Third failed AI... Fat cow... now what?

Help Support CattleToday:

Past time for her to go and for you to start over with another one that is bred or has a small calf. Absolutely no good reason to wait 8 months from the first AI to the 2nd time...

You can also do a preg test with the milk.... Several of the dairies I milk test for do milk preg tests on the samples. If there is a dairy near you and you know them, ask them if they are on DHIA or DAIRY ONE milk testing... and in the future, maybe they could include a milk sample from your cow to just be preg checked. I know that DRMS has an office in Ames Iowa which would definitely be closer to talk to them and get advice about a possible lab near you that you could send a sample to... Lancaster DHIA PA has several different tests available to dairyman and I know that you could call them to see what they might be able to do for checking it.
Also... if you have someone doing the AI and they are pretty good at it, they could at least give you an idea after a couple of months by going in and checking... If you are catching a cow up to do AI then you can just as well catch her up to do a palpation...

There are urine preg test kits on Amazon for animals... the one I pulled up is $50+ and had 10 test strips in it....

Waiting all this time inbetween is a waste of your money with nothing to show for it.
 
If you REALLY want to keep her, get a dang bull on her!!! ASAP

I understand it's a money loser. But there's more to it than that if I understand correctly.

Some cows just don't a.i. well.

Best of luck!
If ya were close she could come visit Big Sexy for a bit. She would leave here BRED
 
Past time for her to go and for you to start over with another one that is bred or has a small calf. Absolutely no good reason to wait 8 months from the first AI to the 2nd time...

You can also do a preg test with the milk.... Several of the dairies I milk test for do milk preg tests on the samples. If there is a dairy near you and you know them, ask them if they are on DHIA or DAIRY ONE milk testing... and in the future, maybe they could include a milk sample from your cow to just be preg checked. I know that DRMS has an office in Ames Iowa which would definitely be closer to talk to them and get advice about a possible lab near you that you could send a sample to... Lancaster DHIA PA has several different tests available to dairyman and I know that you could call them to see what they might be able to do for checking it.
Also... if you have someone doing the AI and they are pretty good at it, they could at least give you an idea after a couple of months by going in and checking... If you are catching a cow up to do AI then you can just as well catch her up to do a palpation...

There are urine preg test kits on Amazon for animals... the one I pulled up is $50+ and had 10 test strips in it....

Waiting all this time inbetween is a waste of your money with nothing to show for it.

Right, we acknowledge we made a lot of mistakes. First test was a milk test, done on time. We also had our AI guy come out and do checks.

I didn't mention one of the major problems was getting the sperm we wanted to use again. There was a lot of hassle, delay, and ultimately extra expense getting the specific sperm from the BW breeder. I won't go into all the details, but that was one of the major reasons for the gaps between attempts. By the third attempt we gave up on obtaining the BW straws and just went with an Angus the AI company provided.
 
If you REALLY want to keep her, get a dang bull on her!!! ASAP

I understand it's a money loser. But there's more to it than that if I understand correctly.

Some cows just don't a.i. well.

Best of luck!
If ya were close she could come visit Big Sexy for a bit. She would leave here BRED
LOL! Thanks. :0) We are hoping we can take her to our friend's Bull Spa -- lose weight, get action.
 
She had her first calf August 2020. First AI was Dec. 17, 2020. Second AI was Sept 24, 2021. Third AI was March 15, 2022. I asked my DH to blood test her months ago but wasn't done.

Unfortunately lots of opportunity to just gain weight.
Not sure if it's the cow or management.
If she calved in August, she should have cycled by October, but you didn't AI til Dec.
Then, you didn't breed for 9 months!
Then she went an additional 6 months!
You do realize they should cycle every 21 days?
 
Sorry to hear your frustration, I had same problem yrs. ago w/ a pb shorthorn cow. First calf was no problems excellent milker, great mama, she had a super heifer calf. Second go around, after 3 cycles still not bred. vet checked for lepto and vaccinated for lepto, took her to a bull and she took, had a really good bull calf. We have a large population of deer, which carries Lepto. Good luck, don't give up on her yet.
 
Not sure if it's the cow or management.
If she calved in August, she should have cycled by October, but you didn't AI til Dec.
Then, you didn't breed for 9 months!
Then she went an additional 6 months!
You do realize they should cycle every 21 days?
Yes, I know all about cycles.
Like I said in another post, the delay was largely due to two things: Thinking she had taken (no heat symptoms each cycle), therefore delayed test, then the test showed open; then more significantly, more delays with the straws for the preferred bull (lots of hassle & rigamarole there I won't go into).
A LOT of this had to do with getting the damned straws. In the end we ditched the BW straw and used an Angus but that didn't take either.
Not sure what % is our mishaps and what % is the cow. So yes, we fully know we screwed up, which is why the decision is more difficult now.
 
Sorry to hear your frustration, I had same problem yrs. ago w/ a pb shorthorn cow. First calf was no problems excellent milker, great mama, she had a super heifer calf. Second go around, after 3 cycles still not bred. vet checked for lepto and vaccinated for lepto, took her to a bull and she took, had a really good bull calf. We have a large population of deer, which carries Lepto. Good luck, don't give up on her yet.
Thanks -- I hate to blame the cow if it's not her!
 
Thanks -- I hate to blame the cow if it's not her!
I LOVED my cows... but they are too expensive to keep as pets. They have to pay the taxes on the land, any necessary fencing, the hay they eat... and they have to return a profit or they are GONE. I would AI once and use a clean up bull for two months, and anything not bred goes down the road.
Your cow is young enough she could make some great freezer beef or at least sell for a decent price. Either way she had her chance.
There are plenty of legitimate reasons to get rid of a cow... and a failure to breed is the top of the list.
 
Sorry to hear your frustration, I had same problem yrs. ago w/ a pb shorthorn cow. First calf was no problems excellent milker, great mama, she had a super heifer calf. Second go around, after 3 cycles still not bred. vet checked for lepto and vaccinated for lepto, took her to a bull and she took, had a really good bull calf. We have a large population of deer, which carries Lepto. Good luck, don't give up on her yet.
I dealt with a dairy cow that cycled back 5wks after being bred, then again a couple weeks later. Vet attributed it to vibrio, if I remember correctly. Recommended vaccinating. Next time she cycled she settled.
 
A LOT of this had to do with getting the damned straws. In the end we ditched the BW straw and used an Angus but that didn't take either.
British White breeders are around, however, large AI centers don't carry it. Here are some suggestions -
** Thistledown Farms
** RLC Farms MN - RLC is selling straws of Woodbastwick Randolph Turpin.
** Rolling Hills Cattle Co - Christina Traeger does semen sales
** British White Cattle Association - classified ads
** Black Label Farms
 
Last edited:
We have lepto in the area also and some of the dairies that I test for vaccinate 2 and 3 times a year for it. We vaccinate the beef cattle and vibrio is one we also make sure they get.
I get where you are coming from with her, but realize something else... since she has been open so long, and she is fat by your statement, the chances of her breeding are reduced AND the chances of her milking good if she does settle are greatly reduced as the fat gets into the udder and reduces her production ability.
Taking your part of the blame is a good sign and that you have tried other things... but at this point, you might just want to cut your losses and start over. Maybe stick her with the neighbors bull... after you vaccinate her...and give her another chance.... but then cut your losses if she doesn't breed... OR if she does, make sure she does raise a good calf because the chance of reduced milk production is very real.
 
Those have white horns with black tips. That painting hangs in my house. The cow clearly has a black nose, black rimmed eyes and black rimmed ears. From the breed standard-
  • large white animals with black points on their muzzle, ears, eye-rims and feet.
  • the wide-spreading horns are usually black-tipped.
" Importation of White Park cattle to North America happened during World War II in an effort to conserve the breed during wartime."

The lady with the fat cow that's not sticking - My husband had as many as 200 cattle on the place. He required every cow to produce a calf per year. He kept cows for as long as 12 or 13 years. No calf, she was on the trailer. But I can understand how people, usually women, can get attached to an individual and not be so commercial minded. I own a cull cow myself as you can see my my avatar :)

There is a registry the American White Park breeders that have bred them up as polled beef animals.
https://whitecattle.org/ This cow that got that fat on hay must have come from those.

If I raised cattle for pasture ornaments I would raise the Ancient Park Whites. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Park_cattle
"The Canadian-born offspring of those cattle were transferred to the Bronx Zoo but moved to the King Ranch in Texas where they remained for almost the next forty years."
White_Park_cow_with_calf_on_Hambledon_Hill_1.jpg
 

Latest posts

Top