong heat cycles and usually 2 or 3 will be in heat on the same day. My biggest concern is when I get home from work and see a heifer in heat I won't have a good idea how long she's been in heat. I've got plenty of semen from one of our bulls and I've been thinking about AIing her in the evening and then again in the morning.
Any thoughts on this?

I really don't want to set them up for a timed breeding.

 

[dun]

That's all we breed on. If she is standing early in the morning until about noon and wasn;t the evening before we breed that evening. If it's after noonish and she wasn;t standing in the morning we breed early in the AM. The window isn;t as tight as a lot of people believe:
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=95503&p=1197175&hilit=chart#p1197175

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

What Dun said has worked pretty well for me.

 

[cow pollinater]

I've bred an average of a hundred head a day for fifteen years now based on once a day heat detection. It works just fine.
AM/PM is a great system but your results with just once a day can be really similar with half the labor.

 

[M-5]

I talked to the abs guy a couple weeks ago at school and he is the all time leading salesman for abs and been ai ing for 50 years. He told me if they are standing in the morning he will breed at night and again next morning. If standing at night breed next morning and again that night.

 

[Katpau]

I had one that was standing at 9 AM. I have someone else do my arm work and I called him to come breed that evening. She was still standing until about 4 PM, so I called him back and had him come out the next morning. What are the odds she settles? Did I make a mistake not breeding her at 6 PM that night? She was with a group that was synchronized for 10 AM the next morning, so I hated making him come for just the one cow. She was the only one standing prior to noon that day. I am now regretting that I did not have her bred twice. (PM & AM)

 

[cow pollinater]

I had one that was standing at 9 AM. I have someone else do my arm work and I called him to come breed that evening. She was still standing until about 4 PM, so I called him back and had him come out the next morning. What are the odds she settles? Did I make a mistake not breeding her at 6 PM that night? She was with a group that was synchronized for 10 AM the next morning, so I hated making him come for just the one cow. She was the only one standing prior to noon that day. I am now regretting that I did not have her bred twice. (PM & AM)

If it were me breeding them you saved money by waiting. She has a really good chance of breeding up and your tech is happy getting the bulk of it done in one trip. FWIW I do breed thousands of TAI cows a year and I've never seen any difference in conception between breeding at the time of ovulation(gnrh shot) to 24 hours later and standing heat is only a guess as to when she ovulates so you're right there in the neighborhood.

 

[Commercialfarmer]

I talked to the abs guy a couple weeks ago at school and he is the all time leading salesman for abs and been ai ing for 50 years. He told me if they are standing in the morning he will breed at night and again next morning. If standing at night breed next morning and again that night.

Maybe that's why he's the leading salesman? ;-)

 

[M-5]

I talked to the abs guy a couple weeks ago at school and he is the all time leading salesman for abs and been ai ing for 50 years. He told me if they are standing in the morning he will breed at night and again next morning. If standing at night breed next morning and again that night.

Maybe that's why he's the leading salesman? ;-)

That's what I thought too. Iirc he's sold over 1.5 million units. He was an interesting fellow. Talked a lot about the early days of ai using ampules and stuff

 

[Chris H]

Thanks. I'm glad some of the highly experienced AI guys commented.

We've always used Kamar's in the past. I see there is a product Bovine Beacon that might work better for me since I'll be checking in some low light conditions. Anyone have experience with them? http://www.pbsanimalhealth.com/details/Bovine-Beacon/320-1.html

 

[branguscowgirl]

Thanks. I'm glad some of the highly experienced AI guys commented.

We've always used Kamar's in the past. I see there is a product Bovine Beacon that might work better for me since I'll be checking in some low light conditions. Anyone have experience with them? http://www.pbsanimalhealth.com/details/Bovine-Beacon/320-1.html

Yep, these beacons are what my Embryologist uses. He said that he is having trouble getting them lately so I will send him this website.

As for your question, I breed on natural heats also. Pretty much the same time frames as everyone else has mentioned. I have noticed that Brangus seem to stand longer. Don't know if that is common, or just mine though. :roll:

 

[Chris H]

Update -- I put the Beacons on 9 heifers on 5/23. I picked the best week to do this because every one cycled this week. They cycled in groups of 2 or 3 every couple days. I'll put fresh Beacons on them next weekend and start watching to see how lucky I was. I'm not surprised they all cycled so close to each other, I'm just surprised I got lucky with the timing of getting the Beacons on them for the first attempt at breeding.

 

[Son of Butch]

Update -- I put the Beacons on 9 heifers on 5/23. I picked the best week to do this because every one cycled this week. They cycled in groups of 2 or 3 every couple days. I'll put fresh Beacons on them next weekend and start watching to see how lucky I was. I'm not surprised they all cycled so close to each other, I'm just surprised I got lucky with the timing of getting the Beacons on them for the first attempt at breeding.

Update question...
You bred all 9 between 5/24-5/31....how were the results?
How many settled to 1st service?
2nd service was A.I. again or by the bull?
ALL 9 natural heats all occurring within the first 7 days of patching seems statistically unlikely.
Cycling in groups of 2 or 3 could be because Beacons/kamars can register false heats...1 in heat and the other 1 or 2 not.
Did all the repeats follow 21 day pattern or were some odd repeats like 12 or 17 days that would indicate 1st heat was false?
Is there anything you'll do differently next year?
Perhaps putting on a fresh Beacon while you have them caught to A.I. just in case it was a false read?