Low Conception Rates

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Trixie Club Calves

Trixie Club Calves

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 19, 2024
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239
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Colorado
Hey everyone!
Only 1 out of our 5 cows took from AI, all the other 4 cows are open. The vet was out today to Preg check with an ultrasound.

Would it be worth getting blood tests for the to make sure their open?
Also is AI ussaly this low on conception rates?

Any help/Advice is appreciated! Videos below are of cows that are said to be open. They are 3 years old, and the second red cow is a heifer. These videos were taken July 30th. Heifer was AI’d on May 30th. And cows were July 17th.

The picture of one of the cows was taken August 10th
img_1448-jpeg.48323
 

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Lots of questions...FIRST.....Where are you ?????... please go to your name top right, click down to account details and put in a general location... see most of the different locations under the avatar pictures, state/area of state/ etc. Answers can be very dependent on where you are... tells us the possible weather /temps/ things like that...
Second.... did you use a protocol to synchronize these animals?
Third.... what has your weather... MOSTLY temps been like???? Here it has been way hotter than normal in June and much much drier... temps can affect it greatly.

Now, 1 out of 5 is not good.... 50% would be okay, not great, but acceptable... I would have liked to see 3 out of the 5 pregnant... BUT if you used some sort of protocol to synch them, sometimes it doesn't work as good.
Who was pregnant? The heifer? You are looking at barely 30 days... is the vet "good" with the ultrasound? Some are better at it than others... and 30 days is supposed to be good to check but we never do before 45 days... you can disrupt a 30 day embryo more easily than a 45 day one... but should have shown up preg, then they can slip them. Our vet is pretty good with it and he does not like to say a definite preg at 30... we have had some places where the bull has not been taken out, so sometimes he will say she is short bred, 30-32 days, but should be rechecked.
By the time you get the blood test back, you can just as easily put heat patches on them and watch for any riding... and breed on the natural heat....

Who did the AI and are they very experienced???? Some breeders are better than others. I used to do it as a relief tech and averaged 50%... our full time tech was right at the 75-80%, so much better than me... BUT.... the timing of the heat is even more important than anything.

What were your temps like when you bred??? Hotter than the hinges of he//???? Bred in the late morning/day or in the late evening? Early morning before it got too hot??? Body heat on the cow can "cook" the semen too.... even if the handling procedures were perfect....

Cows look to be in "very good condition"... maybe too good???? Sometimes too much weight on a cow will suppress cycling and such....

Not being critical... trying to get more info so as to make a suggestion.....

By the way, Welcome to Cattle Today !!!!!
 
farmerjan said:
Lots of questions...FIRST.....Where are you ?????... please go to your name top right, click down to account details and put in a general location... see most of the different locations under the avatar pictures, state/area of state/ etc. Answers can be very dependent on where you are... tells us the possible weather /temps/ things like that...
Second.... did you use a protocol to synchronize these animals?
Third.... what has your weather... MOSTLY temps been like???? Here it has been way hotter than normal in June and much much drier... temps can affect it greatly.

Now, 1 out of 5 is not good.... 50% would be okay, not great, but acceptable... I would have liked to see 3 out of the 5 pregnant... BUT if you used some sort of protocol to synch them, sometimes it doesn't work as good.
Who was pregnant? The heifer? You are looking at barely 30 days... is the vet "good" with the ultrasound? Some are better at it than others... and 30 days is supposed to be good to check but we never do before 45 days... you can disrupt a 30 day embryo more easily than a 45 day one... but should have shown up preg, then they can slip them. Our vet is pretty good with it and he does not like to say a definite preg at 30... we have had some places where the bull has not been taken out, so sometimes he will say she is short bred, 30-32 days, but should be rechecked.
By the time you get the blood test back, you can just as easily put heat patches on them and watch for any riding... and breed on the natural heat....

Who did the AI and are they very experienced???? Some breeders are better than others. I used to do it as a relief tech and averaged 50%... our full time tech was right at the 75-80%, so much better than me... BUT.... the timing of the heat is even more important than anything.

What were your temps like when you bred??? Hotter than the hinges of he//???? Bred in the late morning/day or in the late evening? Early morning before it got too hot??? Body heat on the cow can "cook" the semen too.... even if the handling procedures were perfect....

Cows look to be in "very good condition"... maybe too good???? Sometimes too much weight on a cow will suppress cycling and such....

Not being critical... trying to get more info so as to make a suggestion.....

By the way, Welcome to Cattle Today !!!!!
Click to expand...
I’m in Colorado, on the western slope. It was same temperatures as we have every May/June. 70-85 degrees. It was sunny and nice out during breeding them.

We used the 7 day Co synch + Cidr protocol.

The 4 I posted are the ones open, then we had 1 heifer take. (She was not in pictures or videos)

We Preg checked them today, the cows were supposed to be 62 days, and heifers were 82 days.

Our vet is who AI’d them, he was who lined us out with shots and times. We were breeding them late in the afternoon.

The 3 cows each got 2 straws of semen when we ai’d them and when we started the protocol we gave them each a dose of Multi-Min.

Did I get all your questions answered??
 
Trixie Club Calves said:
I'm in Colorado, on the western slope. It was same temperatures as we have every May/June. 70-85 degrees. It was sunny and nice out during breeding them.

We used the 7 day Co synch + Cidr protocol.

The 4 I posted are the ones open, then we had 1 heifer take. (She was not in pictures or videos)

We Preg checked them today, the cows were supposed to be 62 days, and heifers were 82 days.

Our vet is who AI'd them, he was who lined us out with shots and times. We were breeding them late in the afternoon.

The 3 cows each got 2 straws of semen when we ai'd them and when we started the protocol we gave them each a dose of Multi-Min.

Did I get all your questions answered??
Click to expand...
Jan covered it very well. For my money I would have been watching them like a hawk around the 21 day mark, patches are very usefull. That way you can get a 2nd AI on the natural heat without losing too much time.

Ken
 
Trixie Club Calves said:
I'm in Colorado, on the western slope. It was same temperatures as we have every May/June. 70-85 degrees. It was sunny and nice out during breeding them.

We used the 7 day Co synch + Cidr protocol.

The 4 I posted are the ones open, then we had 1 heifer take. (She was not in pictures or videos)

We Preg checked them today, the cows were supposed to be 62 days, and heifers were 82 days.

Our vet is who AI'd them, he was who lined us out with shots and times. We were breeding them late in the afternoon.

The 3 cows each got 2 straws of semen when we ai'd them and when we started the protocol we gave them each a dose of Multi-Min.

Did I get all your questions answered??
Click to expand...
Oh and they look way more chunky in pictures than in person. We’re very care about keeping them the right weight.
 
wbvs58 said:
Jan covered it very well. For my money I would have been watching them like a hawk around the 21 day mark, patches are very usefull. That way you can get a 2nd AI on the natural heat without losing too much time.

Ken
Click to expand...
For two of the cows that was already the 2nd AI round. We tried breeding them at the end of April but they both were open then to.

We keep a super close eye on them but never noticed anyone coming into heat which we usually do.
 
Yes, you did answer them.... BUT... you said they were bred July 17th, I think you meant June 17th??? That is why I said barely 30 days......
Temps work, time of breeding should have been good unless they were standing in the hot sun all day....
Many of the dairy farmers I milk test for, will do some sort of synch system... results run in the 30-40% range and they call it good....not my idea of good for the manipulation, or for the cost... but then I have usually bred any of our own cows on observed heats. I will breed twice, if at all questionable on the timing... 12 hours apart. Many dairies have an electronic device on their animals now that records all sorts of stuff to give them a better idea of how active the animal is and all that and it helps them to be more sure of the timing of the breeding... I am old school... see them in the morning, breed in aft... see them in aft, breed next morning... I have had about 60% success on our own cows with that sort of protocol....

At 60 days, they should have been readily identified as bred or not...

Not sure what else to suggest... There are a couple of vets, couple retired, on this forum... You guys(gals) need to add in to this....
 
Trixie Club Calves said:
Oh and they look way more chunky in pictures than in person. We're very care about keeping them the right weight.
Click to expand...
Maybe too fat.... extra body weight suppresses the ovulation many times... sometimes that is why dairy cows will look thin and breed back... they are eating to "gain" and it means they are going into a positive energy balance... for the first 60 days or so they are in a negative energy balance, "milking the fat off their back", but in today's day and time, they are fed and eat like "pigs" and so most will start cycling 30-45 days after calving.

If the cows were synched, then the vet must have palpated so make sure they were cycling to start with... so no ideas there.... Didn't mean your cows were fat... just looked very well fed.... and there's no shame in that... better than a skinny beef cow trying to get bred.

You said 3 yr olds... have they had 1 calf already? Calf still on them? Surprisingly, we find the cows tend to cycle better if they are feeding a calf, and then go out on green pasture... than a cow that is dry and we held her over for some reason.

I have no other suggestions...
 
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farmerjan said:
Yes, you did answer them.... BUT... you said they were bred July 17th, I think you meant June 17th??? That is why I said barely 30 days......
Temps work, time of breeding should have been good unless they were standing in the hot sun all day....
Many of the dairy farmers I milk test for, will do some sort of synch system... results run in the 30-40% range and they call it good....not my idea of good for the manipulation, or for the cost... but then I have usually bred any of our own cows on observed heats. I will breed twice, if at all questionable on the timing... 12 hours apart. Many dairies have an electronic device on their animals now that records all sorts of stuff to give them a better idea of how active the animal is and all that and it helps them to be more sure of the timing of the breeding... I am old school... see them in the morning, breed in aft... see them in aft, breed next morning... I have had about 60% success on our own cows with that sort of protocol....

At 60 days, they should have been readily identified as bred or not...

Not sure what else to suggest... There are a couple of vets, couple retired, on this forum... You guys(gals) need to add in to this....
Click to expand...
Yes typo sorry!! June 17th is when they’re bred! They always were in the shade all day up until the vet got there to AI. Pretty disappointing that only 1 got bred.

I can’t find a picture of when we bred them, but there body condition was really good
 
GoWyo said:
There are so many things that can go wrong with A.I. Having a cleanup bull is the best defense to disappointment.
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We’re definitely gonna have a bull for next year. But due to where we live is in super high elevation we have to be careful about where we get cows. So weren’t able to get on in time this year unfortunately
 
We also currently have someone running cows on the other side of our fence and theirs a few bulls out with their cows. Should we be worried about on of those bulls getting in with our cows?
 
Trixie Club Calves said:
4 strand barb wire fence. We just went through and fixed it up good but bulls are still bulls…
Click to expand...
If your cows have been in heat after A.I., I'm surprised they haven't paid a visit and done the cleanup work. Might still catch up getting them bred. Be late calves though and timing will be off to timely breed next year. Good luck whichever way it works out.
 
Trixie Club Calves said:
4 strand barb wire fence. We just went through and fixed it up good but bulls are still bulls…
Click to expand...
Done well, Artificial Insemination results in close to 100% conception rates. Close, but not actual because there are variables. Good techs know the variables and adjust.

And just like anything else, experience and a real desire to produce good results makes the best outcomes.

I've had cows that conceived first time, every time, for years, and groups of twenty heifers that all took the first time.

Something you said earlier makes me wonder about the guy that is inseminating. You said you used two straws for each cow. That is just flushing your money down the drain. A single straw will settle a cow that is ready and capable of being bred and the second straw is wasted. If the cow isn't going to breed, then a second straw won't do the job... and your tech should know that if they have any experience worth employing to do the job.
 
@Trixie Club Calves -
What AI sires were used? AI sire may have a low conception rate.
Whose semen tank? ...your tank, AI tech's tank
Do you know the thaw method used? ...water bath, pocket thaw
On breeding day, were cattle showing signs of estrus? ...mounting, mucus, bellowing

Cows were vet checked, no need to blood test.
 

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