Supplementation, CIDRs, and Breeding Postpartum Cows

[RBBrangus]

We're trying to push some of our cows to rebreed earlier to shorten our calving season. Our cows are usually on average to good quality coastal bermuda hay and protein blocks during the winter and range from mid 4 to 5 body condition score. We were planning on using CIDRs for synchronization. We've used them in the past and they really work well. Some studies on using CIDRs in postpartum cows show that they help get cows cycling earlier.

Also, I've read several scientific articles and extension papers that show that postpartum nutrition and body condition score affect the length of postpartum anestrus and fertility. Boiled down, cows that are in better condition re-breed earlier than cows that are in not-so-good condition. Some also show that if you feed cows between calving and re-breeding that they'll breed back earlier. Some of the papers I've read suggested feeding between 1 to 2% of a cows body weight. We were thinking of trying it out, but it may be a shot in the dark.

How early can you re-breed cows after calving? Has anybody fed cows after calving and what kind of re-breeding results have you had? If so, what did you feed? Also, has anybody used CIDRs and how early have you used them?

 

[FlynCrazyA]

I am not sure that my cattle operation will be the same..I raise rodeo bulls and all my cows are cross bred of one sort or another..so they tend to be a little more hardy than most pure bred cattle..

I do a lot of AI and ET on my cattle, with pretty good success rate.
But as far as feeding the cows and all the articles you are talkin about, I would bet you can find something to oppose most any article written...But it is just kind of common sense to me that a cow that is healthier will be more apt to breed earlier than one that is not..i feed my cows yr round..not much in summer...about 1/2 pound a head ..but i only do this because most of them are either wild or plain ass mean and to keep them coming up and not get to where I cant catch them if need be, and sometimes they still dontcome up for a couple of days..But if you get them too fat, your into a whole nother problem, especially AI...They wont breed back as fast if they are too fat, have heard different reasons and the one that makes most sense to me is body temp..A cow in heat has a body temp around 103 or so if i remember right, not sure..semen is killed off quicker the higher the body temp caused by cattle that are too fat..

Off my expereince I would say make sure cows are wormed, have plenty of mineral, and are in good shape, not fat, at least a month before you set them up..