Cows breeding while with calf
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Nesikep
Well-known member
Denvermartin has a point.. you may want to do a disease test... Lepto and perhaps trich and other STD's at the same time... Your problem seems to be more serious than a lack of mineral of feed (unless your cows are starved and I doubt that). Secondly, I'd pull some blood from the 1 or 2 cows that raise the biggest calves and get a mineral panel done on them.. the two tests (disease done on the bull) will come to under $200, and you'll have a much better starting point. We can hum and haw around here all day, but without some real information, we're all just guessing.
Talltimber: When your grandpa started having problems and had to keep getting the vet in.. perhaps that was something genetic.. It sounded like things were OK at first, and then a host of problems came along.. especially with the breedback, perhaps the sire of those cows was a really high milk EPD, and they milked harder than the feed they were on would support, affecting breedback. I'm just throwing it out there.
Herofan, Even when I did have serious mineral deficiencies here, of the 20 cows I had MOST (lets say 18 of them) would breed within 6 weeks.. I only found the real problem because I had a couple of my best milking cows not breeding back.. The one I did the blood test on raised a 700 lb heifer on her first try, and didn't breed back at all that year.. 2 years later she had a 780 lb steer, and took about 3 tries to breed back.. the year after (exposed to the bull shortly after calving) she bred back right away. the following year, since she was early, she got 'run down' from milking before the bull was out, and once again had trouble. That's when I noticed the pattern, and did the blood tests, and then got the right (the important part is the "right") mineral, after which she bred back fine every time.
The one daughter I have of hers is on her 5th calf, milks very well, and has always been in the 1st cycle EVERY time.
It makes me wonder how many good cows I culled in the previous years and the cow wasn't to blame
Talltimber: When your grandpa started having problems and had to keep getting the vet in.. perhaps that was something genetic.. It sounded like things were OK at first, and then a host of problems came along.. especially with the breedback, perhaps the sire of those cows was a really high milk EPD, and they milked harder than the feed they were on would support, affecting breedback. I'm just throwing it out there.
Herofan, Even when I did have serious mineral deficiencies here, of the 20 cows I had MOST (lets say 18 of them) would breed within 6 weeks.. I only found the real problem because I had a couple of my best milking cows not breeding back.. The one I did the blood test on raised a 700 lb heifer on her first try, and didn't breed back at all that year.. 2 years later she had a 780 lb steer, and took about 3 tries to breed back.. the year after (exposed to the bull shortly after calving) she bred back right away. the following year, since she was early, she got 'run down' from milking before the bull was out, and once again had trouble. That's when I noticed the pattern, and did the blood tests, and then got the right (the important part is the "right") mineral, after which she bred back fine every time.
The one daughter I have of hers is on her 5th calf, milks very well, and has always been in the 1st cycle EVERY time.
It makes me wonder how many good cows I culled in the previous years and the cow wasn't to blame
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herofan
Well-known member
Bigfoot":2csf1n8b said:
I have 5 that if allowed two months to breed back after they calved, they could have calved at the end of October. Two are about a month over, and three aren't even due until March to May.
When they were bred as heifers at around 15 months, they calved from September to March.
The second round, they calved from August to May.
I'm on round three described first.
Dave
Well-known member
To me that is really out of whack. For the last thee years I have bred 60 sale yard heifers each year. I have averaged right about 90% bred in 60 days.
For a lot of years I would turn the bulls in with about 50 cows on April 15. In early October I would preg check the cows. Any open ones went to town. I left the bull with the cows just to make life easier. About a week or two after the first one calved I would pull the bulls. Any cows that calved after April 15 (about a 75 day calving period) I would sell as a pair in early June. I didn't sell very many pairs. Most years none. These were sale yard cows too, as I rarely kept heifers.
For a lot of years I would turn the bulls in with about 50 cows on April 15. In early October I would preg check the cows. Any open ones went to town. I left the bull with the cows just to make life easier. About a week or two after the first one calved I would pull the bulls. Any cows that calved after April 15 (about a 75 day calving period) I would sell as a pair in early June. I didn't sell very many pairs. Most years none. These were sale yard cows too, as I rarely kept heifers.
denvermartinfarms
Well-known member
This may have already been answered and I missed it, but has the bull been tested? And how many Bulls have you had on this set of cows? I've heard of bulls not really being good enough but also not 100% bad.
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herofan
Well-known member
denvermartinfarms":3jyak5ha said:
It's been the same bull. We borrow him from a friend who swears up and down that he services his herd well, although he's not on a tight breeding schedule. The bull is registered and was checked shortly before we got him the first time and was good, but haven't checked lately.
We had a neighbor who asked to turn a Jersey in with our herd over the summer. He waited for signs of heat, and he left her about three weeks. They hung out like they were married, and although i never witnessed anything, the owner says the Jersey is bred.
creekdrive
Well-known member
I'm not an expert by any means, but with that many cows open/late I can't see it being a case of just poor fertility, unless they were in real rough shape which you say isn't the case. With a large group like that I would lean towards the bull or be worried about a disease like a couple others have mentioned. Do you see the bull doing his job? Are the same cows cycling over & over and just not catching? Or are they just not cycling at all?
Does the bull do this with every cow that cycles? Could he always be hanging out with one & missing the other cows that are cycling?
With cows that spread out, it would be worth it to me to bring a vet into it and spend a few $$'s on tests to rule out disease, etc. As someone else said you'd at least have a starting point that way.
herofan":25r3zjrm said:
Does the bull do this with every cow that cycles? Could he always be hanging out with one & missing the other cows that are cycling?
With cows that spread out, it would be worth it to me to bring a vet into it and spend a few $$'s on tests to rule out disease, etc. As someone else said you'd at least have a starting point that way.
We had similar with our bull this year. He caught 11 cows in the first 2 weeks and 3 cows 4 moths later. The ones he missed we synced with GnRH and Lute and bred on observed heats for fall calves. Only one of those 8 missed. I'm kind of glad cause she was the only one left on the short list for culling, this just confirms it.
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herofan
Well-known member
creekdrive":e4rgaaap said:
I have a public job, as does my brother, so to be honest, I don't get to observe a lot of specifics; however, I don't notice the bull hanging with one cow like he did the Jersey. I also see him checking out cows on occasion, but I've never actually observed him in action. Are some bulls just low on vigor?
Supa Dexta
Well-known member
I had a bull that would hardly ever show interest in the day light.. I just assumed he was shy.
