AI info

[luv2farm]

Looking to have my jerseys AI'ed. I need some basic info and what does this generally cost? Surely it is cheaper than buying and feeding a bull. I only have 2 jersey cows.

[mamahen]

Here's my AI story!

I first looked at all the AI Sites wishing for the perfect sire for my girl (I only had one).

I contacted the sites (select sires and 2 others I can't remember) to ask if they had rep's in the area. No luck.

I finally posted an ad on Craigslist. I had 2 hits - one was the Father-in-law of a tech that only lived 10 miles from me! He was a tech for one of the companies I called, I don't know why they didn't know??

We got in touch & talked about the size of my heifer & what I was breeding for (beef calf). He had a lovely heifer-bull angus he said would be perfect.

On her next heat (New Year's Day 2008, when the daytime temp was -5 f) he came & inseminated her.

Total cost - $20!! 10 for the straw and 10 for him - I gave him a 10 dollar tip for the great service!!

He just needed her restrained (she was trained to tie in a tie stall, so no problems there) and ready to go when he came. The whole thing only took maybe 10-15 minutes?

[SFM in KY]

I'd check with your local large animal vets first ... also check with local dairy farms. Either of these may have a place for you to start.

[PNP Katahdins]

Originally Posted by luv2farm

Surely it is cheaper than buying and feeding a bull.

It's also a lot safer than keeping a bull around.

Peg

[Cindy in KY]

The Jersey straws are $15 each here. He got it in town somewhere. We have a wonderful neighbor who does all his own Herefords, and we are ready when she comes in end of this month.

[mylala]

Originally Posted by luv2farm

Looking to have my jerseys AI'ed. I need some basic info and what does this generally cost? Surely it is cheaper than buying and feeding a bull. I only have 2 jersey cows.

I live in Blount County, TN...not sure what part of East TN you are in, But Select Sires has a Rep that lives here and travels all over the area with semen and AI'ing. He did my heifer a month ago, and he charged $25 plus the cost of the semen. i got sexed semen so it was about twice the cost of regular semen...it was around $50 so total of about $75. If you are close and want to see if he can help you out i can give you his number.

[haypoint]

Cheaper and safer than owining a bull. Less chance getting a disease by borrowing a bull or hauling your cow to another farm. Higher quality bull than can be had locally. Hands down your best route.

Please breed her to a quality Jersey.

[tonyb]

We did exactly what SFM in KY is suggesting. We called several large animal vets. One of them knew a dairy farmer down the road from us that also works as an AI tech. Super nice guy. We had our heifer bred for less than $50.