Bummer!

[Medic24]

Well, we did it, we worked with our vet to get our open cattle in sync. and in season, so we could AI them with the sperm that our IA tech recommended. That was almost a month ago. Of course we brought our bull back in a week ago, just to take up the one or two that did not take, well, as it turns out........NONE took! And they are all within a day or so of each other of being in season. What a waste.

I can only assume that the tech was selling us bad semen, or maybe wut else could have gone wrong?

 

[dun]

Timed AI or observed heat?

dun

 

[HandB]

yah, the sync program used has to be right on as well as the actuall insemination of the cow. Same thing happened to me a couple years ago. Turned out we missed the 12 hr. window in which the last lutlyse shot was supposed to be given or somethin like that. It is a tedious process.

 

[Jake]

if it was a timed deal such as using CIDRs then it would be fairly easy to miss the window if it's a new tech. could also have been bad semen too...

 

[dun]

You'ld be surprised how often poor conception is blamed on semen. Unless it was mishandled somewhere along the way or not from a major stud that has high stnadards you'll usually find the problem somewhere else. Poor handling technique by the tech., mis-timed insemination, mis-placed semen by the tech, occasioanlly a nervous cow won't settle, but you will still get a few pregnancys.

dun

 

[Beefy]

sounds like that bulls got a busy weekend in store for him. get rich quick idea :idea: Viagra for bulls...patent pending.

 

[Tod Dague]

We use ciders but don't use the timed method. We watch for standing heats. A friend of mine tried the timed insemination and managed to get one cow to take.

 

[dun]

Most of the breeding AI synch programs tout anyting around 65% or higher as being sucessfull. In my minds eye, those percentages suck! One of the dairys synched a bunch of cows, 72 if memory serves, I bred 37 of them and he did the other 35. I was able to tell from the feel if the cow was right for breeding. One that didn;t feel right did settle, but Inoticed the following day, a number of cows that I had flet weren't ready came into standing heat. SUrprise, surprise, those ones didn't settle. I've seen cows that were synched come in anywhere from 4 hours before to 48 hours after they should have come in based on timed insemination. Plus it's commonly accepted fact that induced heats are frequently sub-fertile. So what's the point?

dun

 

[MR3]

Dun, you got my curiosity up. Seems to me sometimes the cervix is real nice and firm and other times it is softer and wants to melt away the more you manipulate it. Would this have anything to do with what you are referring to?( being able to feel if the cow is ready ) :shock:

 

[dun]

Dun, you got my curiosity up. Seems to me sometimes the cervix is real nice and firm and other times it is softer and wants to melt away the more you manipulate it. Would this have anything to do with what you are referring to?( being able to feel if the cow is ready ) :shock:

No. It has to do more with the dryness and the openness of the cervix. It's as much a feel thing as anything else. I'vebred cows that had cervix as rigid as a tick and some that they feel like a smasshed banana, but you still can feel the rings. Although I had one cow that I had a hard time breeding because she was so open that the pipette shot through the cervix and into a horn. Had to stand there and kind of scratch my head and second guess as to if I had the cervix in my hand or not. Once I figured out what was going on it wasn't a problem in the following years.
That's an eadvantage to breeding the same cows year after year. Not that they'll be necesaarily the same year to year, but it gives you thoughts of oddities when you breed her.

dun

 

[MR3]

Dun, you got my curiosity up. Seems to me sometimes the cervix is real nice and firm and other times it is softer and wants to melt away the more you manipulate it. Would this have anything to do with what you are referring to?( being able to feel if the cow is ready ) :shock:

No. It has to do more with the dryness and the openness of the cervix. It's as much a feel thing as anything else. I'vebred cows that had cervix as rigid as a tick and some that they feel like a smasshed banana, but you still can feel the rings. Although I had one cow that I had a hard time breeding because she was so open that the pipette shot through the cervix and into a horn. Had to stand there and kind of scratch my head and second guess as to if I had the cervix in my hand or not. Once I figured out what was going on it wasn't a problem in the following years.
That's an eadvantage to breeding the same cows year after year. Not that they'll be necesaarily the same year to year, but it gives you thoughts of oddities when you breed her.

dun

That's interesting I will make a metal note and see if I can't pick up on that. I am on my fourth year and just recently seemed to make a giant leap in my efficiency. One thing I did last fall was to keep the productive track out of a cow I had to put down. I laid this out on the counter and practiced. Then I dissected the cervix and uterus. From doing this I cleared up a couple misconceptions in my mind. Thanks for the comeback.

Rod