heat detection?

[milkmaid]

OK folks, this is an area I haven't dealt with much. I have a heifer that I *believe* was in heat on the 20th...puts her back in around the 10th. I'd like to breed her on that cycle, that is, if I can figure out when she's in and don't miss it completely.

She's in a pen with two other heifers so she does have herd mates that would attempt to ride her. I have marking paint I can put on her tailhead. I'm just a little concerned...if I remember right, they're only in standing heat for what, 8 hours max? what's the chance I'm going to completely miss seeing her in? I feed around 6-7am, and then again 5-6pm, which is about 12 hours in between feedings...?

When she comes in, if I can catch her in standing heat or just coming in I can simply halter her and take her for a little walk to go visit the neighbor's bull for the day. :lol: If it wasn't such a drastic feed change I might leave her over there for the whole week and not worry about seeing her in heat or not. I'd recognize standing heat, but I'm not sure about when they're coming in or going out...how do I tell which way she's going? If I miss standing heat, then what? don't you AI 12 hours after a cow is seen in standing heat? I could give my vet a call and ask him to come out and AI her for me, if I know when she was in standing heat.

Anyone able to shed some light on this for me? suggestions?
Thanks-

 

[bigbull338]

if you see her in heat thay morning you can AI her that nite.an if you see her in heat morning or nite you can take her to the bull.she will stay in heat for 12hrs.hence the am/pm rule.in heat in morning breed at nite.in heat at nite breed in the morning.scott

 

[Bobg]

I would just take her over by the bull on the 8th. I don't think it would hurt her to be on different feed for a few days. I assume the bull is not on grain, if you wanted to feed your cow like it is eating now you could always go over and put her in her own pen to feed her.

Bobg

 

[Caustic Burno]

if you see her in heat thay morning you can AI her that nite.an if you see her in heat morning or nite you can take her to the bull.she will stay in heat for 12hrs.hence the am/pm rule.in heat in morning breed at nite.in heat at nite breed in the morning.scott

How much less less than 12 hrs. or more than 12 hrs. will a cow will stay in heat. Can they be bred and be expected to settle, if bred after the 12 hrs standing heat period?

 

[Beefy]

why not start adjusting her feed now so she can go on a vacation for about a week in january? who knows, she might meet the bull of her dreams ...

 

[milkmaid]

Well...let me phrase it this way. This past week when I assumed she was in heat, she had quite a bit of bloody discharge, and the other two heifers were attempting to ride her, but she wasn't standing....was she coming in or going out? If I see the same signs on the 10th, I can either take her over to the bull, or have my vet come out and AI her, but which side of the cycle I catch her on makes all the difference, and that's what I don't know.

I'd rather not change her feed for too long if I don't have to...right now she's on dry hay and a lot of grain; if she were to go to the neighbor's she'd be on silage and no grain. Just a little drastic, I'm thinking...maybe not the transition to their feed, but the transition back to my feed would be drastic.

>>Can they be bred and be expected to settle, if bred after the 12 hrs standing heat period?<<

I'd guess that's kind of along the lines of how-long-after-standing-heat-do-they-ovulate? which is something I don't remember...anyone out there know? dun? how would you know if you're seeing them at the end of standing heat or the beginning, and would it make a difference for AI?

And anyone know what the likelyhood of completely missing this next cycle is, if I'm only checking twice a day? do I need to be watching more than twice?

 

[Orerancher]

IMHO it's pretty easy to miss em if your only checking twice a day, Especially if your heat detecting at feeding time,When the animals attention is on you and "chow"
I am also not a big fan of AIing heifers...I would send her to see the bull.
Just my 2cents worth...Good luck

 

[dun]

The normla cycle for a cow/heifer is 17-21 days, sometimes as short as 15 and as long as 23. Those are the exceptions.
How long do you spend heat detecting?
Hope this will help.

 

[milkmaid]

Yep that sure helps, dun. I guess I must have seen that heifer at the end of her cycle then, based on that graph.

I hadn't/haven't been spending a lot of time watching the heifers as I wasn't really ready to have them bred. Just luck that I saw this one. Like I said, not much experience in this area. Only have had two cows bred in the past; one spent a week at the vet clinic, the other simply took it upon herself to cross the fence and go visit the neighbor's bull. :lol: So I wasn't involved in heat detection for either. Oh well - learn as I go, eh? LOL.

 

[buckaroo_bif]

OK folks, this is an area I haven't dealt with much. I have a heifer that I *believe* was in heat on the 20th...puts her back in around the 10th. I'd like to breed her on that cycle, that is, if I can figure out when she's in and don't miss it completely.

She's in a pen with two other heifers so she does have herd mates that would attempt to ride her. I have marking paint I can put on her tailhead. I'm just a little concerned...if I remember right, they're only in standing heat for what, 8 hours max? what's the chance I'm going to completely miss seeing her in? I feed around 6-7am, and then again 5-6pm, which is about 12 hours in between feedings...?

When she comes in, if I can catch her in standing heat or just coming in I can simply halter her and take her for a little walk to go visit the neighbor's bull for the day. :lol: If it wasn't such a drastic feed change I might leave her over there for the whole week and not worry about seeing her in heat or not. I'd recognize standing heat, but I'm not sure about when they're coming in or going out...how do I tell which way she's going? If I miss standing heat, then what? don't you AI 12 hours after a cow is seen in standing heat? I could give my vet a call and ask him to come out and AI her for me, if I know when she was in standing heat.

Anyone able to shed some light on this for me? suggestions?
Thanks-

Breed within 12 hours of standing heat Milkmaid.
If you use a i a lot in your operation look into the *heatwatch systems* !!! The best thing since patches for heat detection. They use a radio frequency transmitter attached to the tailhead of the cow. When the cow is ridden it sends a signal to your computer as to which cow how often she was ridden and How Long she was ridden. The setup I was interested in would cost about 3,000 dollars.
So, I won't be getting one for a year or two.... :lol:
It would be a very worthy investment and time saver for a lot of operations though!
take a look! > http://www.heatwatch.com/
bif

 

[edb130]

IMHO it's pretty easy to miss em if your only checking twice a day, Especially if your heat detecting at feeding time,When the animals attention is on you and "chow"
I am also not a big fan of AIing heifers...I would send her to see the bull.
Just my 2cents worth...Good

Just curious why you a not a big fan of AIing heifers. Theoretically your heifers express the most genetic potential in your heard. Therefore, you have the best chance for genetic improvement by breeding heifers to your particular breeds best AI bulls. As far as the technique or getting heifers to settle, I can't say that there is any appreciable difference other than the cervix is a little harder to get proper placement in a heifer due to the fact that she has never calved and in my experience it tends to be a little smaller at the opening.

 

[Orerancher]

edb130
I don't care to AI heifers for the reason you stated. I tend to have a hard time getting through the cervix on heifers...
Lot's of folks can do it just fine, But I tend to struggle with em.
Cows I rarely have problems with...Just don't get along with heifers.
So,I let the bull to take care of them.

 

[DavisBeefmasters]

We would taper her diet now and adjust it slowly to what to expect when visiting the "bull of her dreams"... and then leave her with the bull.

Best of luck, we really like having our bulls now - 1 for heifers and 1 for cows... they seem to know exactly when the right time is versus us guessing after only spending a few hours with them a day.

 

[cowpunk'd]

When you saw the bloody discharge she was out of heat. It is a sign she had ovulated and it would be too late to breed. You want active semen waiting inside the cow when she ovulates. Signs she is coming in - rides other cows, will probably not let them ride her yet. A couple hours or so later she will start standing for them, will start blocking other cows with her body to demand a jump, and maybe sniff at other cows udder. I find the best time to catch a cow in standing heat is dusk, but if there are several cows you can see the sexually active ones having their little party while everyone else grazes. My a.i man wants the cow quiet (just out of standing heat) when he breeds.

 

[Scotty]

Yep that sure helps, dun. I guess I must have seen that heifer at the end of her cycle then, based on that graph.

I hadn't/haven't been spending a lot of time watching the heifers as I wasn't really ready to have them bred. Just luck that I saw this one. Like I said, not much experience in this area. Only have had two cows bred in the past; one spent a week at the vet clinic, the other simply took it upon herself to cross the fence and go visit the neighbor's bull. :lol: So I wasn't involved in heat detection for either. Oh well - learn as I go, eh? LOL.

Check out Select Sires web site. They have alot of tips and different ways of detecting heat that will help beginers.

Scotty