Preg Checking Cows

[VtMapleGal]

Whom here preg checks their cows, and if so, do you hire the vet or do it yourself? I want to learn to do it myself, and some people tell me to go for it, and some tell me i'll make the cow abort. I have a cow that was checked by the vet at 45 days and checked open, but she is looking pregnant more and more every day (she would be due in august). I want to breed her if she is open, but dont want to give lutayse if she is pregnant. I thought about checking her again now, myself, to see what i feel. I'm a small animal vet tech, and work with 2 vets. 1 tells me to go for it, the other says dont do it. So, if you check yourself, how did you learn?

 

[milkmaid]

Have you seen her in heat recently? You could have the vet check her again. At 45 days it's only about the size of the eraser on your pencil, and he could have just missed finding the calf.

Or, seeing as she's due in 4 months, you might be able to "bump" a calf if you put your hand on her lower right side, just in back of the rib cage, and push.

My vet checks my cows down to 32 days and I haven't had one slip a calf because of it. Theoretically it's possible though... in the first 60 days. You'd have to be really rough to make a 2nd or 3rd trimester cow abort.

I do practice checking my own cows since my vet has been teaching me.... but I won't call a cow open or bred depending on what I feel. I'm not that good yet. He makes the decision, and then I get to find out what a _____ day old calf feels like. It's not near as easy as folks make it out to be.

 

[dun]

I have the vet do it. Since he pregs multiple thousands of cows a year I figure he's probably better at it then I would be at once a year.

 

[bigbull338]

you can take the AI training course.an the palpation course togather.but they dont offer them seperately.last time i heard the pice here locally it was close to $1000 for the courses

 

[randiliana]

I preg check our own cows. I don't pretend to be accurate at attempting to date a pregnancy, but at 90+ days, I can tell whether they are bred or not. And, as we only have a 60 day breeding season, that is all I am worried about. Less than 60 days, and I have trouble.

One thing I have learned is that for me pregnant, is pregnant, but, I ALWAYS recheck anything that I call 'dry'. Usually about 10-20% of those will be pregnant, and I just couldn't find the calf the first time. If I call them dry twice, then I have faith in myself.

Pregchecking is not easy, and I would highly reccomend either going to a course (AI course) or at the very least finding a vet that will show you. But, once you figure it out, the only thing in a cow that feels like a calf, is a calf.

 

[msscamp]

For the first 45 years or so, we never preg-checked - then, all of a sudden, we started preg-checking. I'm not sure why, and I didn't ask. A vet did the preg-checking, and 15 or so cows were proclaimed to be open. Amazingly enough, all of those declared open calved at roughly the time they were supposed to. :lol: :lol:

 

[VtMapleGal]

I have not seen her in heat, but for those who dont remember, i had an extremly hard time last fall getting them into heat. We have 3 heifers, one which was a 6-7 month old reg angus, and the 2 simmi's which were about a year, and the only one we saw in heat was the angus. We didnt breed her. We gave lutalyse every 10 days, nothing, we did a lutalyse/ cystorelin combo deal and bred them (per a vet that does embryo transfer that i spoke with on the phone). I will try to bump the calf. I would LOVE to take an AI course, but cant seem to find one around here. Im kinda in sheep/llama country not cow/pig country. lol.

 

[novatech]

you can take the AI training course.an the palpation course togather.but they dont offer them seperately.last time i heard the pice here locally it was close to $1000 for the courses

Bovine Elite in Bryan/College Station charges $650.00.
http://www.bovine-elite.com/sign_up.asp

 

[UncleLA]

If you are concerned about palpating, then do a blood test.
The test is simple, inexpensive and can be done at 30 days post-breeding. Go to http://www.biotracking.com and get some information.
We have done it several times and have been pleased.
UncleLA

 

[TexasBred]

I do my own preg testing. Took the AI/preg course years ago. ABS, Select Sires and others use to have classes periodically. Like everything else new, you'll be in the dark for awhile and then one day the light will come on and you'll feel good about what you're doing and your confidence will grow. It's really not hard to find a calf in a cow nor to detect an open cow. Just takes lots of practice. First 3-4 months of pregnancy you're not really looking to find the baby itself but will learn signs that will let you know you have a baby in there and the signs will dictate the stage of pregnancy. As long as you're gentle there's little chance the cow will abort or anything else bad happen. Bumping a calf is pretty easy to learn too but I could never "bump one" until she was at least 6 months bred.

I'd sign up and take the course.

 

[TexasBred]

here's a link to classes taught monthly in College Station, Texas

http://www.bovine-elite.com/aipalp.asp

 

[bigbull338]

they havent been $400 around here in 25yrs.

 

[jasrnch]

The first time I palpated a cow all I could feel were guts. But the more I do it the more I recognize what I'm feeling. I understand your hesitancy but you never will know what to feel if you don't stick your arm in her.

 

[angus9259]

I have the vet do it for the reasons dun mentioned. Get them all done at once. Vet charges $2 per cow after the farm call. I took an AI course in Indiania for $350 so I could do that myself instead of the vet.

 

[CPL]

Preg checking with BioTracking's Blood test is far easier (and MUCH cheaper) than hiring a vet. After using it this year, I could see no reason why I'd ever palpate for pregnancy.

 

[TexasBred]

Preg checking with BioTracking's Blood test is far easier (and MUCH cheaper) than hiring a vet. After using it this year, I could see no reason why I'd ever palpate for pregnancy.

Guess I'm just old fashioned. While I have her in the chute rather than draw blood I preg check. Now if my preg checking was so bad that I could find a calf til she was already 4 or 5 months bred that would be different. We breed and watch....if she misses a cycle I "presume" she's bred but will usually then check her a month later. And it cost me nothing but a little bit of time.

 

[lakading]

I'm a little surprised nobody has mentioned preg checking via ultrasound. It's not much more expensive than having the vet arm 'em. Around a $1/head more or so.

 

[denoginnizer]

I have a vet check mine but I have a suspicion that I lose money by his/her mistakes. If the vet is 95% acuurate and she checks 200 cows that means 10 will be incorrect. I generally get about 600 for a cull cow that I likely paid 1200 for when I bought her as bred. Also think that even with an experienced checker damage/death to the fetus happens more often than if someone wasnt fondling it.
Anyway I like the idea of the blood test but my problem would be the added expense of catching the open cows after the results were in. I am mostly a one man operation so I hire a few cowboys during round up. My places are scattered around everywhere.

 

[dun]

I have a vet check mine but I have a suspicion that I lose money by his/her mistakes. If the vet is 95% acuurate and she checks 200 cows that means 10 will be incorrect.

To make sure, why not preg check again 30-45 laters on the open ones. Or put KAMARS on the opens and see if they are cycling?

 

[denoginnizer]

I'm a little surprised nobody has mentioned preg checking via ultrasound. It's not much more expensive than having the vet arm 'em. Around a $1/head more or so.

Ultrasound seems like something to look into. How long does it take to check a cow with ultrasound? Does hair have to be shaven? I like to move mine out of the shoot quickly to prevent stress.