freemartins

[majed]

Hello everyone

I would be thankful if you tell me why some Heifer freemartins will conceive
While most of them will not conceive
The question is : why why some Heifer freemartins will be natural (approximately 1 out of 10 freemartins will conceive)

 

[frenchie]

Hello everyone

I would be thankful if you tell me why some Heifer freemartins will conceive
While most of them will not conceive
The question is : why why some Heifer freemartins will be natural (approximately 1 out of 10 freemartins will conceive)

Don,t know.


Heres my question why would anyone bother to breed them. :roll:

 

[certherfbeef]

Hello everyone

I would be thankful if you tell me why some Heifer freemartins will conceive
While most of them will not conceive

I'm sure I will be corrected here if I am wrong but, technically by defination a freemartian will never concieve. Freemartinism is recognized as one of the most severe forms of sexual abnormality among cattle. This condition causes infertility in the female cattle born twin to a male. When a heifer twin shares the uterus with a bull fetus, they also share the placental membranes connecting the fetuses with the dam.

Nope I didn't come up with all those fancy words all by myself. I had help.

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/exten/cc-corner/freemartin.html

I currently have 2 cows in my field that were twins to a bull. I was there when they were born. Both heifers came first. My Grandpa swears that if the heifer comes first she will breed. If the bull comes first, name the heifer freezer.

 

[dun]

The degree of the proglem can vary from as little as insufficient hormones to sustain a pregnancy to a vestule penis on th heifer. Some of the physical abnormalities are easy to see. Some aren't. UC Davis runs a simple bloodtest that's 100% accurate. No sense in feeding a heifer for a year only to find out she's sterile. Test her as a calf, if she's a freemartin just run her with the steers, if not you can raise her as a replacement.

dun

 

[TheBullLady]

dun.. thanks for the tip on the blood test! I didn't realize it was available. I'll have my heifer tested soon.

Cert.. that's interesting, I'd never heard that before. My heifer was born first, so we'll see how true it is!

 

[dun]

Here's the link for UC Davis

http://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/cattle/cttlfree.htm

dun

 

[HandB]

Gently stick a pen or pencil up the vagina and usually an unbreedable heifer will not allow it to pass, it will be blocked. That's what most of the veal or custom calf ranches do out here when a set of twins is brought in. The cowhand then knows to send it to the bull ranch or the replacement heifer ranch. One rule of thumb is to not borrow the pen and then start nawin on it

 

[dun]

The surest and easiest way is with a DNA bloodtest trhough Uof C at Davis. Takes about 2 weeks to get the results, ours only took 6 days, then you know for absollutely sure.

dun

 

[Linda]

I've found freemartins are very good freezer beef.

I think the rate of infertility in freemartins is greater than just 1 in 10. The pen in the vagina check is a good start, but there can be other internal reproductive abnormalities this quick test can miss. The blood test is a good idea.

 

[jcarkie]

i attended an a.i. school and one of the practice cows was a freemartin aged at 5 years old. you could not insert the a.i. gun in the vagina .

 

[Linda]

It would probably be clearer if I had said I believe fewer than 1 in 10 freemartins are fertile. In my previous post I spoke from the perspective of infertility, while majed's original post was from the perspective of fertility. And, majed did say "approximately." Sorry for any confusion.

Attempting to pass an object, whether it be a pen, finger or ai gun into the vagina of a heifer is a common quick test for reproductive deformatives, but it isn't a definitive test. A freemartin heifer could have an intact vagina but have other internal reproductive abnormalities that would render her infertile. Most commonly a freemartin will have a blind pouch instead of an intact vagina, but not always.

 

[Medic24]

My question is,,,,,,if you painted them a nice violet colour....could you then call them purple martins? ;-) :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Aurous]

Actually I just had freemartins male-female. And from what Ive heard and read, Ive got a better chance of winning the lottery than expecting this female to be a trouble free cow in the future. FYI at 600 pounds, there is a probe test that determines if she will be able to reproduce.

 

[dun]

there is a probe test that determines if she will be able to reproduce.

Partially right. The affects of the freemartinism can range any where from a penis attached to the vulva to insufficient hormones to maintain a pregnancy.
The only two sure fire ways are if she calves or a dna bloodtest. Visual observation of the vulva, and the test tube will catch a good number, but not all.

dun