How many preg check?

[True Grit Farms]

I'm at a real loss to believe that more folks don't palpate their own cows. It's very easy to tell if a cow is bred. And it's even easier to tell if a cow is open. The tricky part is calling how far along a cow is, or when she is due.
Not being able to keep up with a few hundred cows is a joke. EID ear tags and or Cattle Max is a no brainer for the real cattlemen. It won't be long before we all are required to use EID tags.

I know two guys that can call them bred or open in less than 30 days after being with a bull.

Not if you are looking for early pregnancy. I want to know by the next cycle.

 

[inyati13]

I'm at a real loss to believe that more folks don't palpate their own cows. It's very easy to tell if a cow is bred. And it's even easier to tell if a cow is open. The tricky part is calling how far along a cow is, or when she is due.
Not being able to keep up with a few hundred cows is a joke. EID ear tags and or Cattle Max is a no brainer for the real cattlemen. It won't be long before we all are required to use EID tags.

I know two guys that can call them bred or open in less than 30 days after being with a bull.

Not if you are looking for early pregnancy. I want to know by the next cycle.

I can't so how does that help me. Lol

 

[True Grit Farms]

I bet you could if one of them would tell you what you need to be feeling. Both are or were AI men on dairies.

 

[callmefence]

I have to haul mine to have em checked and I run bulls year round. Once or twice a year I'll load up a trailer load and run em to town just to make sure things are like they should be.
Never done the blood test. Sounds like it might be a good deal.

 

[cowgirl8]

I'm at a real loss to believe that more folks don't palpate their own cows. It's very easy to tell if a cow is bred. And it's even easier to tell if a cow is open. The tricky part is calling how far along a cow is, or when she is due.
Not being able to keep up with a few hundred cows is a joke. EID ear tags and or Cattle Max is a no brainer for the real cattlemen. It won't be long before we all are required to use EID tags.

If i ever feel the need to know if i have a open cow, i will learn how to palpate myself...And i'd love to equip all my cows with EID tags...maybe one day...Right now i have to keep all my cows in my memory because the dalis grass has covered all their numbers. So, the other day i was looking for a cow in belly deep grass in a 100 acre pasture with groves of trees all spread out. 95% of the cows are solid black and there are over 70 in the herd. I was looking at udders to ID the cow..lol...she had one wonky teat, back ones were a tad smaller and a different angle..its all i had to go on...lol

 

[True Grit Farms]

I'm at a real loss to believe that more folks don't palpate their own cows. It's very easy to tell if a cow is bred. And it's even easier to tell if a cow is open. The tricky part is calling how far along a cow is, or when she is due.
Not being able to keep up with a few hundred cows is a joke. EID ear tags and or Cattle Max is a no brainer for the real cattlemen. It won't be long before we all are required to use EID tags.

If i ever feel the need to know if i have a open cow, i will learn how to palpate myself...And i'd love to equip all my cows with EID tags...maybe one day...Right now i have to keep all my cows in my memory because the dalis grass has covered all their numbers. So, the other day i was looking for a cow in belly deep grass in a 100 acre pasture with groves of trees all spread out. 95% of the cows are solid black and there are over 70 in the herd. I was looking at udders to ID the cow..lol...she had one wonky teat, back ones were a tad smaller and a different angle..its all i had to go on...lol

Wouldn't a regular numbered ear tag work better than looking at a cows teats?

 

[cowgirl8]

We've always used the mark on mainly because the first number tells us how old the cow is by the last number of the year she was born. Lose one tag on a 300, cow born 2003 or 2013, i have to buy a whole bag to replace one missing......But not being able to read it has never been a problem, i get what i need done with or without a number at the time. All cows are tattooed so when we get them up, if they've lost a tag i have their number right in their ear. I remark all tags at this time, replace the ones that need it. But, the dalis grass covers even numbered tags out here and numbered tags get pulled off..(commercial show heifers got numbered tags at check in so this is how i know they get covered too and they fall off) I do this with cows who pull their tags out, gotta find something on them to distinguish them from one another...Was much easier when our herds were sims and all colored and spotted up.

 

[Rafter S]

I use ear tags with hand written numbers, and I also have the number branded on them. The ear tags are easier to read, but they won't lose the brand.

 

[gizmom]

We do, keeping open cows cost money.

Gizmom

 

[Kingfisher]

I have to haul mine to have em checked and I run bulls year round. Once or twice a year I'll load up a trailer load and run em to town just to make sure things are like they should be.
Never done the blood test. Sounds like it might be a good deal.

It's pretty easy if you have a catch. There is a big dairy Vet in Dublin that charges @$5 to test the sample. They email the results.

 

[js1234]

We do, keeping open cows cost money.

Gizmom

Too perfectly put to add to.
Ditto.

 

[Dave]

We do, keeping open cows cost money.

Gizmom

Too perfectly put to add to.
Ditto.

+2

 

[TexasBred]

I'm at a real loss to believe that more folks don't palpate their own cows. It's very easy to tell if a cow is bred. And it's even easier to tell if a cow is open. The tricky part is calling how far along a cow is, or when she is due.
Not being able to keep up with a few hundred cows is a joke. EID ear tags and or Cattle Max is a no brainer for the real cattlemen. It won't be long before we all are required to use EID tags.

If i ever feel the need to know if i have a open cow, i will learn how to palpate myself...And i'd love to equip all my cows with EID tags...maybe one day...Right now i have to keep all my cows in my memory because the dalis grass has covered all their numbers. So, the other day i was looking for a cow in belly deep grass in a 100 acre pasture with groves of trees all spread out. 95% of the cows are solid black and there are over 70 in the herd. I was looking at udders to ID the cow..lol...she had one wonky teat, back ones were a tad smaller and a different angle..its all i had to go on...lol

Amazing how you can learn to identify cattle by size and shape of udders and teats and in my case "spots" especially when you see them everyday. When we had the dairy I got to where I could recognize them like that even though they did have ear tags in both ears. Guy told me one time "learn your cow". Cows lose ear tags but the spots don't change. The same applies to all black cattle. I can pick out a cow, pick out here calf and tell her history from a way off.

 

[pdfangus]

WHEN i WAS HERDSmAN FOR ANOTHER MAN....my assistant and I used to challenge each other all the time on who were the cows who had lost their tags....these were angus cows and there were 400 of em....he had been there for several years before I came but within a year I knew the cows better than he did....

 

[TexasBred]

WHEN i WAS HERDSmAN FOR ANOTHER MAN....my assistant and I used to challenge each other all the time on who were the cows who had lost their tags....these were angus cows and there were 400 of em....he had been there for several years before I came but within a year I knew the cows better than he did....

Yessir....just paying attention and making mental notes. No two are identical. ;-)

 

[cowgirl8]

WHEN i WAS HERDSmAN FOR ANOTHER MAN....my assistant and I used to challenge each other all the time on who were the cows who had lost their tags....these were angus cows and there were 400 of em....he had been there for several years before I came but within a year I knew the cows better than he did....

Yessir....just paying attention and making mental notes. No two are identical. ;-)

Since i see my girls every day, i can keep up pretty easily. But, if i go away and miss a few days, i have to almost start all over. My head is so full of numbers, it effects numbers in other areas of my life..If i cant guess the number of a lost tag, i can at least guess the first number, the year they were born...Luckily, only a few lose their number each season...

 

[Randi]

We preg check. Always have. We do it fairly early (end of Sept) and even earlier on the heifers usually. We don't like to feed a cow that isn't pulling her weight any longer than necessary.

 

[regolith]

I'm at a real loss to believe that more folks don't palpate their own cows. It's very easy to tell if a cow is bred. And it's even easier to tell if a cow is open. The tricky part is calling how far along a cow is, or when she is due.
Not being able to keep up with a few hundred cows is a joke. EID ear tags and or Cattle Max is a no brainer for the real cattlemen. It won't be long before we all are required to use EID tags.

I don't pregcheck unless I've got reason to believe the cow might be open. Figured the vet would be telling me what I already know, at a far higher cost and hassle than me maybe grazing 1% open cows into winter that I didn't know about.
I've asked the local vets if they'll train farmers to palpate and they've refused, they say farmers can't do it. I do AI so I figured it out and a more open-minded vet elsewhere showed me how to locate the artery late in pregnancy, so if I have one I'm uncertain of I'll get her in and check her myself as long as it's at least 4 months since her last mating.

 

[cmay]

we don't. we do test the bulls. we cull dry cows at weaning.

 

[cowgirl8]

we don't. we do test the bulls. we cull dry cows at weaning.

Exactly....If a person is losing so much money by keeping a cow a few months that didnt produce a calf, maybe there are other areas on your operation that needs looked into. One cow grazing on pastures is not going to cost me any money and if by weaning she may be bred thus making me more at the sale barn. Where it matters is when you just run a bull year round. I can see some slipping through year after year if you arent careful. Or you'd have those that give you a calf every year and a half...But when you have a breeding season, when you wean you pull dry cows and sell...........pretty easy.