Witching your cows to confirm pregnancies?

[WalnutCrest]

Mom tells me about one of her students who's from a good sized cattle family.

They witch their cows for pregnancy, just like you'd look for water or an electrical line.

Says they're accuracy is 100%. They're vet isn't that accurate and so he no longer does that for them.

Anyone else witch your cows?

 

[Cross-7]

Don't know about witching but watching is another deal
I bought a set of cow/calf pairs exposed back to a bull.

I called 3 open but one of the 3 calved but I think I got two cows mixed up and wrote it down wrong.
All the rest have calved but those 2 I saw in heat
Hard to miss a cow in heat if you spend Anytime with them

 

[dun]

I've done it using a ring. It tells the gender of the calf too. I couldn;t believe it but it has never been wrong. I just can;t bring myself to depend on it.

 

[farmboy80]

How do you do this? I'm interested. Might be neat to try. Think still have vet preg check but interested in giving it a try.

 

[dun]

Same principle as seeing the gender of a human baby. It has to be not windy so that the ring isn;t affected by the air movement. Same thing actaully works wit ha pencil. Either tie a piece of thread to a ring or stick a needle with thread attached in a pencil eraser. Old the thread by the lose end and hold it over the belly of the woamn or the cow. Cow can be standing up no problem. If the ring/pencil goes in a straight line back and forth it's a male, if it moves in a circle it's a girl.

 

[WalnutCrest]

So, I'd the cow is standing, do you hold the ring over her belly, or beside her belly outside the squeeze?

 

[dun]

So, I'd the cow is standing, do you hold the ring over her belly, or beside her belly outside the squeeze?

Middle of her back

 

[Bright Raven]

So, I'd the cow is standing, do you hold the ring over her belly, or beside her belly outside the squeeze?

Middle of her back

dun,

What does the vet say about it? I assume they discount it as voodoo.

 

[dun]

So, I'd the cow is standing, do you hold the ring over her belly, or beside her belly outside the squeeze?

Middle of her back

dun,

What does the vet say about it? I assume they discount it as voodoo.

Once, years ago I did it over a cow he called open and it showed bred. When she ended up being preg at the next preg check his only response was "Well I'll be dammed". We still get a good laugh out of it. He thinks it would be betetr then having to draw blood or grope around inside of a cow. But I do think it is sort of voodoo, but preg checking by palpation almost seems like voodoo at times

 

[WalnutCrest]

So, I'd the cow is standing, do you hold the ring over her belly, or beside her belly outside the squeeze?

Middle of her back

dun,

What does the vet say about it? I assume they discount it as voodoo.

A client of ours is a dairy repro vet and when asking him about this, he told me one of the old timer partners in his practice would ring them to sex the pregnancy before the advent of ultrasound. The old timer said it wasn't perfect, but far better than a coin flip.

 

[toxxie24]

Same principle as seeing the gender of a human baby. It has to be not windy so that the ring isn;t affected by the air movement. Same thing actaully works wit ha pencil. Either tie a piece of thread to a ring or stick a needle with thread attached in a pencil eraser. Old the thread by the lose end and hold it over the belly of the woamn or the cow. Cow can be standing up no problem. If the ring/pencil goes in a straight line back and forth it's a male, if it moves in a circle it's a girl.

so what does it do if she is open?

 

[Brute 23]

Same principle as seeing the gender of a human baby. It has to be not windy so that the ring isn;t affected by the air movement. Same thing actaully works wit ha pencil. Either tie a piece of thread to a ring or stick a needle with thread attached in a pencil eraser. Old the thread by the lose end and hold it over the belly of the woamn or the cow. Cow can be standing up no problem. If the ring/pencil goes in a straight line back and forth it's a male, if it moves in a circle it's a girl.

so what does it do if she is open?

:nod: I was thinking the same thing

 

[dun]

It just kind of meanders around, neither in a straight line or a circle

 

[Chocolate Cow]

I can't witch for water so suppose I couldn't witch for calves either. How many of you have seen a cow being ridden, assume she's open, only to find out she's bred? Does that happen often? Weather make a difference? Cow is a slut? :lol2:

 

[WalnutCrest]

I can't witch for water so suppose I couldn't witch for calves either. How many of you have seen a cow being ridden, assume she's open, only to find out she's bred? Does that happen often? Weather make a difference? Cow is a slut? :lol2:

Biological response to hormones can vary greatly from pregnancy to pregnancy, animal to animal, species to species.

 

[Chocolate Cow]

Yes. I've seen it more this calving period. I ultrasound so I've not sent any bred's to town but if I was going strictly off what I was seeing, it would have been an expensive mistake.

 

[greybeard]

I can witch them, and am successful ..............about 50% of the time.
8)

 

[toxxie24]

I can't witch for water so suppose I couldn't witch for calves either. How many of you have seen a cow being ridden, assume she's open, only to find out she's bred? Does that happen often? Weather make a difference? Cow is a slut? :lol2:

are u referring to other cows riding her? or the bull? i've often wonder if the cow being ridden is in heat or the one dong the riding? lol. last week i witnessed a heifer that the bull had been following try to ride the bull.

 

[Chocolate Cow]

Yes. I'm referring to other cows riding a cow.

 

[Txpiney]

Does it look something like this