Mucus always mean heat?

[4luvofcattle]

Bred a group of cows 20-21 days ago. The weather is cool, rainy and cows are corralled in the yard now to see if they cycle again. We only caught one standing heat, but they don't want to jump each other (just lucky to see it) Even with heat patches, standing cow was only jumped a few times and patch never turned pink. I have a couple more cows with mucus smears. Does a small smear of mucus near their cycle always mean they are cycling?? That is my question.

 

[Bright Raven]

Mucus does not always confirm a point near ovulation in the estrus cycle. I went to all fall calving for the exact reasons you outline - Poor heat detection.

I will add: mucus that looks like the white of a raw hen egg, usually is associated with the ovulation part of estrus cycle. But pregnant cows slough off cervical secretions that look like snot for want of a better word.

 

[wbvs58]

I will correct you there Ron, the mucous is usually before ovulation especially when one on heat mounts another, big blobs of your egg white will gravitate out. Ovulation will usually occur after standing heat. A minor technicality Ron but I know how you like things to be right.

Ken

 

[Bright Raven]

I will correct you there Ron, the mucous is usually before ovulation especially when one on heat mounts another, big blobs of your egg white will gravitate out. Ovulation will usually occur after standing heat. A minor technicality Ron but I know how you like things to be right.

Ken

Thanks Ken. Good point. It does appear in advance of the ovulation.

 

[cow pollinater]

You can drive yourself flat nuts watching mucus on cows and not get much done. I don't pay much attention to it anymore.
That being said, since it's twenty one days since they were synced I'd be inclined to pay a little bit of attention.
Why are they penned up? you'll get better action if they can get out and move around. Even if they don't ride you'll be able to tell if you watch close enough but they need space.
What kind of condition are they in? Thin cows at the peak of lactation are not going to show you much. Sometimes all You'll get is pacing and a chin up.
What did you do to sync them?

 

[4luvofcattle]

Thanks for all the info. And to answer COW POLLINATER, we have them synced because my husband and I work full time jobs to support our habit of raising a modest herd of 40 cows. We don't have a large farm with a lot of acres of pasture (only an acreage and we rent the pastures) so we sync a small groups (7 cows) at a time because of time restraints with our jobs. And the pasture we have them in is 1/4 mile down the road that we walk the cows with calves to after we breed them the first time and then bring them up when it is close to their 21 day cycle, in case they come in again. Definitely not ideal, but we make it work because cattle is in our blood and we do the best with what we have. And the cows are in a body condition of about a 6.
I appreciate the mucus clarification and what type to look for. And yes, looking at mucus can drive you nuts

 

[Tomcolvin]

You sound like me. Doing what I like and not minding the hard work and willing to seek advice when we need reassuring. Nothing wrong with that, and I appreciate when people are willing to help. Keep on keeping on, I'm listening and watching. Syncing, now I make need to investigate this my self. Thanks.