Cow: not sticking

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JJ27

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We have a small herd of beef cows and one of our favorite cows seems to not be getting bred this year. She had her 3rd calf this past March (always calves unassisted and no problems) and has been with our bull since June 1st. From early May to early July she was consistently coming into heat every 3 weeks. Then we didn't see her in heat for 7 weeks so we assumed she got bred back. Again we thought she got bred because she went 6 weeks without showing heat but now she is obviously in heat again.

Our vet preg checks the herd in October but we will probably not check her at that time since she wouldn't be far along. She is in good condition and the herd has free choice mineral. Also don't think the bull is the problem because the rest of the herd hasn't showed heat since July.

We are likely going to sell her because of her not breeding back on schedule but like I said she is a favorite so if there is a chance that we could fix whatever is causing her to not stick then we will consider it.

Thank you.
 
Have her preg checked. You never know. Most likely there is some issue. But I had a heifer last year that was standing throughout her pregnancy.
 
You have a good mineral program? One my my most productive cows wouldn't breed back well, especially if she calved EARLY and it took a few months to be exposed to the bull... mineral deficiency was to blame.. in my case copper, selenium and phosphorus
 
TCRanch said:
Do you know if she cleaned after calving last year? Or could be cystic. Or she may just stand. Every time! There's always one. Ditto on having your vet check her out next month.
I have a cow that always stands.. thought it was pretty weird.. then I noticed her heifer calf did it too!
 
Update: Vet checked her and she is not bred (or too early to tell since her last heat was 12 days before preg check). The vet said everything looks normal with her so unsure why she isn't getting bred. If she doesn't come back in heat we might recheck her. We should sell her and be done but not sure if we will do that l.
 
Bull was checked before we purchased him earlier this year. Out of a herd of 25 cows this cow is the only open one.
 
And we vaccinate every fall. We do what the vet recommends and I believe its all the usual things.
 
Sounds like she aborted her calf and now has rebred. Since she will be out of sequence I would think she is ready to go to town.

If she was mine, I would sell her for slaughter and put the money towards one that is bred to calve with your others. There is to much risk keeping this cow as you don't know what she will do with the current pregnancy. May abort again.
 
Update: Vet checked her and she is not bred (or too early to tell since her last heat was 12 days before preg check). The vet said everything looks normal with her so unsure why she isn't getting bred. If she doesn't come back in heat we might recheck her. We should sell her and be done but not sure if we will do that l.

You need to decide if you have cattle to make money or if they're pets. I won't judge either way, but that's what it boils down to.
 
Cow not getting bred? This raises the question. Do your cows work for you or do you work for the cow? A cows value is the calf she
contributes plus the her salvage value. All livestock is entitled to good treatment and adequate food and shelter when needed.
If her purpose is to bring forth a calf each year and she does not, sell her,save the vet bill and don't look back.
 
I have a couple pet cows. Nothing wrong with that. There is only 1 or 2 that would get to hang around if they for some season came up open.

Yeah, I had one. I decided a year or so ago that the last cow that I inherited from my father was going to die on the place, because I didn't have the heart to send the old girl to the sale barn (she died within a year of me deciding that, but never missed having a calf).
 

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