I Think i need a new vet

[HerefordSire]

Jeanne, You ought to agree with me more often :nod:

Even though I could be wrong sometimes.

But! I don't think so. :cowboy:

I am sure glad you two made up.

 

[Brandonm22]

I am with Jeanne if you are out there with the cows most every day it is not too hard to figure out which ones are not bred. Cows will ride cows and if you have intact bull calves still nursing at 5-8 months of age they WILL spot them for you. You might not see them ride but if 6 or 7 are following the same cow awfully close and banging heads with each other that's a cow too take note of. We would just turn her and her calf loose with the bull. Whether you keep or cull they are usually worth more bred. Preg check them yourself before you cull them though.

 

[Brandonm22]

If you want to start preg checking yourself start by doing open cows first.

:shock: :shock: :shock:

She is right though. It will give you the feel for open cows and you can't lose a pregnancy by being too rough fiddling around with a cow that has nothing too lose.

 

[dun]

I think the best way to detect open cows is observation. No vet bills and it's easy. After the breeding season observe your herd. It's easy to tell when a cow comes around. She will gather tons of attention from her herd mates. Often hair will be rubbed off from all the riding. Shes OPEN! sell her or breed, hamburger whatever. You don't need a Vet to give you an opinion. :roll:

Only problem with that is the cow that is cystic or whatever and never cycles. Feeding one open cow waiting for a calf that never comes would cover the cost fora bunch of preg checking.

 

[HerefordSire]

If you want to start preg checking yourself start by doing open cows first.

:shock: :shock: :shock:

She is right though. It will give you the feel for open cows and you can't lose a pregnancy by being too rough fiddling around with a cow that has nothing too lose.

If you knew which ones were open, there wouldn't be a need to preg check. Grab some coffee and come back. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Someone else might know this, I really don't - if a cow is cystic, do they STAY cystic all year??
And some cows that are cystic keep coming into heat like every 10-15 days.
Like I said, it's not for everyone.

 

[dun]

Someone else might know this, I really don't - if a cow is cystic, do they STAY cystic all year??
And some cows that are cystic keep coming into heat like every 10-15 days.
Like I said, it's not for everyone.

It's the typical deal, some do some don;t. I think that the cystic p[roblem with some cycling every 2 weeks and others never cycling may have to do with at what point they become cystic. I've seen a few cows that never cycled after calfing and stayed systic others that had started cycling then went cystic. The latter ones are the ones that keep coming in. GNRh usually will solve either problem. But with the non-cyclers you have to KNOW they haven;t cycled to know to give the shot.

 

[hillsdown]

Someone else might know this, I really don't - if a cow is cystic, do they STAY cystic all year??
And some cows that are cystic keep coming into heat like every 10-15 days.
Like I said, it's not for everyone.

It's the typical deal, some do some don;t. I think that the cystic p[roblem with some cycling every 2 weeks and others never cycling may have to do with at what point they become cystic. I've seen a few cows that never cycled after calfing and stayed systic others that had started cycling then went cystic. The latter ones are the ones that keep coming in. GNRh usually will solve either problem. But with the non-cyclers you have to KNOW they haven;t cycled to know to give the shot.

With the non cyclers you usually have to use prostaglandin as well as gnrh to get them cycling again for some reason gnrh usually does not do the trick alone.. :? ..


Thank you Dun... :clap: Yet again you beat me too it and I am very glad. All you people that manage your herd without preg checking are feeding or at some point will be feeding open cows without you knowing.. It is just a matter of time..

Missy you definitely need a new vet if they say they have preg checked thousands of times and got all of yours wrong they are crazy for cocoa puffs..I personally would be extremely p@ssed off..

My vet is 99.99 % accurate ( and the one time he called one open when she was bred is because she must have been only a couple of days bred (bull was where he shouldn't have been),,the only thing I wish he would have noticed this year of all the preg cows was that 4 of my cows were carrying twins.. :lol2:

 

[hillsdown]

She is right though. It will give you the feel for open cows and you can't lose a pregnancy by being too rough fiddling around with a cow that has nothing too lose.

If you knew which ones were open, there wouldn't be a need to preg check. Grab some coffee and come back. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

The logic is very straight forward.......Same reason as why you learn to AI on cull cows...

 

[HerefordSire]

She is right though. It will give you the feel for open cows and you can't lose a pregnancy by being too rough fiddling around with a cow that has nothing too lose.

If you knew which ones were open, there wouldn't be a need to preg check. Grab some coffee and come back. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

The logic is very straight forward.......Same reason as why you learn to AI on cull cows...

"learn" :?: :?: :?:

I didn't see that word or one similar.

If you want to start preg checking yourself start by doing open cows first.

:shock: :shock: :shock:

 

[Brandonm22]

Unless you run the bull with the cows 12 months a year you know none of the cows are bred before you turn loose the bulls or breed AI.

 

[HerefordSire]

Unless you run the bull with the cows 12 months a year you know none of the cows are bred before you turn loose the bulls or breed AI.

Unless a neighbor's bull hops a fence while you are working. Happened to me. The bull disappeared and noone ever saw him again.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

On those occasions when I have had my vet out and he has preg-checked, he's been right on the mark.

Where I work,the vet does checks via ultrasound.

Katherine

 

[regolith]

In my experience preg-checking the whole herd in a normal year results in 1 - 2% 'surprises'.
For most dairy farmers out here, the combination of finding those in-calf but cycling/open but not cycling cows and getting reasonably accurate dating makes the preg-check worthwhile.
I don't have the vet do my whole herd, because I don't think it does (and I have a short breeding season and dry the cows off well ahead of the first one calving). I do preg-check every cow that *ever* gives the slightest indication she might not be in-calf. Which includes lifting her head from grazing and looking at another cow who happens to be on-heat.

This year the dry spell that lasted right through mating broke four weeks before I had the vet booked in for PDs. By close observation, I thought I had about 6 cows open. Once the rain came 'non-cycling' cows started showing heat at the rate of about two a week :cry2:

The bull disappeared and noone ever saw him again.

Are you sure there was such a bull, HS? A farmer I worked for would have called that an immaculate conception.
Several of his cows had 'em. It was a very blessed herd.

 

[HerefordSire]

In my experience preg-checking the whole herd in a normal year results in 1 - 2% 'surprises'.
For most dairy farmers out here, the combination of finding those in-calf but cycling/open but not cycling cows and getting reasonably accurate dating makes the preg-check worthwhile.
I don't have the vet do my whole herd, because I don't think it does (and I have a short breeding season and dry the cows off well ahead of the first one calving). I do preg-check every cow that *ever* gives the slightest indication she might not be in-calf. Which includes lifting her head from grazing and looking at another cow who happens to be on-heat.

This year the dry spell that lasted right through mating broke four weeks before I had the vet booked in for PDs. By close observation, I thought I had about 6 cows open. Once the rain came 'non-cycling' cows started showing heat at the rate of about two a week :cry2:

The bull disappeared and noone ever saw him again.

Are you sure there was such a bull, HS? A farmer I worked for would have called that an immaculate conception.
Several of his cows had 'em. It was a very blessed herd.

I had a young man working for me that told me the story. So to answer your question, I do not know for sure.

 

[Missy]

""by HerefordSire on Wed Apr 15, 2009 8:38 am

mnmtranching wrote:
I think the best way to detect open cows is observation. No vet bills and it's easy. After the breeding season observe your herd. It's easy to tell when a cow comes around. She will gather tons of attention from her herd mates. Often hair will be rubbed off from all the riding. Shes OPEN! sell her or breed, hamburger whatever. You don't need a Vet to give you an opinion.

That is one great post. I have been looking and looking for posts like this one and they are very rare. You are the type of person I would want running my operation. The cost of vet house calls are a luxury for people with nice profit pads or those with allot of cash.""

Ok so because i have a vet test my cows,i have a nice profit pad or allot of cash??? Oh please :roll:

The cow who calved yesterday was checked because she was bought in september and it was unknown as to whether she was bred or not,the brown swiss x cow was checked, we thought she was open,and if she was she was off to the sales ,luckliy for her she was bred!

Unfortunately i do not spend all day out with the cattle,i do have other things to do in life so yes it is normal that i may not see certain cows riding other cows.Our biggest farm is situated 45 minutes away from our home property so we can not observe the cows up there are closely as we would like. So with my cows i record when they were put with the bull,when i observed them in heat etc etc but YES i am going to have them preg tested because there are many contributing factors as to why a cow might not hold her pregnancy,why she might not even fall pregnant to start with and i am not going to waste my time and money on a cow only to find that 12 months down the track she is no good

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

As I said, the way I do it does not make it right for everyone. I see my cows daily (generally lots more than once). In the cattle business - what's good for me and you, may be totally wrong for someone else.

 

[HerefordSire]

Ok so because i have a vet test my cows,i have a nice profit pad or allot of cash??? Oh please :roll:

The title to your post is labeled "I Think I need a new vet". You capitalize the "T" in "Think" but make the following word "i" lower case. This makes me think you should keep the same vet you have since not all ranchers are after profit.

 

[angie1]

not all ranchers are after profit.[/i]

Profit:
prof·it
n. 1. An advantageous gain or return; benefit.
All ranchers, all people mentally healthy are after profit.
Profit is not always defined in terms of money.

 

[HerefordSire]

not all ranchers are after profit.[/i]

Profit:
prof·it
n. 1. An advantageous gain or return; benefit.
All ranchers, all people mentally healthy are after profit.
Profit is not always defined in terms of money.

Very good point.