How long before a vet ?

[JHH]

How long before a vet can tell me if my heifers are bred? I have two heifers and I want to know if they are bred. If I let them run till the 19th they will have been with the bull for 55 days. My vet says I need to wait another 45 days to bring them back in to ultra sound them. I figured he would be able to do it sooner.

 

[dun]

Our vet likes to ultrasound at aorund 29-33 days and palpate at 45 or more

 

[JHH]

Our vet likes to ultrasound at aorund 29-33 days and palpate at 45 or more

So if I take them back to him at april 2 that will be 70 days and he should be able to tell me if he ultra sounds them? As long as they settled in the first cycle or two?

 

[dun]

I don;t understand the ultrasound stuff very well. I've never been able to see what he's talking about when he was telling me the gender of the calf, for that matter I couldn;t really see much to identify anyway. I think it may be harder to ultrasound further into pregancy but I'm not sure.

 

[CPL]

Jay, have you ever heard of the PSPB analysis that BioTracking does? That test may work out better for you, both in convience and cost.

 

[bigbull338]

wait till they are at 100 days,then have them ultra sounded.your vet dont want to make a misstake that why he says 100 days.

 

[redcowsrule33]

Other than confirming the fetus is alive, what would be the point of ultrasounding over 100 days? Sexing is usually done around 55-60 days. At 100+ days the uterus starts to fall over the pelvic brim making retraction and ultrasound more difficult. Anyone good at ultrasound should be able to give a fairly reliable diagnosis at 28-30 days, although a few calves will still naturally abort past this time due to early embryonic death. I prefer 40 days myself, less fetal loss and you still have a chance to get the heifers bred w/the rest. At 100 days hand palpation should be adequate, use the ultrasound on those that palpate open (if you aren't already culling them).

 

[plumber_greg]

RedCow, I agree with you, you have a sensable plan. I've thought about looking into buying an ultrasound machine. Like most things I do, I don't know much about it. Does anyone know what one costs, and if 3 or 4 people bought one would it be worth it? How hard are they to operate? gs

 

[KNERSIE]

RedCow, I agree with you, you have a sensable plan. I've thought about looking into buying an ultrasound machine. Like most things I do, I don't know much about it. Does anyone know what one costs, and if 3 or 4 people bought one would it be worth it? How hard are they to operate? gs

They got quite a bit cheaper lately so a cooperation agreement with neighbours probably isn't as neccesary now as it was a few years ago. It is quite a skill reading it, but I believe with practice it is a very aquirable skill, but then so is palpation. I am very good at palpation, but simply haven't spent enough time staring at the monitor to be any good as scanning.