Cows will not come in heat

[Cbeck01]

I have 3 simmental cattle that will not come back into heat.
I ai all of my cattle, but these 3 will not come into heat like the rest. 2 of the three delivered in Oct 2015 and the other delivered in Jan 2016. I have given all 3 the 7 day timed ai protocol and it did nothing. Since their deliveries I have had heat detection patches on them and have not seen a single heat. I'm at a total loss right now. They are all very well conditioned and maybe even a little too fat even though I do not give very much grain. I have mineral out all the time and all of the rest are coming into heat. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks for your time

 

[cow pollinater]

You need to do timed insemination with a cidr as part of the protocol. Don't wait for them to show you a heat, just hit them with the gnrh and breed them on schedule and then in about seventeen days start watching for returns.

 

[Cbeck01]

That's what I did last time and it did nothing. I gave them a shot of GnRh and placed a cidr, 5 days later I gave a shot of pg and pulled the cidr and then on day 7 I gave them another gnrh followed by ai them.
I'm so lost as to what's wrong with them. I guess I can try that protocol again and see what happens

 

[wbvs58]

I'd preg test them first.

Ken

 

[M-5]

I'd preg test them first.

Ken

That's what I was thinking

 

[Cbeck01]

I drew blood a couple weeks ago and it came back negative. Is it possible for multiple cattle to just stop having heats after having a calf?or could they just be silent now?

 

[M-5]

How many days post ai

 

[Bigfoot]

It is possible for a cow to quit cycling, or go a long time between cycles. If your not suspicioning nutrition or mineral problems, it could just be the cow. Maybe even cyst.

 

[Ebenezer]

Talk to your Vet about leaving the CIDRs in for 8 days instead of what is in the back of semen catalogs. Some who know more than me say that the extra time works better because it helps cows develop more/better or something. This would roughly stretch your TAI to 10 days.

 

[dun]

It is possible for a cow to quit cycling, or go a long time between cycles. If your not suspicioning nutrition or mineral problems, it could just be the cow. Maybe even cyst.

The GnRH will address the possibility of a cyst. I would run them with a bull for a copule of months and see what happens. That will tell you if they have just quit cycling completely or not.

 

[Supa Dexta]

Perhaps they are telling you something. If you feel like their body (and living conditions) are right - maybe they aren't good breeders. And you shouldn't have to force them to be good cows.

 

[regolith]

I drew blood a couple weeks ago and it came back negative. Is it possible for multiple cattle to just stop having heats after having a calf?or could they just be silent now?

Yeah, it certainly is possible. I blame drought (heat and lack of grass) or early embryo losses when I see it, or maybe individual cows that are hard breeders, or they're just all pregnant at unrealistic rates... but the truth is that I never really find the full answer and I've been tearing hair out over this issue for years.
I've known the occasional cow to calve and go eight months before she has a visible heat - I'm all AI, seasonal calving and don't synchronise, so that one gets culled. Had one do it last year after calving in October, mated to her first cycle in early December, vet palped her open twice (because I didn't believe him first time) but she never cycled again, till June.
My whole herd quit cycling when we hit drought this year, towards the end of mating. So far one cow has cycled, out of about 100 - hopefully that means the rest are in-calf. They've been on good feed for five - six weeks now, since we got enough rain mid-March.
I've used the heat detection patches these last two years as well, and never seen a triggered patch that wasn't accompanied by obvious signs of heat.

 

[Cbeck01]

Thanks for all the replies, I appreciate everyone taking the time.

I don't have a bull to run them with.

All of the others are cycling so I don't think it could be a nutrition or mineral problem.

I bred them approximately 60 days ago so the blood test should have been accurate.

I live in ohio so I don't think it's heat or drought. We've had plenty of rain and the Temps have been 50-70 ish.

I need to figure something out because I feel like I'm wasting alot of time trying to get them bred back. I like ai because I get to choose whatever bull I want and I don't have to house it or feed it, but the headaches and time I've invested have been very abundant to say the least.

 

[dun]

I didn;t figure you had a bull. But it may be time to borrow one, just to try to figure out what is going on.

 

[Air gator]

I would give them either Multimin or MuSe...they could be low on selenium.
It's common in different species...I used to breed Greyhounds and some were low on selenium and they wouldn't come in heat. I also had Simmental cows...if your cows are in good body condition, in my opinion, it has to be a mineral deficiency.
You could pull blood but I would just give multimin. Good Luck.

 

[boondocks]

That's what I did last time and it did nothing. I gave them a shot of GnRh and placed a cidr, 5 days later I gave a shot of pg and pulled the cidr and then on day 7 I gave them another gnrh followed by ai them.
I'm so lost as to what's wrong with them. I guess I can try that protocol again and see what happens

Our protocol is different. We give the GnRH shot and place the CIDR; one week later we remove the CIDR and give pg; then about 55-60 hrs (I think) later, we give another GnRH shot and AI them.

One thing we have learned is that the time period between when you remove the CIDR and when you AI is significant: we count in hours, not days. (As you will see in the link below, some protocols recommend different lapses of time between CIDR removal and AI, depending on whether it's cows or heifers. We just split the difference in the time lapse and do cows and heifers together). When we have deviated several hrs from the recommended number of hours, our conception rates plummeted.

Here's a link to some different protocols: http://www.iowabeefcenter.org/estrussynch/Recsynch.pdf
The ones for fixed-time AI are on the right-hand column of p3. Looking there at the 5-day CIDR TAI protocol (here, called "5-day CO-Synch+CIDR") this sheet recommends 2 shots of pg about 8 hrs apart, with AI & GnRH at about 72 hrs after the first pg shot. In fact, you will see in the text that "A shortened 5-day CO-Synch + CIDR® protocol is another option for cows. Two full doses of PG given 8 hours apart are critical for success in the shortened protocol." (emphasis mine).

I'm faaaaarrr from an expert at this but thought I would share the above info. Good luck and hope you figure it out! (I assume your meds are still good and were kept at proper temps).

 

[Cbeck01]

That's what I did last time and it did nothing. I gave them a shot of GnRh and placed a cidr, 5 days later I gave a shot of pg and pulled the cidr and then on day 7 I gave them another gnrh followed by ai them.
I'm so lost as to what's wrong with them. I guess I can try that protocol again and see what happens

Our protocol is different. We give the GnRH shot and place the CIDR; one week later we remove the CIDR and give pg; then about 55-60 hrs (I think) later, we give another GnRH shot and AI them.

One thing we have learned is that the time period between when you remove the CIDR and when you AI is significant: we count in hours, not days. (As you will see in the link below, some protocols recommend different lapses of time between CIDR removal and AI, depending on whether it's cows or heifers. We just split the difference in the time lapse and do cows and heifers together). When we have deviated several hrs from the recommended number of hours, our conception rates plummeted.

Here's a link to some different protocols: http://www.iowabeefcenter.org/estrussynch/Recsynch.pdf
The ones for fixed-time AI are on the right-hand column of p3. Looking there at the 5-day CIDR TAI protocol (here, called "5-day CO-Synch+CIDR") this sheet recommends 2 shots of pg about 8 hrs apart, with AI & GnRH at about 72 hrs after the first pg shot. In fact, you will see in the text that "A shortened 5-day CO-Synch + CIDR® protocol is another option for cows. Two full doses of PG given 8 hours apart are critical for success in the shortened protocol." (emphasis mine).

I'm faaaaarrr from an expert at this but thought I would share the above info. Good luck and hope you figure it out! (I assume your meds are still good and were kept at proper temps).

I'm going to try the above protocol and see if it's effective at bring them into heat. Thanks for the info.
I'll update everyone if it works


I do have a multi out free choice, it's 4% phosphorus multi mineral. It's something I get at rural king. I don't know if I need a better one or not? I read an article on this site that said to stay with a basic multi that the high dollar ones are not any better?
.

 

[Farmgirl]

Check,

Are these cows heavy milkers? I assume they are nursing calves? Sync them again and pull the calves off of them when you pull the CIDRs and until they come in heat. If that doesn't work the only thing you can do is wait. We have time bred some and never saw any sign of heat but they took.

Good luck,
Farmgirl

 

[Cbeck01]

Check,

Are these cows heavy milkers? I assume they are nursing calves? Sync them again and pull the calves off of them when you pull the CIDRs and until they come in heat. If that doesn't work the only thing you can do is wait. We have time bred some and never saw any sign of heat but they took.

Good luck,
Farmgirl

They are heavy milkers right now, but they are in really good condition still.
I just started the above 7 day protocol today, we'll see if it works this time.

 

[dun]

I realize you don;t have a bull, but maybe you should borrow/rent one. We've had a hard time seeing any of the cows in heat. Turned a yearling bull in with them a couple of days ago and so far 3 of them have been in and are bred.