Not-so-Preg check

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farmwriter

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Thank God for the Vet coming out to preg check today. 16 (yep S-I-X-T-E-E-N) open cows out of the 61 he palpated. That was a shocker. 13 were out of a group we bought w/calves on them, but they were in pretty poor condition. Looks like they took longer to recover than we realized. I see a loaded trailer in my future. :frowns:
 
I've seen several cows have a calf after being checked open. I would do a follow up just to be sure they are in fact open before you move them.
 
novaman":6fj4gjmu said:
I've seen several cows have a calf after being checked open. I would do a follow up just to be sure they are in fact open before you move them.
These should all have been @ least 4 mos bred, and our vet's been @ this longer than I've been alive, so I feel pretty confident in him. Only one I'll really miss is a fat as a tick tigerstripe that's really gentle; the others will be forgotten as soon as their check clears. Thank you for the suggestion, though.
It did make me feel good too that every cow that was born on our place and kept as a replacement is bred. Makes me feel like we are getting some things right.
 
Well that is just shytty FW, Sorry. Man that is alot of open cows, one more reason to preg check. Can you imagine feeding those open ones through the winter. :???:

I wonder if the cow/calve pairs that you bought had been exposed to trich at one time . Especially since your home raised gals all are bred .
 
hillsdown":2lj3fubm said:
Well that is just shytty FW, Sorry. Man that is alot of open cows, one more reason to preg check. Can you imagine feeding those open ones through the winter. :???:

I wonder if the cow/calve pairs that you bought had been exposed to trich at one time . Especially since your home raised gals all are bred .

And feeding them like they're bred @ that! Could be something they were exposed to I guess, but I really think we just were too optimistic about them picking up their condition in time to fit our breeding season. Just glad we know now and not in January.
 
farmwriter":2bl9o0vo said:
Thank God for the Vet coming out to preg check today. 16 (yep S-I-X-T-E-E-N) open cows out of the 61 he palpated. That was a shocker. 13 were out of a group we bought w/calves on them, but they were in pretty poor condition. Looks like they took longer to recover than we realized. I see a loaded trailer in my future. :frowns:
How many bulls did you have running with these cattle?
 
I would pull a couple for some lab work.16 is to many opens with 3 bulls It is no telling what the rest of your cows have been exposed to. Man that is some bad luck
Bluegoose 1
 
On the bright side the cull market is holding up last time I checked. You may be able to sell the opens, save some hay and buy some cows back in December/January and you may only be a couple cows under what you are now.

I had a simlar think happen a few years ago. I never did find the source of the problem but I think it was with 1 of the 2 bulls. Both bulls passed a BSE prior to going out. 1 bull was with the heifers for 2 months prior to going in with the cows. All the heifers were open and a lot of cows. I had seen a couple of the heifers in heat so I new they were open but I didn't suspect all of them. It was a bit depressing but I learned to watch things a little more close and I was able to buy bred cows back for the same price as I got for the culls so it wasn't the end of the world.
 
as good a case I I can think of as a reason to raise your own
heifers as replacements.

They have already got your bugs.

they are out of cows that are already adapted to the managment you provide. so in theory they will be too. they are influenced by the sire side somewhat.

maybe not as fast as adding a bunch of cows with calves but surer results.
 
farmwriter":2m617ne6 said:
novaman":2m617ne6 said:
I've seen several cows have a calf after being checked open. I would do a follow up just to be sure they are in fact open before you move them.
These should all have been @ least 4 mos bred, and our vet's been @ this longer than I've been alive, so I feel pretty confident in him. Only one I'll really miss is a fat as a tick tigerstripe that's really gentle; the others will be forgotten as soon as their check clears. Thank you for the suggestion, though.
It did make me feel good too that every cow that was born on our place and kept as a replacement is bred. Makes me feel like we are getting some things right.

Our vet has also been at this longer than I've been alive also. I respect him greatly. Unfortunitly, he has so much work and tries to run the cattle threw quickly that we have a lot of pregnancy errors. He also pregs for our local salebarn and we have purchased many bred cows that were WAY off.
I know you are going to sell the lot anyways. Just a thought. That's why I started practicing preg checking our own. Now I can check most anything and if I question my results I have bred dates and I send in blood work to double check my preg results. Saves lots of money and time.
Just what works for us.
Double R
 
Double R Ranch":prxfny6s said:
farmwriter":prxfny6s said:
novaman":prxfny6s said:
I've seen several cows have a calf after being checked open. I would do a follow up just to be sure they are in fact open before you move them.
These should all have been @ least 4 mos bred, and our vet's been @ this longer than I've been alive, so I feel pretty confident in him. Only one I'll really miss is a fat as a tick tigerstripe that's really gentle; the others will be forgotten as soon as their check clears. Thank you for the suggestion, though.
It did make me feel good too that every cow that was born on our place and kept as a replacement is bred. Makes me feel like we are getting some things right.

Our vet has also been at this longer than I've been alive also. I respect him greatly. Unfortunitly, he has so much work and tries to run the cattle threw quickly that we have a lot of pregnancy errors. He also pregs for our local salebarn and we have purchased many bred cows that were WAY off.
I know you are going to sell the lot anyways. Just a thought. That's why I started practicing preg checking our own. Now I can check most anything and if I question my results I have bred dates and I send in blood work to double check my preg results. Saves lots of money and time.
Just what works for us.
Double R

just because a vet has had his or her arm in a lot of cows does not automatically make them good at it....
experience is the best teacher but some people are slow learners......
Not diaparaging the vet but not every pro football player can catch the football....
Deon Sanders could catch it and run like the wind but he couldn't block or tackle a little girl.
different folks have different strengths and different abilities.

Also I have been known to tell a vet that when he is at my place he is working for me and if he wants to continue to do so then he will work at my pace and answer my questions.

I am blessed with a good vet who has been a friend to me for over thirty years. His daughter is now my horse vet as well.
 
farmwriter":2dqoyxem said:
Thank God for the Vet coming out to preg check today. 16 (yep S-I-X-T-E-E-N) open cows out of the 61 he palpated. That was a shocker. 13 were out of a group we bought w/calves on them, but they were in pretty poor condition. Looks like they took longer to recover than we realized. I see a loaded trailer in my future. :frowns:

If I remember right you are in Alabama? Allot of people have had trouble getting stuff bred in the relentless heat this year, I don't know if I would be real hasty in loading them, something to think about.
 
farmwriter":1dt8773d said:
hillsdown":1dt8773d said:
Well that is just shytty FW, Sorry. Man that is alot of open cows, one more reason to preg check. Can you imagine feeding those open ones through the winter. :???:

I wonder if the cow/calve pairs that you bought had been exposed to trich at one time . Especially since your home raised gals all are bred .

And feeding them like they're bred @ that! Could be something they were exposed to I guess, but I really think we just were too optimistic about them picking up their condition in time to fit our breeding season. Just glad we know now and not in January.

Depending on your location and pasture, you may have been in one of the areas that didn't have good grass because of the heat. Mine weren't starving, but they didn't have much fat at all, and it took a little longer to get them bred due to the heat.
 
RD-Sam":6yyaahks said:
If I remember right you are in Alabama? Allot of people have had trouble getting stuff bred in the relentless heat this year, I don't know if I would be real hasty in loading them, something to think about. Depending on your location and pasture, you may have been in one of the areas that didn't have good grass because of the heat. Mine weren't starving, but they didn't have much fat at all, and it took a little longer to get them bred due to the heat.

In Bama, about 2 hrs from the coast. It was hot, but it's always hot. Problem for us was a much colder, wetter, longer winter that made our winter grazing pretty well useless. Add to that cattle that have been selected to tolerate the heat, and they had some catching up to do once the weather finally warmed up.
Drought hasn't hit us nearly as hard as most of the folks in our area (a miracle in itself) and really didn't catch-up to us until a month or so ago. We're very sandy though, so once the dry weather hits, it hits hard. We say we're never more than about 10 days from a drought.
The plan we're kicking around now (family decisions... :roll: ) is to keep a few of the better ones that are open, cut them out from the girls that are bred, and see what the market, weather, and their condition all do. We don't stock nearly as heavy as a lot of folks do, so we should have enough space to run them separately and try to make their hay, grazing, etc. go a little further than what we allow for the girls that are carrying.
 
We are in Northwest Florida and last winter was as cold as I can remember and this summer has been like living in a sauna, and this can sure have an effect on conception. But with that many cows open I would sure test all my bulls for Trich, if for nothing else for peace of mind, trich can sure cause the kind of problem your having.

I just wrote a blog on trich you can check it out at http://www.gizmoangus.blogspot.com
Gizmom
http://www.gizmoangus.com
 
Our preg check was strange but the vet says it's about the saame all over. Most are 140-120 days bred then it drops to most of the rest are 60-80
 
RD-Sam":26s2yg2a said:
farmwriter":26s2yg2a said:
hillsdown":26s2yg2a said:
Well that is just shytty FW, Sorry. Man that is alot of open cows, one more reason to preg check. Can you imagine feeding those open ones through the winter. :???:

I wonder if the cow/calve pairs that you bought had been exposed to trich at one time . Especially since your home raised gals all are bred .

And feeding them like they're bred @ that! Could be something they were exposed to I guess, but I really think we just were too optimistic about them picking up their condition in time to fit our breeding season. Just glad we know now and not in January.

Depending on your location and pasture, you may have been in one of the areas that didn't have good grass because of the heat. Mine weren't starving, but they didn't have much fat at all, and it took a little longer to get them bred due to the heat.

I know this goes against a lot of what I"ve said in the past as far as culling but.... Work out the math a little. You may be better off putting them back on a bull for fall bred cows and selling them as breds. Depending what you paid for them you need to try recoup some of that loss.
 

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