Reusing CIDRs

[rockcreekfarm]

I used CIDRs in a group of heifers we A.I'ed this year along with a shot of PG and it worked really well out of 10 only 3 were open. I was talking to my neighbor the other day and he said that you could reuse CIDRs just wash them off and reuse them. Has anyone heard of doing this? My thoughts are that all the progesterone would be gone after the 7 days they are in the cow.

 

[bse]

Theres 19 days of progesterone on a Cidr it will work twice just fine but clean them with water and clean all the little holes in them real good. You can use them the third time if you really wanted to on a group of recips.

 

[shadyhollownj]

I never heard the 19 day thing before but good to know. We always use them twice with no problems. We wash them good and let them air dry before storing them.

 

[Stocker Steve]

We wash them good and let them air dry before storing them.

Wash them with ?

 

[bse]

I just wash mine with warm water, dont throw them in a bucket of water i just let the water run across them while wiping the plastic parts pretty good with my hand and i take a toothpick and clean out the little holes, lay them out to air dry then put them in the bag they came out of and mark the bag used once. They work real good on heifers because there not as stiff the second time. Some people cut the tail shorter so they know its the second use i just write down which animals there in and throw them away after that use.

 

[Lucky_P]

Wash with water; no soap - soap will remove some of the progesterone.
Autoclaving used CIDRs actually 'brings more progesterone to the surface', but few have access to an autoclave.
Studies have shown that using an OB lube containing chlorhexidine disinfectant (NolvaLube and similar products) to lubricate CIDR and applicator gun at insertion resulted in less vaginitis, discharge...and higher conception rates.

 

[rockcreekfarm]

Thanks for your help, I already threw mine away I used this year, I wish I hadn't now that I know I could have reused them. I will try reusing some next time because those things are not cheap.

 

[JustSimmental]

A few people do it -- but why take a chance for 10 bucks.

Thanks for your help, I already threw mine away I used this year, I wish I hadn't now that I know I could have reused them. I will try reusing some next time because those things are not cheap.

 

[gizmom]

JustSimmental

We have been using ours twice for years and they work just fine we have been told we could use them a third but I don't want to take that chance. Another thing that our embryo guy told us is to store them in a paper bag not plastic they will retain to much moisture if you store them in a plastic bag. When your setting up 60-80 head you sure want to get all the good out of them 10x80=a bunch.

Gizmom
http://www.gizmoangus.com

 

[Bigfoot]

This is the second thing I've learned on this forum, I had no idea a cidr could be reused. Will the last from one calving season to the next?

 

[Alan]

I'm curous if any of you guys/gals have kept track of your AI success rate from a year with new CIDR's compared to used CIDR's?

I'm in the why take a chance for $10? Group ..... A person. I understand the 10x80 factor, but you're also gambling semen, time, labor, stress on cattle.

Also my AI instructor said you can reuse them and to freeze them.

Alan

 

[bse]

Havent really tracked it but cant see any obvious difference in new and used once. I have 2 calving seasons so when i pull the fall ones there cleaned dried and bagged. I use them on the spring bunch And throw them away, then the ones left go into heifers the following fall. So in that i do use them from one calving season to the next. I do make sure when i buy them there not close to out of date.

 

[gizmom]

Alan,

We have kept track over the past few years and to be honest haven't seen much of a difference one year we used 100% new CIDR's and had a 72% conception rate, the following year we reused the CIDR's and had a 76% conception rate (but we actually had to add 8 new CIDR's to have enough ). We just wash them off with water, I lay them on a towel to air dry then bag them in a brown paper bag put them in the top of my closet in the house so they don't get any extream weather changes, and pull them out and use them again the follwing year. Like I said we AI between 70 and 80 head so that $10.00 adds up plus the cost of the drugs fo the sync beeding can get pretty expensive. That said if we saw a big drop in conception we would not reuse the CIDR's but we just haven't see any difference.

Gizmom
http://www.gizmoangus.com

 

[Alan]

Alan,

We have kept track over the past few years and to be honest haven't seen much of a difference one year we used 100% new CIDR's and had a 72% conception rate, the following year we reused the CIDR's and had a 76% conception rate (but we actually had to add 8 new CIDR's to have enough ). We just wash them off with water, I lay them on a towel to air dry then bag them in a brown paper bag put them in the top of my closet in the house so they don't get any extream weather changes, and pull them out and use them again the follwing year. Like I said we AI between 70 and 80 head so that $10.00 adds up plus the cost of the drugs fo the sync beeding can get pretty expensive. That said if we saw a big drop in conception we would not reuse the CIDR's but we just haven't see any difference.

Gizmom

http://www.gizmoangus.com

Giz, it's really hard to argue with that kind of results, so I won't, great conception rate. If you don't mind sharing, what is your synch technique? I would love to get to 70%. On average I'm about 60 to 65% over the few years I been doing AI. I realize there is a ton of variables affecting AI success.

Thanks,
Alan

 

[cow pollinater]

When cidrs first came out alot of dairymen played with them and these guys keep records and run numbers like most of us beef people only dream of. I had a customer that claimed that he could get five uses out of each cidr by pulling it a few days early and using the cows natural progesterone to lead up to the LH shot. He said that the fifth use was only a few percentage points lower than his regular sync program but there was still a bump. This is on a three thousand cow dairy where every cow is time insemenated on the first service so he had enough observations for there to be something there.

 

[gizmom]

Unfortunately they have removed one of the drugs we used but the results I used was with the following sync

Day 1 CIDR in 2CC Combo
Day 7 CIDR out 5CC Lute or 2CC Estro Plan before 9:00 a.m.
Day 9 Estrodial 1CC before 9: 00 a.m.
Day 10 Check for heat a.m. Breed after 2:00 p.m.

Our cattle are in good shape at breeding we have them on good nutrition prior to breeding one thing we have learned even if a cow is a little light if she is gaining at breeding time the conception rate will be higher. The other thing is and this is the most important they don't let me do the AI work lol the conception rate would go down to the 30 to 40% range. The guy that does our AI work has been doing it most of his life and did all the AI work for one of the largest dairy farms in our part of the country for over twenty years so he is really good. Our cattle are really docile and that makes a difference as well, our whole crew is getting to old to keep wild cattle so they go to town if they don't play nice. Another thing is the % I gave no heifers were AI'd and that makes a big difference, at that point I didn't AI any of our heifers. As someone said there are a number of varables that play into the success or failure of an AI program. I think sometimes we just get lucky as well.

Gizmom
http://www.gizmoangus.com

 

[Alan]

Pretty close to what I do, on day 1 I set CIDR's and give 2cc of GnRH (fertygal), what is your "combo"? Day 7 is the same as yours, pull CIDR's and lute. 60 +\- 6 hrs AI and 2 cc GnRH. I think the big difference is I'm not the same AI tech as your guy is. :?

Thanks, but still curious to your combo.

Alan

 

[gizmom]

Alan

The combo was progesterone-estradiol 25MG-1.25 this was supplied by the vet I have been to sleep a few times since we used this so I hope I am telling you right. I think it is the estradiol that we can't use anymore. Dr. Harley retired we our now using Ashby Embryos out of Harrisonburg Va they did our flushing last year and put the eggs in they also supply the drugs for the work. It was the first time we had used them but they came highly recommended and after working with them we were impressed and will be using them again this year. Very professional, we manually palpated the recips but were late getting the task done so it was hard to call weather the calf was an embryo or from natural service. I will be able to give you a better % of our work with the new protocol after calving this year. Right now all I can tell you is how many are bred.