Begginer With Small Herd *HELP*

[SimmentalShowGirl]

I am 19years old and have been showing cattle for 5years and recently scraped up enough money to buy my First Cow and then was given two commercial cows who calved two heifers this spring. So I currently have five female animals I need to breed next year.. Well now I am preparing for 2011 and I am wondering DO I NEED TO GET A BULL??? My neighbor was nice enough to let me run my cattle with him this year but I only had three to breed next year he said he does not want me to run five animals with three calves at side... I am thinking I wanted to A-I all my cattle next year but I see it is not very successful at my neighbors... like 4 out of 10 animals took... Well I am looking trade one of my Sim-Angus heifers for a PB Simmental Heifer bred for next spring and sell my commercial heifer to be able to buy a bull but that does not leave me enough money to AI next year, feed,vet and I am a full time college student... :/ I am very confused on what to do with what little money I have....

ANY ADVICE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!!

 

[goodhors]

First question is WHO is doing the AI work? Seems like lots of cattle people "take the course" in AI, but
then are less successful in breeding their own animals, with poor conception rates. Everyone wants to save
money doing things themselves, but not getting all the females bred is not a savings to their operation. No
calves in spring is a loss of income. Of course most folks follow the AI with a bull to cover the cows, but they
lose the diversity AI provides, upgrades you want to the calves produced.

I would call a couple AI services and talk to them. Ask your list of questions, learn about expected success rates and how many
visits are needed, costs per visit. This is BUSINESS to them, the customers don't come back if AI Service doesn't get the job
done for them, with live calves in the spring. So these folks MUST be good at their work, to keep making money.

You may want to invest in a headgate, which will be used quite a lot with the AI work. Safer for everyone handling
the cows. You have no upkeep expense in headgate like a bull takes, can easily be resold if you want to.

With AI you will have a lot of bull choices, with numbers to let you know bull's strong points to work with your individual
cows. Easy calving for use on heifers, good weight gain, more heifers than bull calves, etc. You can use different bulls to
strengthen each cow's weak points, to produce better calves for you.

You could still rent a bull after AI, to cover any possibly open cows. Then send him home after a short time.

 

[kstaven]

Many times it isn't a problem with A.I. timing or technique. It is improper storage of the straws or the thawing.

 

[SimmentalShowGirl]

OK I will start calling up tomorrow. I know of a couple of AI technicians that have a 95% conception rate and breeds dairy cows but I am going to look into it more, this spring I invested money into a head gate I am familiar with EPD'S and I was thinking of buying sexed semen for cows in my pure-bred Simmentals also. I am feeling a little better from what I hear from you about AI... I have two angus that will be summer calves and one cow that will have a spring heifer. So Bulls are not mandatory as long as I have a good AI technicians?

 

[jhm47]

Not to discourage you, but NOBODY has a 95% success rate, not even bulls. Be very careful of anyone who makes a claim like that. I would also disagree on kstaven's claim that it's improper handling of the straws that leads to low conception rates. It has been my experience that heat detection is absolutely the most critical part of AI. Sure, making sure that the straws are handled properly is important, but a real professional AI tech would be extremely careful with his "bread and butter". You can do everything exactly perfect with handling the straws, and placement of the semen, but if there is no egg released at the proper time, you will not have a calf.

 

[Okie Amazon]

Where are you? Here in Oklahoma, you can go down to the Cattlemans' Asociation and look through their stud book and pick your bull. Then someone from the Association will come out and AI your heifers.

 

[77Herford]

Sometime's small Ag schools will AI cow's to teach students and may do it for a reduced cost but this is truly a hit and miss project.

 

[kstaven]

Not to discourage you, but NOBODY has a 95% success rate, not even bulls. Be very careful of anyone who makes a claim like that. I would also disagree on kstaven's claim that it's improper handling of the straws that leads to low conception rates. It has been my experience that heat detection is absolutely the most critical part of AI. Sure, making sure that the straws are handled properly is important, but a real professional AI tech would be extremely careful with his "bread and butter". You can do everything exactly perfect with handling the straws, and placement of the semen, but if there is no egg released at the proper time, you will not have a calf.

You would be amazed at how many people think they can get away with storing straws in the freezer long term and then cry when conception rates go down the gutter. When you get into regions like mine the closest A.I. tech is almost 400 miles away. This is my point of reference for the comment.

 

[Royd Wood]

400 miles away - still trying to get my head round how big the States and Canada are. Thats like going from Scotland to London.
Our AI guys back in the UK seem to get it right, but we made sure the cow was standing solid with another cow on her back then put the call in. The AI guy would be there within an hour or so - Job Done

 

[kstaven]

There are some closer who do A.I. But if you want certed, bring the straws with them ETC .... then you better book well ahead, haul out the check book, and be very sure about heat cycles. Or learn to do it yourself.