In my intro to this site I mentioned that I feel that some (even most) of open cows may be the fault of the bull.
Here's my thinking:
There seems to be a lot of replacement heifers needed all across the country. Why? When we consider that a good cow is capable of producing for 10-15, even twenty years, why do we need 20%-25% replacement each year? Shouldn't the rate be nearer 10%? (If I'm wrong about these % please let me know.) Every breeder I review on the net claims to ruthlessly, unmercifully, cull the open cows and replace them with daughters of their proven producers, yet they seem to need the same number of replacements each year! Why? Shouldn't the cows be improving in fertility over time? Genetics keep getting better, nutrition gets better most years, we have a better understanding of husbandry as time goes by, yet the problem doesn't go away. Why?
Consider for a moment that it might not be the female's fault. Only other factors are the management, the weather and the bull. Most rancher are also the managers so not much hope of changing that and we can't change the weather. That leaves the bull.
"But', you say, 'our bulls pass a BSE so it can't be them". Why not? Do you perform the BSE yourself? Probably not. You cull the cows and select the heifers and you're most likely doing a good job, but you leave the BSE to a technician. Do you understand his protocol? Exactly what tests does s/he perform? What are the pass/fail standards? As I understand it the industry standards have slipped considerably over the decades so that more bulls will qualify. Look in the breed magazines at the "Curve Benders" the "Trait Leaders", the next "Great Thing". How many of them actually have testicles and scrotums that your grandfather would have been proud of? I see nuts that are obviously way too small and/or misshapen and globbed with fat. There seems to be no standard for what age measurements are to be taken and most semen and sale catalogs won't say. As I understand it scrotums should be pendulous so as to keep the sperm at proper temperature, yet so many are not. In addition to motility and morphology does your tech evaluate for primary and secondary abnormal sperm? Does s/he kill, stain and evaluate the sperm on a checkered plate or just use a live sample and guesstimate? Does s/he even try to get a total sperm count per cc of semen? Does s/he tell you it doesn't matter because they know best?
I may be totally wrong about all of this, if so let me know.
Oh Yeah, Have any of you any knowledge of the FFA factor in sperm? Tell me about it, please.
Here's my thinking:
There seems to be a lot of replacement heifers needed all across the country. Why? When we consider that a good cow is capable of producing for 10-15, even twenty years, why do we need 20%-25% replacement each year? Shouldn't the rate be nearer 10%? (If I'm wrong about these % please let me know.) Every breeder I review on the net claims to ruthlessly, unmercifully, cull the open cows and replace them with daughters of their proven producers, yet they seem to need the same number of replacements each year! Why? Shouldn't the cows be improving in fertility over time? Genetics keep getting better, nutrition gets better most years, we have a better understanding of husbandry as time goes by, yet the problem doesn't go away. Why?
Consider for a moment that it might not be the female's fault. Only other factors are the management, the weather and the bull. Most rancher are also the managers so not much hope of changing that and we can't change the weather. That leaves the bull.
"But', you say, 'our bulls pass a BSE so it can't be them". Why not? Do you perform the BSE yourself? Probably not. You cull the cows and select the heifers and you're most likely doing a good job, but you leave the BSE to a technician. Do you understand his protocol? Exactly what tests does s/he perform? What are the pass/fail standards? As I understand it the industry standards have slipped considerably over the decades so that more bulls will qualify. Look in the breed magazines at the "Curve Benders" the "Trait Leaders", the next "Great Thing". How many of them actually have testicles and scrotums that your grandfather would have been proud of? I see nuts that are obviously way too small and/or misshapen and globbed with fat. There seems to be no standard for what age measurements are to be taken and most semen and sale catalogs won't say. As I understand it scrotums should be pendulous so as to keep the sperm at proper temperature, yet so many are not. In addition to motility and morphology does your tech evaluate for primary and secondary abnormal sperm? Does s/he kill, stain and evaluate the sperm on a checkered plate or just use a live sample and guesstimate? Does s/he even try to get a total sperm count per cc of semen? Does s/he tell you it doesn't matter because they know best?
I may be totally wrong about all of this, if so let me know.
Oh Yeah, Have any of you any knowledge of the FFA factor in sperm? Tell me about it, please.