I try to get all my cows settled to AI. But success is variable some years. Fall of 2023 breeding gave some pretty bad results. I synch my little herd with CIDRs. #65 and #45 settled on first service in November 2023. #63 was serviced Nov 24, Jan 3, Jan 22, #64 did not show heat for the Nov synch, was serviced on a cidr synched heat on Dec 25, then again on Feb 2. #40 did not show any heat from the Nov synch, Cidr used again and serviced on Dec 25 on timed ai with no heat shown. What is wrong with these cows? Worst results ever.
Borrowed a bull from my brother when he took his bulls back out of the pastures. Put the bull in with these cows on Feb 3. He bred # 40 and #63 on Feb 26. Bred #64 on March 16. That resulted in calving from Sept 1, 2024 to Dec 26, 2024. Pitiful, but they all got bred.
What to do to straighten this out? Do these cows have fertility problems? Apparently they did that year with 63, 64 and 40 calving way late. So, I decided to not attempt AI on those 3 for the fall 2024 breeding. I borrowed my brother's spare backup bull that he never turned out. Synched and AI'd the other cows that were not late calvers on Nov 27 and 28 on observed strong heats. That group included 2 retained heifers and two 2 year olds that I purchased as bred heifers that had calved in September. Never saw any of that AI group return to heat (using stickers and checking for heat). Turned out the borrowed bull on Dec 23 hoping to get things back on track.
Lots of dates and numbers to keep up with, I know. Here is the point I want to make. Those 3 hard to get bred late calvers the previous year all settled very quickly with the bull. Late calving #63 calved on Dec 3, 2024 and was observed standing and bred by the bull on Dec 25, 22 days after calving. Late calving #40 calved on Dec 6, 2024 and was observed bred by the bull on Jan 1, 2025, 26 days after calving. Late calving #64 calved on Dec 28, 2024 and was observed bred by the bull on Jan 27, 2025, 30 days after calving. Biopryn results received today confirm all cows pregnant and hopefully back on track for AI breeding this fall. So, do those 3 late calvers have fertility problems or not? I don't know. I have usually had very good results with AI. Biggest difference this past year was that we had a bad drought, ran out of grass and started feeding hay in August, rain from hurricane in late September returned grass for a month. So, they bred back so quickly with the worst weather and grass. Previous year had pretty normal weather. Those 3 seem to be super fertile now, but genetics are the same as the previous year. Sometimes things just happen, good and bad.
