is this heifer open

[angusdave63]

i have an 20 month old heifer that the bull was following around atout 2 or 3 weeks ago, not today when i am over there checking the cows the bull was laying down chewing his cud and she came over and mounted him, is it a pretty good chance she is open, i am guessing she wont breed since she has been running with him for 5 months. hate to spend the money to have the vet down to check one heifer.

 

[Anonymous]

If the bull doesnt mount her she's not in heat or probably bred. Just because she mounts something doesn't mean much.
You could always pull a blood sample and send it to Biopryn for preg checking. Cost about 10 bucks total.

 

[cow pollinater]

Three weeks would make it the start of her next cycle and one of the first signs that she's coming in is her mounting anything that will hold still. Twenty months old and with a bull (I'm assuming that you're convinced the bull is capable of getting the rest of the herd pregnant?) for five months and still open is a quick trip to town... especially at the prices we have now.

 

[tsmaxx47]

ditto on the blood sample and ditto on the trip to town if sample is negative. i've sent them sooner than that........

 

[angusdave63]

i thought i would watch her this week and if she is coming in she is gone

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

i thought i would watch her this week and if she is coming in she is gone

If she was coming into heat & was at the "mounting anything that stood still" stage, it should only be a few hours before she is actually standing. Will you know if the bull rebred her yesterday?

 

[regolith]

i thought i would watch her this week and if she is coming in she is gone

If she was coming into heat & was at the "mounting anything that stood still" stage, it should only be a few hours before she is actually standing. Will you know if the bull rebred her yesterday?

If she's coming in that's right enough. But heifers being heifers... my bred one will jump anything that will stand still, at any time.
If she was on heat three weeks ago she'd had four or five chances already and failed them - if she was a normal fertile heifer when the bull went in and she was a dairy you'd most likely be able to see by now that she was pregnant - are beef heifers very different?

 

[angusdave63]

i went back over to the pasture where the heifer is last evening, bull was paying about as much attention to her as he was the clouds in the sky,

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Back to your first post - you said 2 or 3 weeks ago?? If you had written the date down some where you would have a better chance at "guessing". Heifers normally cycle every 17-19 days. I find that once a heifer is bred, she rarely "acts" like she is cycling. If nothing else was in heat, I would guess she was coming or going. Some bulls breeds them & leaves them - going back peiodically for another round. No activity in between.
Having used 100% AI for over 40 years, I am totally amazed when I now use a cleanup bull. With AI, when something is in heat - there is lots of activity from all the cattle & calves. With a bull out, very LITTLE activity other than HIM!!! The cow/heifer in heat isn't chasing other cattle, other cattle aren't riding her. Bull gets the job done & she settles right down.