greybeard
Well-known member
pdfangus":tfn7f2tm said:
Same here. Never heard 'heavy bred' meaning length of time they were exposed to a bull--and exposure time is no kind of really accurate indicator of anything anyway.
How often is the VET wrong????
- Thread starter uscott
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Same here. Never heard 'heavy bred' meaning length of time they were exposed to a bull--and exposure time is no kind of really accurate indicator of anything anyway.
uscott
Well-known member
uscott":2k0ox6yr said:
this is one heifer that was called open in May. She came to my place as bred on 2/3/13 she was "exposed" to a herf bull before i bought herand I only own Angus Bulls.
Double R Ranch
Well-known member
Its hard to see color in the photo. Is it a black white face or red hereford marking? Looks like a nice healthy calf anyhow! 
Congrats!
Congrats!Taurus
Well-known member
It's a red calf.Double R Ranch":1elsxnsv said:Its hard to see color in the photo. Is it a black white face or red hereford marking? Looks like a nice healthy calf anyhow!
Double R Ranch
Well-known member
Lol! Pretty good quess it's the Hereford sire! Nice looking calf at least. I've had quite a few preg'd open and calf not long later. Congrats again on the healthy calf.
Nice looking calf at least. I've had quite a few preg'd open and calf not long later. Congrats again on the healthy calf.
pdfangus
Well-known member
pregnancy checking is more a matter of experience than it is one of training....
I have known vets who could call them very close and who were seldom wrong....
I have known vets who were not as good at pregnancy work as I am....I used to do three or four hundred a year quite a while back and I got pretty good at one time....
I have known vets who could call them very close and who were seldom wrong....
I have known vets who were not as good at pregnancy work as I am....I used to do three or four hundred a year quite a while back and I got pretty good at one time....
And then there are the cows that fool them. We had one cow that every year the vet called 30 dasy shorter bred then she was, 8 years in row he did it. Dead nuts on, usually within a day or 2 for every other one.pdfangus":kv1hs57w said:
pdfangus
Well-known member
In my youth when I was a herdsman for someone else....
we had an excellent old vet who did all the vet work and was a great palpation man...
We also had one cow who showed heat every three weeks year round....
We would breed her....then breed her again....and then have the vet check her and she was preg to the first service....so we put her in the bred cow lot....then the boss would see her in heat and have us get her up again and she would be pregnant so we would take her back and then the boss would see her in heat again....vicious cycle.....until I figured out a place to hide her so the boss did not see her as much....Danged old cow was a mean winch too.....knocked 1400 lb horse out from under me one day....darn near ruined him as a cow horse but I got him back over his fear....a few years ago I wrote a story about it on my blog....
we had an excellent old vet who did all the vet work and was a great palpation man...
We also had one cow who showed heat every three weeks year round....
We would breed her....then breed her again....and then have the vet check her and she was preg to the first service....so we put her in the bred cow lot....then the boss would see her in heat and have us get her up again and she would be pregnant so we would take her back and then the boss would see her in heat again....vicious cycle.....until I figured out a place to hide her so the boss did not see her as much....Danged old cow was a mean winch too.....knocked 1400 lb horse out from under me one day....darn near ruined him as a cow horse but I got him back over his fear....a few years ago I wrote a story about it on my blog....
Does no one use an ultrasound machine???
I have my cows checked in early November, I have to start feeding my hay in December in the pen so if they are open I want them gone by then.
The bull goes out July 15th and he stays out. I don't separate him back off from the cows. If a good cow comes through, comes up open, I will have the vet u/s to make sure. If she's a good cow that raises a good calf I may not be too picky about her calving late if maybe she got pregnant more towards October or is real short-bred and hard to palpate. A real short-bred cow is hard to palpate, and they can be a little hard too about the 3-4 month time span in my opinion but there are clues you can look for. So anyway, to me on a few good ones that I'd rather not part with I'll pay $5 to put the ultrasound probe in there. Instant gratification.
The vet is sometimes wrong though. I had 4 heifers one year a guy checked called 3 of them open and 2 of those had calves and were some of the first calvers in the January. Last year the vet called one of my favorite cows open. I kept up her up with the bull until I was going to haul off to the sale and in the interim had another vet out for something else and I had the cow checked and she was sure pretty pregnant.
I know you don't live with these cows so that makes it hard. Sometimes what the vet says (open) and what I see every day (no estrus behavior that I have noticed) don't coincide so never hurts to have a 2nd opinion, rather that be another arm in them or a biopryn test.
I have my cows checked in early November, I have to start feeding my hay in December in the pen so if they are open I want them gone by then.
The bull goes out July 15th and he stays out. I don't separate him back off from the cows. If a good cow comes through, comes up open, I will have the vet u/s to make sure. If she's a good cow that raises a good calf I may not be too picky about her calving late if maybe she got pregnant more towards October or is real short-bred and hard to palpate. A real short-bred cow is hard to palpate, and they can be a little hard too about the 3-4 month time span in my opinion but there are clues you can look for. So anyway, to me on a few good ones that I'd rather not part with I'll pay $5 to put the ultrasound probe in there. Instant gratification.
The vet is sometimes wrong though. I had 4 heifers one year a guy checked called 3 of them open and 2 of those had calves and were some of the first calvers in the January. Last year the vet called one of my favorite cows open. I kept up her up with the bull until I was going to haul off to the sale and in the interim had another vet out for something else and I had the cow checked and she was sure pretty pregnant.
I know you don't live with these cows so that makes it hard. Sometimes what the vet says (open) and what I see every day (no estrus behavior that I have noticed) don't coincide so never hurts to have a 2nd opinion, rather that be another arm in them or a biopryn test.
polledbull
Well-known member
if you have a good cow vet in your area , count your blessings, they are fading away fast , we have a good one , and I tell him he is one of the last of the Mohicons . If it helps the blood preg test is a good tool when you can use it , of course it will not tell you days bred and they must be post calving about 90 days I beleive , so it has its limits , but I do use it alot for certian situations , and it is cheap $2.50 head .
uscott
Well-known member
Rafter S
Well-known member
I agree that "bred" means pregnancy-checked and bred. If they've been with a bull but not pregnancy-checked then they're referred to as "exposed".
And of course vets can be wrong. I've had some miss by several months, but I also know one who's always been within two weeks on the ones he's palpated for me.
And if you have four that you think are bred and the vet called them all open, I would definitely consider having another vet check them.
And of course vets can be wrong. I've had some miss by several months, but I also know one who's always been within two weeks on the ones he's palpated for me.
And if you have four that you think are bred and the vet called them all open, I would definitely consider having another vet check them.
