Heifer/not bred

[insurman]

I think I know the answer but still had to write this because I really like her/bloodlines. etc..

AI'd her at 14 months. Turned her out to the bull 6 weeks later. Saw her being bred, blood tested 3 months later, not prego.. breeding soundness exam by vet..all appeared good. Gave her a shot of "something", cannot recall the name... turned her back to bull, wife saw her being bred again about a month ago. Was going to blood test next week but yesterday I drive out to check on some new babies and I'll be damn is she is not jumping a bull calve and the bull calve and another cow is jumping her.

The bull is sound.

Is she done?

 

[shortybreeder]

Sooo, by my math she's something like 20 months right now?

 

[insurman]

Yep, right at it

 

[shortybreeder]

When do you prefer to calve? If in the spring, I'd let her have one more season to breed because we are close to the ideal breeding time. I'd give her 2 A.I. attempts during the breeding season. Then send her off in the fall off the grass if she is still open. I have had a lot of my females not catch untill they were closer to 2, and since then haven't been problem breeders. I don't run any bulls however, 100% A.I.

 

[Limomike]

Around my place.. she would be finished.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Around my place.. she would be finished.

Here too. She has had at least two cycles with the bull. If she did not take to him (and he is good), she is not likely to get pregnant. AI is much harder to conceive to...

 

[dun]

Around my place.. she would be finished.

Here too. She has had at least two cycles with the bull. If she did not take to him (and he is good), she is not likely to get pregnant. AI is much harder to conceive to...

Yup!

 

[3LEGGED1]

Can't run a business with employees that will not work, and be profitable.

 

[jerry27150]

why would you want to keep poor breeders in a herd

 

[wbvs58]

If you like her I would give her another go with AI. The main reason that heifers fail to conceive with the bull is that they don't allow the bull to complete the job. Most people will say they saw the bull breed them when they just saw the bull trying not necessarily completing the job like eyes rolling to the back of his head.
If you are full on commercial then I would not give her another chance but if it is a bit of a hobby like with me then there is no harm giving her another go with AI and a good chance of success.
Ken

 

[bigbull338]

if she isnt bred by now i doubt if she will ever breed.ive got an old cow that didnt breed back last year an im going to ship her.the cull prices are to high to keep non breeders or slow breeders around.

 

[aprille218]

Although she's likely open I'd still blood test her first because you say you like her. Sometimes, rarely cows/ heifers that are actually bred may act like they're not and even let others mount them. The test is cheap and then if she's open you'll be able to sell her as documented open.

 

[pdfangus]

I would have had her on feed before now to go into the freezer.

nice conformation or excellent bloodlines that will not breed.....

will not help you or anyone else.....

your heifers should be the most fertile animals on the place....

 

[dun]

your heifers should be the most fertile animals on the place....

I have yet to figure out why that is claimed. The only advantage they would have over an older cow is that they aren;t nursing a calf. With quality forage the cows nursing a calf should still breed back on time everytime.

 

[pdfangus]

your heifers should be the most fertile animals on the place....

I have yet to figure out why that is claimed. The only advantage they would have over an older cow is that they aren;t nursing a calf. With quality forage the cows nursing a calf should still breed back on time everytime.

Well in my opinion it only applies if you are keeping your own best heifers....
these are early born heifers which means that they are out of the most fertile cows....
these would be the growthiest heifers which is partially a result of being early born and partly a result of having good producing and fertile mothers.
in my operation the early born were also the result of AI....
these early born and good growth females are also from stock with the best adaptation to your environment
I will say however when I began to use sons of my best cows to clean up on my other good cows we made a jump in herd productivity....
I was compounding the adaptation to the environment we provided.

When I was AI breeding I always expected higher conceptions out of the heifers than out of the general cow herd....
establishing a breeding season and sticking to it might be painful for a year or two but it pays long term dividends....