Help With Poor Management

[ClinchValley86]

I am pulling 2020 calves off the large group this coming weekend. We were 80 percent heifers last year.

Most are around 12 months old. Had them separated but they broke the fence down and I haven't had time to get them away from the bull and their intact brothers. Brothers will be banded this coming week.

I am going to assume at least a couple of the heifers have been bred.

I have lutalyse, and I have dex. I've read here that this combo will abort them no matter how far they are. Can someone tell me how they do it?

5 mil LUTE and 10 mil DEX. Will this do the trick? I figure I should wait 3 or 4 weeks after separating them to give the shots. Is this the correct approach?

Trying to prevent a train wreck.

 

[Dsth]

sounds like that should work. i have not had much experience trying to abort calves but I know LUTE by itself does not work that well for aborting calves especially when they are a couple months pregnant. I would shorten your 3 - 4 week time interval though. cows/heifers should have a good CL 10 days after being bred and LUTE should work fine for them.

 

[Rydero]

I am pulling 2020 calves off the large group this coming weekend. We were 80 percent heifers last year.

Most are around 12 months old. Had them separated but they broke the fence down and I haven't had time to get them away from the bull and their intact brothers. Brothers will be banded this coming week.

I am going to assume at least a couple of the heifers have been bred.

I have lutalyse, and I have dex. I've read here that this combo will abort them no matter how far they are. Can someone tell me how they do it?

5 mil LUTE and 10 mil DEX. Will this do the trick? I figure I should wait 3 or 4 weeks after separating them to give the shots. Is this the correct approach?

Trying to prevent a train wreck.

How long were they together when it's all said and done? We've had a couple times where bulls got together with heifers and used only Lute as per the vet's instructions. If I remember correct it had to be less than 30 days bred and the shot was given soon after seperation. Check with a vet....

 

[simme]

5 ml of Lutalyse a couple weeks after the bulls are separated (10 days minimum). Dex as well if they are 3 months or more bred.

 

[SBMF 2015]

Lute is a hormone that causes them to cycle. Dex is a steroid. That causes abortions at any stage.
I would wait and preg check the hfrs then only about the bred ones. Otherwise you will have a mess with everyone coming in heat and riding.

 

[76 Bar]

Otherwise you will have a mess with everyone coming in heat and riding.

That's an understatement!

 

[Buck Randall]

Lute is a hormone that causes them to cycle. Dex is a steroid. That causes abortions at any stage.
I would wait and preg check the hfrs then only about the bred ones. Otherwise you will have a mess with everyone coming in heat and riding.

Lutalyse won't make heifers cycle. It will bring them into heat if they're mid-cycle. So giving all of the heifers a shot of lutalyse isn't really going to create more problems than you'd have normally, other than concentrating the heats into a couple of days instead of spread out over 21.

If they're roughly a year old and they've spent more than a few days with the bull, they're probably mostly pregnant anyway. I'd say bite the bullet and just give them all the shot.

 

[ClinchValley86]

Lute is a hormone that causes them to cycle. Dex is a steroid. That causes abortions at any stage.
I would wait and preg check the hfrs then only about the bred ones. Otherwise you will have a mess with everyone coming in heat and riding.

I have wondered about that.

 

[ClinchValley86]

How long were they together when it's all said and done? We've had a couple times where bulls got together with heifers and used only Lute as per the vet's instructions. If I remember correct it had to be less than 30 days bred and the shot was given soon after seperation. Check with a vet....

They've been together since November ish.

 

[ClinchValley86]

Is 10 mil of DEX the appropriate dose?

 

[SBMF 2015]

I have wondered about that.

my best friend A I 's all his cows on natural heat. He has figured up that four month old fall bull calves make great heat detectors. Last year out of fifty heifers he accidentally knocked up six. They preg checked them all. The vet charged by the hr not by the animal. And they only aborted the bred ones.
Dex is an immune suppressant. So between the stress of every one coming in heat and riding and possible weather changes. You could end up with some sick cattle.
You can also sort off the ones you abort and watch them closer if there is only a few.

 

[ClinchValley86]

I'm only talking about 15 heifer calves here.

Good point on the immune suppressant. Hadnt thought about that.

On the other hand, a 800 lb heifer calving can be an immune suppressant. Haha.

Rock and a hard place maybe?

 

[SBMF 2015]

Are these replacements or just feeder hfrs? I guess I'd just Dex them. It will about them all on its own.

 

[timer]

Both of these drugs are prescription. The use of them should be directed by the DVM who prescribed them. Many of the comments are legitimate but are not all based on science or fact.

 

[Lucky_P]

Dexamethasone is not immunosuppressive for an animal that sizeat the dose you'll be giving.

 

[JKCattle]

Lutalyse should abort a cow dependably up to 70 days bred. After that you would need to add dexamethasone. I always used 5ml Lutalyse on <70 days breds, then 6ml Lutalyse and 12ml dexamethasone on >70 day breds.

 

[Dave]

Or you could do like a lot of people do, just ship them and let the next guy worry about it. For 4 years I bought 750-800 pound heifers to breed and sell. Over that time I worked out that just about 20% would already be bred. One of the reasons heifers sell for less.

 

[Lucky_P]

~25 mg Dex... 6 or 12, depending on whether you have 4mg or 2mg
/ml solution, + appropriate dose of whatever prostaglandin product you've got

 

[farmerjan]

Or you could do like a lot of people do, just ship them and let the next guy worry about it. For 4 years I bought 750-800 pound heifers to breed and sell. Over that time I worked out that just about 20% would already be bred. One of the reasons heifers sell for less.

And we wind up buying some of these and because I calve in a pretty easy to find em place... have done well with calving them out. If they are 800 lbs they ought to be able to calve by the time they are full term if they aren't roly poly fat. Sure, it matters about the bull they were bred to.... but careful watchfulness can get most out without a big problem. Condition of the heifer has alot to do with it.
I shy away from buying "bred heifers" ... like the plague.... just doesn't work well for us. Won't sell bred heifers either... don't want anyone coming back and saying that they had problems..... sell 'em with a calf on the ground... or open..... buy the ones that might be/may be an oops bred, or older cows, or one and dones.
We have lost a few but made more than we ever lost.

 

[Lucky]

It only cost about $1 each to give them Dex. I give all mine a shot at winter worming and then guarantee them open at sale time. Sure helps the selling price.

Please don't let them be someone else's problem if you can help it. I know things happen but we are supposed to do our best to keep the animals healthy.