The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Cattle => Topic started by: ferdi on August 04, 2017, 11:48:35 am
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Hi There
After rearing up my calf to be a house cow the time has come to get her pregnant and I was wondering where you go for Ai? Searchs on internet bring up Genus breeding which seems like a huge company and I wondered how they are with people who have a herd of 2 , does anyone here use them? Also how much is the average call out? I plan to put her in calf with a Guernsey and keep the calf if a heifer but obviously don't need one of their champion bulls as I don't plan to bath in milk????
Any advice much appreciated
Thanks
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They should come out to you - we only have 3 cows and they are happy to come to us. They used to store semen for us when we used rare breeds but now we use aberdeen angus from their stock which they have on the van. Costs around £30 a time for us in Aberdeenshire (might have gone up this year).
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I plan to put her in calf with a Guernsey and keep the calf if a heifer but obviously don't need one of their champion bulls as I don't plan to bath in milk????
It kind of stands to reason that the only semen which is available is semen from really good bulls. If you don't want a highly productive daughter, what about using a less milky-breed bull? You'd get a more useful animal if it were a male calf too ;).
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Thanks for the replies , Sally you make a good point but my cow is 3/4 Charolais so hoping those genes will be enough when crossed with a Guernsey to get a useful animal out of.
Being a practical smallholder I chose her as a calf because she was "pretty" :excited: she has turned into a lovely cow but is rather huge!!!!
Thanks again
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Yes we use them quite a lot, although not as much as we could be using em. Brilliant technicians and brilliant service :) I would talk to vet about how to go about getting her in calf again though, if she isn't coming into season it may be worth putting her on a synchronization programme. I can't remember call out/service charge, will have to ask dad.
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Genus .. yes.
Your problem will be do you see (and recognise) signs of oestrus in her, with only 2 or 3 cattle this can be an issue .... as can a fat cow (which pampered cows can get ... not suggesting yours is) . You really must see her stand still to being ridden by another cow to ensure AI is at right time.
Have to say your choice of house cow is rather excessive in size (and therefore feed) compared to the milk it will produce. ... cross to some thing smaller and hope for a heifer
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It is said that you buy what you want, and breed what you get.
As has been mentioned you have a large beef x cow as a house cow! I understand that you've now built up a relationship with her and probably wouldn't swap her for the world. But why devalue any potentially good calf she may have by crossing it with a dairy breed? At best you'll end up with another massive heifer which is still not ideal as a milk cow. At worst you'll end up with a bull calf with all the conformation and desirability of a greyhound as far as the meat trade is concerned. And lets face it - that's where he will be destined.
So - why not put her to a decent beef breed and get a decent calf, whether male or female? You could then, when she's calved, as she's presumably quite amenable, get a fresh guernsey calf from a milking herd to put on her as well. That way you could still rear the calf as your next house cow, and it would be much smaller and easier to manage and not be eating its head off just to maintain its large size.
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I have just been reading a thread on https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?find-new/36989214/posts, and there are was discussion on crossing Highlands, and other native breed to foreign beef breeds.
The offspring make very pretty, useful calves.
https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/highland-cattle.183950/page-4
I love the top knot/fringe, like a member of The Three Stooges.
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It is said that you buy what you want, and breed what you get.
As has been mentioned you have a large beef x cow as a house cow! I understand that you've now built up a relationship with her and probably wouldn't swap her for the world. But why devalue any potentially good calf she may have by crossing it with a dairy breed? At best you'll end up with another massive heifer which is still not ideal as a milk cow. At worst you'll end up with a bull calf with all the conformation and desirability of a greyhound as far as the meat trade is concerned. And lets face it - that's where he will be destined.
So - why not put her to a decent beef breed and get a decent calf, whether male or female? You could then, when she's calved, as she's presumably quite amenable, get a fresh guernsey calf from a milking herd to put on her as well. That way you could still rear the calf as your next house cow, and it would be much smaller and easier to manage and not be eating its head off just to maintain its large size.
I totally agree ...
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Have you thought about embryo implant? That would guarantee breed and, I think, sex. Never done it before, not sure of cost, procedure and preparation. You might be lucky and your vet may be able to do it. It wouldn't be cheap though!
Also, genus do a sex guaranteed semen - you probably need to speak with them directly.
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Really appreciate all the input and advice, there is a logic to my breeding choice. I plan to put my 3/4 Charolais to sexed Guernsey sperm so hopefully the resulting heifer calf will become my main milking cow and my present one will be a suckler cow .In a high TB area I keep a closed herd so buying in a dairy cow is not an option, also I think a dairy beef cross is a far better option as I feel modern dairy genetics don't fit well with my traditional small holding methods as the emphasis seems to be on high production / high input at the expense of longevity and health. A past Guernsey/ Charolais cross lived till she was 20 and gave me more milk than I needed.In an ideal world I would have chosen a purebred northern dairy shorthorn but unfortunately they are few and far between .
Hopefully the heat detection shouldn't be a problem as she is running with a couple of suckler cows at the moment and seems to come bulling every 19 days without fail.
Thanks once again
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Genus are very good and the technician is coming to us tomorrow and Sunday to suit us. The only problem we find is that they can really only come in the afternoon (may be different in your area), so if your cow was bulling the previous evening it will probably be too late. Requests have to be phoned in by 9.30am each day and they have their routine dairy herd visits to do first. This is why we have had to use a synchronisation programme so that we can book the technician 10 days in advance - with rare breed semen we can't really afford to waste it. I don't like using hormones but you can take the CIDR out at the time the technician says he can come.
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Sexed semen still isn't 100% guaranteed to give a heifer....but at least on the slim chance it's a boy a Char x should be a good beef animal :thumbsup:
A friend of mine uses a Dexter bull on his Highland cows and the resulting calfs are like mini hairy very beefy Dexters! Lovely beef just slow growing
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Genus are very good and the technician is coming to us tomorrow and Sunday to suit us. The only problem we find is that they can really only come in the afternoon (may be different in your area), so if your cow was bulling the previous evening it will probably be too late. Requests have to be phoned in by 9.30am each day and they have their routine dairy herd visits to do first. This is why we have had to use a synchronisation programme so that we can book the technician 10 days in advance - with rare breed semen we can't really afford to waste it. I don't like using hormones but you can take the CIDR out at the time the technician says he can come.
Ours usually comes to dairy herds near us every day, so we have to book him before 11 and 12pm is the last hr he will visit. Sometimes he brings an apprentice.