drats! cow in heat/missed AI

cathleenc · #1 12/29/09, 10:23 PM

It's our first cow.... our first attempt at breeding. My neighbor, Sara, who ai's her family dairy farm cows with a great success rate, confirmed that my cow was in heat back on Dec. 10th when she stopped over to AI her but noticed the lack of mucus - said she had a better conception rate when she encountered mucus inside the cows. We thought that perhaps I was a day late in calling for service....

And yes indeed, Biscuit the beautiful is in heat tonight. Drat drat drat. I guess it was overly optimistic to think I could successfully detect a strong heat with our first cow in her second cycle but I sure was hoping!

Biscuit has silent heats - no mooing, no bleed off, no rascally behavior. No mounting - but then again - no one and nothing to mount. I've noticed that her milk production has a noticeable dip the day before the heat starts, slight evidence of mucus on the tip of her vulva, and vulva puffiness. Sara has me 'splitting her open' as Sara puts it - parting the vulva lips to check for red/coloration. She's definitely puffy tonight - and Biscuit lifted her tail far up and away while I was checking. Yeah. No doubt in my mind.

I bought two straws of sexed guernsey semen - tomorrow will use up the final straw. Of course I can order more but ..... oh, I sure hope Biscuit takes with tomorrow's service.

Chixarecute · #2 12/30/09, 03:28 PM

If she doesn't settle with this breeding you may want to have the next breeding at the time you notice the heat, rather than 12 hours later.

cathleenc · #3 12/30/09, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chixarecute

If she doesn't settle with this breeding you may want to have the next breeding at the time you notice the heat, rather than 12 hours later.

This one was 20 days after the last - so we should be earlier in her cycle. And I'm not going to wake my friend and neighbor out of a dead sleep to come and service my cow. We milk at night around 10 pm. She is hard at work by 5:30 am. (Biscuit ended up being serviced 10 hours after noticing the heat, btw)

genebo · #4 12/30/09, 04:22 PM

With my bull in the pasture, the cows heats last 3 days. Standing heat is on the third day.

A friend of mine AI's his goats as late as he possibly can. He says he gets more females that way.

Makes sense to me, since my bull always services the cows as soon as they'll stand and I've had all bull calves for the last 2 years.

Genebo
Paradise Farm