The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Cattle => Topic started by: waterbuffalofarmer on April 28, 2016, 04:20:26 pm
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hey guys I am back and not with good tidings :( I really don't believe this is happening we had all of the imported heifers from last year AI'd with really expensive, top quality semen and I have just had the PD results through, only to find that there is only one of them which has taken. This means yet another programme and yet another lot of semen, my Dad literally has his head in his hands, this is something we cannot afford to happen! :'(
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ahh nice to see you back .
similar thing happened with my friends AA cattle. not good
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Glad you back :hug:
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Glad you're back - wish it was with better news though :(
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Glad you've come back to us but sorry it wasn't with better news :hug:
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That is not so good but glad you are back, I have missed you!
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Good to see you back, but what bad luck with your cows. Is there no come back with the AI folk?
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no not really. We did a PD with milk proteins, apparently they can tell by that. 1 of them definately is, 1 is a maybe. I think we may have overreacted a little by the news and are going to double check via a vet in a couple of weeks which we do anyway. We also have a young bull running with them, so if theyre not then he should cover them for us. I really hope they did get it wrong because semen is not cheap.
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Difficult to draw any statistical information from such small numbers, but I read one article which said that 65% was the normal conception rate for maiden heifers to first service, so 50% is probably in the margin of error.
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Sorry it isnt great news but I am pleased you are back.
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yes 50% AI. We had 10% failure - even though we did the AI the bull was put in 2 weeks later so unable to conclude which ones are which. Because we want to block calf there was no room to leave gaps. All should calf within 6 weeks. Just unfortunate. Could be due to a number of reasons like being fat, poor condition, age, prev poor fertility, injected incorrectly or just bad luck.
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This is one of the reasons I prefer natural service for everything. Bulls, rams, boars, turkey stags .... they're all experts!
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Yes we have bulls too which cover them if anything goes wrong, however we AI because we have to build up milk yields in the herd and it would be too costly to buy in expensive bulls, some of these bulls can cost anything up to £10,000 each, depending on which one you buy, that includes importation cost :) Anyway its the vet in 2 weeks for putting his hand in and seeing, I really hope the milk proteins test was wrong, apparently they also send a copy to the vets for reference before they come out and PD.
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Would it not be easier to get them scanned?
Pregnancy can be accurately detected at 30 days, so you only need one test.
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Yea that's what the vet does when he comes, he has a scanner which he inserts into their backsides. It is fantastic to see the calf in there, he showed us how to look for a calf on a scanner. Apparently they can feel the fetus at 3 months? Then after that the fetus drops and they can't feel it for another 3 months. We usually scan them at about 5-6 weeks, which means if they have taken he can usually tell, it is usually at least half in calf by AI and almost all by the bull.
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How come you decided to have them pd'd usung milk proteins? Surely just getting the vet in is cheaper and more accurate?
Seems a waste to get them done twice especially if one way is more guess work? Just curious!
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Every week we have to get the milk tested for bacteria counts and how high the butterfat is. We heard that they could test to see if any where in calf by milk protein counts, so we said why not, when it came back with those results we were in such a panic, we still have to get the vet in to check them anyway in a couple of weeks. I am so hoping that it was not true, but if it is then we will have to do the whole programme again. I noticed last night the young bull was following one, not good. Could it be the weather? When I imported them they were already in calf to AI bulls, so they have been AI'd before.
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It will be interesting to compare the results for sure. ... :fc: