Trouble getting our Jersey to settle, suggestions please? Photos

WildernesFamily · #1 05/12/12, 02:45 PM

Hi. Well, after such a wonderful success in 2010 with our Jersey heifer who settled on the very first try I thought AI was very simple. Turns out sometimes it's not.

Butterbelle gave us a beautiful little heifer in June 2011 and we've been trying to get her settled again since August 2011. I think we've had her AI'd 5 times now with no luck. Thankfully AI is really inexpensive in our area, so cost isn't a huge concern. Last month Butterbelle took matters into her own er.. hooves.. and jumped our fence into our neighbors field and had a sleepover with his bull and cows. She was mounted numerous times by the bull.. but here we are again a few days from her last heat.

Some background:

We are milking her each morning, and getting about 1 1/2 gallons. The amount has stayed pretty steady for the past couple of months. The heifer calf is not getting any milk, she has a weaning ring.
I weighed the milk yesterday and found we have been giving her about double the weight of her milk in 16 % dairy grain at each morning milking.
Taking a good look at her, and knowing that she has been eating too much grain, she is most likely too fat.
The last time our AI tech came out, three heat cycles ago, he gave her a drug right before doing the AI which would help her release the egg, as he suspects fatty cysts may be a problem.
She has a mineral block, but from what I've read on here, they're pretty much worthless and we need to get loose minerals instead.
At the start of the spring grass season she had really sloppy poops, but they are better now.
Her cycle is not regular. When she was a heifer it was regular as clockwork, now it can be a few days out either way, anywhere from 17 to 24 days.

We have been considering drying her up and slimming her down and then trying to AI her again. Will her cycles become more regular if we dry her up? What would you do in this situation?

Trouble getting our Jersey to settle, suggestions please? Photos - Cattle

Trouble getting our Jersey to settle, suggestions please? Photos - Cattle

Thank you!

myersfarm · #2 05/12/12, 04:17 PM

I would take her to a bull...if she is cycling

G. Seddon · #3 05/12/12, 05:06 PM

I agree with taking her to a bull. You've lost 4 months. Bulls are excellent heat detectors. Yes, change to loose minerals.

southerngurl · #4 05/12/12, 10:46 PM

Drying her up will cause her to put on more weight..

allenslabs · #5 05/12/12, 10:51 PM

Stupid question but....are you sure she isn't bred? I know some animals will appear in full heat and be bred. Just sayin'....seen it happen before.

Ronney · #6 05/13/12, 07:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allenslabs

Stupid question but....are you sure she isn't bred? I know some animals will appear in full heat and be bred. Just sayin'....seen it happen before.

No, not a stupid question and one worth looking at because I see it often in my herd - cows that I know are not on heat or are pregnant riding other cows that I know are very much pregnant.

WF, that is one beautiful little Jersey. A bit on the tubby side for an in-milk cow but not so much that it would predispose to not taking.

Bearing in mind Allen's posts and looking at that arse-end photo of her, are you absolutely sure she isn't pregnant. She's got one hell of a gut on her for an empty cow, even an over fed one.

Cheers,
Ronnie

springvalley · #7 05/13/12, 09:02 AM

First thing, DO NOT DRY HER UP, then you will have a dry open cow if she isn`t bred. At least if she isn`t bred, you will still get milk out of her. Think I would stop the grain, at least the corn part, give her a few ounces of wheat germ oil on her feed when you feed her. This may help her cycle more regular and maybe breed. I had a cow milking a year and a half before she got bred, she was still giving a couple gallons of milk a day. It sure is better having a bull around, but not the safest, but they do seem to get bred faster. Good Luck. > Thanks Marc

agmantoo · #8 05/13/12, 09:26 AM

I would want her pregnancy checked (blood test) as she does appear to be pregnant. I was of that opinion before I read the posts by others.

WildernesFamily · #9 05/13/12, 04:44 PM

Thank you so much for all the advice! For those of you who think she may be pregnant, would she still have a show of blood about two days after coming into heat if she's pregnant? She still does have that blood show, which I catch after almost every heat cycle. I did see it again after her most recent cycle.

Thank you again everyone, you've given us some hope, we've been feeling like tearing our hair out! LOL.

PaulNKS · #10 05/13/12, 05:48 PM

As someone else said, she isn't too fat to settle. However, keep in mind that when it comes to AI, man cannot compete with mother nature. Statistically, AI has much lower success rates that pasture breeding. Throw on top of that the person doing the AI. He may be part of the problem.

If she's too fat she may have trouble conceiving. I would get some weight off of her and keep milking.

I wouldn't say from the pic that she's bred. If you have lush green grasses, and too much feed, she may just be too fat.

There are also other considerations. Sometimes after a heifer/cow calves, if they don't clean out well enough, they can develop a low grade infection that is not detectable to you but, it can be enough to keep her from conceiving. There are also other problems to look at. You may need to call and visit with your vet.

By the way, that is a nice looking Jersey!

GBov · #11 05/14/12, 07:24 AM

She is sooooo pretty!

Surely its not hard to get some weight off a milking cow? I know if I get skimpy with the grain for a day or two our milk goat looses all her padding MUCH faster than she puts it on.