How long do bulls court cows?

[amysflock]

Bridgit is on day 23 in her cycle, and the visiting bull has been apparently courting her since day 20 - cleaning her, following her around, napping by her side, etc. He's a little less attentive today than he has been. I never saw standing heat in Bridgit this time (guess it would have happened overnight?). Our other cow was showering her with attention on Day 21.

Is she bred this time? Do bulls continue to court even after the "deed" is done?

 

[Farmer Kitty]

OH, they will continue to court after the deed is done alright. She should be going out of heat now so he will loose interest in her. We had a bull that never hung out with the heifers. He was always on the other side of the pasture than them. After his being out there for several months and getting thinner than we like we brought him in. Poor guy was getting thin for a reason. Even though we never saw him with the heifers we had 19 calves arrive within a two week period just shy of 9 months after we turned him out.

 

[amysflock]

LOL, that's an awesome story, Kitty! I have a friend who has seen her bull breed one of her cows in two successive years, but I had heard the deed usually happens under the cover of darkness, so I figure she's just got really good timing.

 

[Pure Country]

LOL!

Cows are usually in heat for 24 - 48 hours. At least that is what I was told by a breeder. I think there is an exception to that rule tho. When we got our new bull in April, we didn't have any cows in heat. Then again, we haven't had a bull in with them since Oct. last year. Next thing we know, Natalie, the one in my avatar, has her rear turned towards him. Within 30 min, they had bred. She's a shameless hussy. The others were too concerned but I'm sure by now several have been bred.

 

[jhm47]

It's been my experience that heifers will be in heat for 6 - 12 hours, and cows from 8 - 16 hours. I breed many hundreds artificially each year, and when we see a cow/heifer in heat, we try to breed her 12 hours later. For instance, if we see one in heat in the AM, we breed her in the evening, and vice versa.

Heat detection in heifers is sometimes hard. If they come into heat at 10 PM, we sometimes miss them. We use the Estrotect patches, or Kamar heat detectors. Detail paint also works well.

 

[amysflock]

Well, Umberto seems to be done with Bridgit. The three adults are still hanging together somewhat, but he's no longer following Bridgit around or sticking super close to her. He's still showing interest in our 7.5-month old heifer calf, who is in an adjacent pasture with her half-brother, separated from the adults by a three-strand hotwire fence. The dang bull had the bottom of the fence lifted up sniffing her, and I verified it's still a hot fence. Grrr. I'm keeping a close eye on him. I know we should probably have him here for two heat cycles, but with his interest in Annabel, I might ask the breeder to pick him up early. We'll see.

 

[bethinoklahoma]

IF we breed at all I would reather let my cow go visit the bull.
How long would she stay and is this something thats done for a
flat fee ? How would I find a local breeder that would be willing
to do this ?

 

[wynedot55]

youd take her to the bull 2 or 3 days before her heat cycle.an let her stay with the bull a week.i dont know what people charge to pasture breed cows.

 

[OSUman]

i remember the last time i had a bull at my house we were raisin him for meat and one night he got out of his pen and we had to herd him in with our 4 heifers for the night and we got him out the next day and then the heifers were sent to my grandparents to get bred and the vet was going to try to AI them and 3 of the 4 of them already were bred by the bull that was in the freezer. 2 of the three were heifers and they were beautiful.

 

[AF Texas Longhorn Ranch]

One of my heifers is gonna spend 2 months on pasture w/ a nice bull next month and I don't have to pay anything! YAY! It helps to make friends in the cattle business