Why AI?

[OvertonAngus]

I understand wanting to breed to the best bull possible to get good herd Bulls or replacement heifers. What I'm wanting to know is how can Ai be cost efficient when you still have to run a cover bull which is one that you like the genetics on also thereby meaning he won't be cheap either. Keep in mind too that I don't really know anything about Ai. I know people that have great success at it and I know people that have tried it and never had a cow take it( they were professionally bred too). I want to hear all the pros and cons also average straw cost for what the everyday farmer would get. All input is GREATLY appreciated!

 

[Jake]

I understand wanting to breed to the best bull possible to get good herd Bulls or replacement heifers. What I'm wanting to know is how can Ai be cost efficient when you still have to run a cover bull which is one that you like the genetics on also thereby meaning he won't be cheap either. Keep in mind too that I don't really know anything about Ai. I know people that have great success at it and I know people that have tried it and never had a cow take it( they were professionally bred too). I want to hear all the pros and cons also average straw cost for what the everyday farmer would get. All input is GREATLY appreciated!

Unless you are a trying to produce seedstock or trying to synchronize heifers into smaller calving windows I don't see the value in it for larger herds. It is not very economical and is very time consuming unless you have reason to be pushing your genetics. For smaller herds it can be beneficial as you can't get enough cows under a good bull to make him pay. You just have to run the math on which is cheaper AI vs buying a good bull and what the cost per cow is on doing each.

 

[Bigfoot]

I AI a very very small number per year, and always on an observed heat at that. I don't really have a fortune tied up in it, doing it that way. My kids are small, but have a cow or two a piece. I think its an excellent way for them to have a shot at some good replacement females, to build a future herd from. If were it not for that, I wouldn't fool with it for myself.

 

[dun]

We started doing AI 30- or so years ago. Until the past few we never had a cleanup bull. We only bred on observed heats and anything that didn;t settle after 2 services hit the road. That was with me doing the breeding not a hired tech or someone that couldn;t be reached when needed. The most we ran when I was doing the AI was 75 head, our calving weindow was generally around 45-60 days.

 

[Hook]

With 99% of our cows on leased land, I don't do any ai anymore. Actually sold the tank and 5 straws yesterday. Gotta run bulls anyway, so we just rotate them through the different properties.

 

[bse]

AI can help you in any situation. Seedstock hopefully you are improving with every breeding. Commercial what is it worth to calf half your herd in the first week?
With 100 head if you only get industry standard 50% thats 50 calves that should grow better and wean bigger, so the first 50 are 50lbs heavier, yesterday 6wts $2.43 so thats $121.50 extra for the first 50,if yor percentage is higher just a bonus. Now that 100 will cost you about $5000 to AI, the extra on the first 50 is $6075 so youve made $1075 extra by doing AI and thats at average numbers. The $50 per head for AI is $30 to sync and breed, $20 for semen. Your next round of calves should come around 21 days after if you can get a big percentage of those your way ahead.
A bull can get all this done but maybe not so many in the front, you can cut the price of a bull also if you were using 3 for the 100hd you can drop to 2 bulls easily for more savings.
All depends on number of head and how it may pencil out.

 

[cow pollinater]

Just off the top of my head PROVEN genetics and the potential for 50-65% of your cows to calve on day one of your desired calving window are the two most profitable reasons.
From a genetic standpoint it takes (depending on the stud service) around five hundred bulls that are considered to be high quality enough to get collected, which right off the bat eliminates about 90% of the population of sale bulls, to get ONE solid proven bull with high reliability.

 

[FlyingLSimmentals]

Here I just mainly get the heifers AIed. Don't have to worry about a large herd bull hurting a heifer before she reaches her maturity weight. Plus I can get some of the highest calving ease bulls out there for them. Occasionally we'll try and match mate a few of the cows with certain sires hoping for something special. But mainly we buy the best bull we can afford whom has the pedigree, epds or characteristics that we desire.

 

[VirginiaCattle]

There have been studies done that show a benefit just to synchronizing the cattle regardless of the AI. Timed AI can move your calving date up by 13 days across your herd. That means bigger calves, cows have longer to recover for rebreeding, and it can jump-start cows that haven't cycled yet. When you add in the proven genetics and access to bulls you wouldn't be able to afford otherwise it makes a lot sense economically.

By keeping AI sired heifers you can have a herd that has more proven genetics, more marketable genetics, and on average will be older at first breeding. By breeding those heifers to AI sires you can breed to proven calving ease bulls and have the benefit of calves early in the calving season which should set the heifer up well to rebreed.

A lot of herds are getting over 60% with timed AI. It's not uncommon to have 90% of the calves on the ground in the first 21 days. Also, I don't know anyone that pays list price for semen. If it's a 20 dollar bull it'll be around 12-14. A 30 dollar bull is about 20 dollars.

EDIT: Here is a link to a recent beef reproduction conference that was held in Oklahoma. Click the proceedings to read articles. There is a lot of interesting info on AI, synchronization, bull fertility and a lot of other topics.
http://www.appliedreprostrategies.com/02-current-pages/newsroom.html

 

[Nesikep]

I would consider AI for some of my best cows that I'd consider keeping a bull calf from, or that consistently make nice heifers...

As for the calving window, if you don't have enough pens, having 20 cows calve out in a couple days of each other can be a nightmare as well with a whole lot of confused cows and calves.. Even if I bred all my cows on the same day, I bet I'd still have a 2 week calving season, assuming they all bred the first time.. they calve anywhere from 282-295 days around here, so basically I'd have a week off before round 2.. I might as well just throw the bull in and take them as they come. Some cows always calve early, and I've considered exposing them a week later to tighten up the beginning of the season.

One bonus I'd see with having them calve within a couple days is if one loses a calf and you have a twin, it's probably going to be easier to graft if it happens right away

 

[VirginiaCattle]

I would consider AI for some of my best cows that I'd consider keeping a bull calf from, or that consistently make nice heifers...

As for the calving window, if you don't have enough pens, having 20 cows calve out in a couple days of each other can be a nightmare as well with a whole lot of confused cows and calves.. Even if I bred all my cows on the same day, I bet I'd still have a 2 week calving season, assuming they all bred the first time.. they calve anywhere from 282-295 days around here, so basically I'd have a week off before round 2.. I might as well just throw the bull in and take them as they come. Some cows always calve early, and I've considered exposing them a week later to tighten up the beginning of the season.

One bonus I'd see with having them calve within a couple days is if one loses a calf and you have a twin, it's probably going to be easier to graft if it happens right away

They rarely get confused about calves. It has happened but I've also had it happen when they are being born natural service as well. Sometimes a stupid cow is just a stupid cow.

As to your point about being the same day, they really aren't. Heifers start calving about two weeks before their due date up to about their due date. Cows start a week or 10 days before and go to a week or 10 days after. More are early though.

Twins are usually early so, like you said, you have a calf to graft on another if something goes wrong.

 

[skyhightree1]

I let nature take its course after all bulls did the breeding before we put our hands in it... Literally I have bought heifers that were ai bred though and cows.

 

[Jake]

I would absolutely love to be able to AI every cow once but time constraints make it hard enough to get 50 head of heifers done every year. One thing that always scares me some on AI is what is behind the pretty picture, so I try to make a point of seeing every bull and if possible his mother before we use them.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Not needing a bull is a great benefit. No damage to things, no accidental breedings. We AI everything, or put in embryos. Semen averages $25 a straw. We do not use any hormones, and breed on natural heats. We might use some cysterelin if we not sure at the timing of AI. So our total investment is our tank, AI kit, and what ever semen I buy. There are three of us that can AI here, and I am sending my 12 year old daughter to AI school in the spring. Well worth the savings for us, however we are a seed stock operation so well known genetics is important to our customers that buy bulls or heifers from us.

 

[Nesikep]

I have been lucky with my last couple bulls, they've been very well behaved, they're big babies, no need for the bull pens, etc.. I usually separate my replacement prospects at about 170 days of age, and it's worked pretty good for me. I just have 2 different phenotypes of cows now.. the short stocky ones (Gelbvieh x), and the big framey Shorthorns.. The right bull for one may not be the right bull for the other, which is why AI would be good for me.. I'd be able to get a better match for each type of cow..

 

[Stocker Steve]

1) More calving ease for heifers
2) More consistent and/or higher quality calves
3) Ability to have a cross breeding program w/o multiple breeds of bulls
4) Ability to try an expensive blood line
5) Covering more cows with the same number of bulls
6) Safety

I always sync and AI heifers. Usually to angus bulls.
I sometimes AI cows once before turning the bulls in. Usually to produce wf F1s.

 

[ousoonerfan22]

We want nice replacement heifers and can't afford to buy them so we AI our best cows and hope for heifers. We have a decent bull but he's not near the quality of the high dollar AI Bulls that you can have for $20-$40 a straw.

 

[OvertonAngus]

Thank you for all your input. I want to try it on some heifers when I get some ready in the somewhat near future. I do see the advantages and I want to make the most of them. What methods do most of y'all use to sync your heifers?

 

[bse]

It would all depend on how many, and if you are doing it all yourself or someone else is doing it.

Ive used the 14 day cidr and like it but it takes 33 days and some planning, some will have a mild heat after the cidr is pulled at 14 days and if you do your own AI work it will be tempting to breed them, but just wait and stay with the protocol.

Mostly use the 7 day co sync but breed them at two different times, not just straight TAI.

 

[cbcr]

I have done breeding for others using the 7-day protocol and one bred on timedAI and the other bred on observed heats. On observed heats 1st service conception was 56%, with the timed is was 58%.

Also have used the 31 day protcol where CIDRs are in for the 14 days, 1st service conception on 3 places that we did this was 72% - 90%.

The smallest group on any of these protocols was 22.