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Breeding / Calving Issues
How accurate should I expect ultrasound to be?
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<blockquote data-quote="Ozhorse" data-source="post: 1166676" data-attributes="member: 18575"><p><em>As far as aging, if the cows are 120 days or less I would expect the aging to be off by no more than 10-15 days. 30 days is too much. Now if they are over 120, it gets difficult because a lot of the time the head has dropped too far, or grown too large to measure and it's hard to find any other reliable landmarks.</em></p><p></p><p>That is going to have been the problem then. The first bulls were out on the 1st October 2013 and the cattle were ultrasounded on three dates, starting the 6th March 2014. The earliest in calf cows were already 5 to 6 months pregnant, which is 150 to 180 days. </p><p></p><p>Fortunately for me I rotate bulls as a new bull I got last spring has turned not to have sired a single calf for the entire month of November. So I have about 30 cows that got in calf from December on. I will see how accurate the dating of calving is with the later cattle. They would only have been in calf 120 days at most or less. </p><p></p><p>I really appreciate being able to ask these questions here. Rural communities are small and everyone is related or knows each other and whatever one asks gets spread about. I do not want to be heard to criticise someones livelihood and professional practice or put doubts in the minds of this operators other clients. It is easy for people to take things the wrong way. If it was not for this forum I dont think I could question like this, on the other hand I need educating.</p><p></p><p>I really appreciate the level of deep expertise here. </p><p></p><p>If the estimated calving date gets close the later and closer to the ultrasound date then the fault has been mine. Come to think of it I knew that was not the ideal time for preg-testing as I timed it to fit in with my program, not best time for the job.</p><p></p><p>When I am having the sheep done I have always been careful to work in with the operator (different one for sheep) to make sure the date is within a close range so that the twin/single/triplet can be worked out. Also we are often doing 1100-1200 animals so we need conditions to be optimal. </p><p></p><p>With the sheep, ultrasound was a great way to work out fertility issues. After the first round we culled out about 8o dry from 1000, the next year 60 from 1100 and the year after only about 40 so I quit doing them after that as it was obvious that getting in lamb was not the restrainer. All the ones that were not getting in lamb had been removed. I worked out that while separating the twinners from the singles and running them separate sounds like a great idea in principle, in practice it just led to a concentration of problems in one paddock, a lot more work and money spent, and in the end probably no more, and possibly less, sheep at the end of the exercise. If one had a different environment and management options then drafting off the twinners would be good practice.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ozhorse, post: 1166676, member: 18575"] [i]As far as aging, if the cows are 120 days or less I would expect the aging to be off by no more than 10-15 days. 30 days is too much. Now if they are over 120, it gets difficult because a lot of the time the head has dropped too far, or grown too large to measure and it's hard to find any other reliable landmarks.[/i] That is going to have been the problem then. The first bulls were out on the 1st October 2013 and the cattle were ultrasounded on three dates, starting the 6th March 2014. The earliest in calf cows were already 5 to 6 months pregnant, which is 150 to 180 days. Fortunately for me I rotate bulls as a new bull I got last spring has turned not to have sired a single calf for the entire month of November. So I have about 30 cows that got in calf from December on. I will see how accurate the dating of calving is with the later cattle. They would only have been in calf 120 days at most or less. I really appreciate being able to ask these questions here. Rural communities are small and everyone is related or knows each other and whatever one asks gets spread about. I do not want to be heard to criticise someones livelihood and professional practice or put doubts in the minds of this operators other clients. It is easy for people to take things the wrong way. If it was not for this forum I dont think I could question like this, on the other hand I need educating. I really appreciate the level of deep expertise here. If the estimated calving date gets close the later and closer to the ultrasound date then the fault has been mine. Come to think of it I knew that was not the ideal time for preg-testing as I timed it to fit in with my program, not best time for the job. When I am having the sheep done I have always been careful to work in with the operator (different one for sheep) to make sure the date is within a close range so that the twin/single/triplet can be worked out. Also we are often doing 1100-1200 animals so we need conditions to be optimal. With the sheep, ultrasound was a great way to work out fertility issues. After the first round we culled out about 8o dry from 1000, the next year 60 from 1100 and the year after only about 40 so I quit doing them after that as it was obvious that getting in lamb was not the restrainer. All the ones that were not getting in lamb had been removed. I worked out that while separating the twinners from the singles and running them separate sounds like a great idea in principle, in practice it just led to a concentration of problems in one paddock, a lot more work and money spent, and in the end probably no more, and possibly less, sheep at the end of the exercise. If one had a different environment and management options then drafting off the twinners would be good practice. [/QUOTE]
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