Havent bred our cow yet - advice please

cjb · #1 07/27/08, 06:02 PM

We have a 5-6 year old jersey that we bought last fall. She had a calf in March so we REALLY should have bred her back by now. I know who I'm going to use to AI and I know which bull I want to use. Problem is, all of a sudden, I can't tell when she's in heat anymore.

Before I was ready, of course, I could always tell. Her milk production would cut in half, then she would just holler, then clear mucous would come out. Now, her milk production never goes down and I don't find her to be particularly noisy, nor have I seen clear fuild. However, last night I noticed a little bit of bloody coming out so she must have just finished. I can write down the dates and count three weeks but I doubt that's very accurate.

What do you recommend? Is it bad that she's not yet been bred back? Will her lactation cycle end and we'll be high and dry?

Should I use Lutalyse? How is that done?

matt_man · #2 07/28/08, 08:01 AM

She was probably in on Thursday based on the bloody discharge. I would start watching her Tuesday the 12th. Do you know based on the other heats that you tracked how many days apart they are? Heats can be anywhere from 18 to 25 days apart; all cows are different. Summer heats can be harder to track, they are more silent about them; they are not as strong.

Our Heart calved in December and we did not breed her back until May. We wanted a spring calf instead of a winter one. A calf every year in not really necessarily but I would say that every 18 months is fine. As long as you keep milking her she shouldn't go dry. However don't let her go dry if she in not bred back. She will get fat and be harder to get bred that way.

Rachel

cjb · #3 07/28/08, 04:25 PM

Thanks Rachel. Oh we are milking her twice a day and won't stop - we NEED that milk!!!

I cannot drink store milk anymore. Violet ruined me.

What about the Lutalyse? Maybe I'll start a separate thread for that...

Up North · #4 07/28/08, 05:57 PM

cjb - So roughly she has been in milk 120 days post calving more or less?
Yes, it's time to breed her, no, it's not time to panic yet. If you get her bred by 160 days post calving you should still be able to harvest milk from her until 60 days post calving for the next go around.
Important to stay with the milking routine and feed adequately if you wish to sustain production through the lactation.