Let's talk AI

[Wolf-Kim]

I would like to have a Jersey milk cow and be able to breed her to an angus for a beefy offspring. Our neighbor has a bull and 2 cows, all black angus and I was hoping that he would allow my cow for a "visit" or two.

When I say they are our neighbor, I mean their cow pasture boarders ours on two sides. Adam, my husband, is worried that if we allow the neighbor's angus to get too familiar with our Jersey cow, that the fence between the two properties is coming down. Any advice?

So, if it is a bad idea to breed to the neighbor's bull, or the neighbor just decides "no". I was considering AI. While I know the basics to AI, I'm unfamilar with the details, costs, and procedures.

Would someone so kindly walk me through it? What is the normal cost? And the pros and cons.

I truly appreciate it. I know I'm starting several threads at once, just trying to cover all the bases.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

You won't get as beefy a calf if it were purely beef-bred. Which means you won't be getting as much beef to put in the freezer.

I agree with Adam because this bull will only get worn down if he's got over 30 cows to breed. Two cows are nothing for him to cover, and he will definately "bring the fence down" to get to your Jersey if she's in heat. I can guarantee you, though, he will make sure your cow gets covered, unlike the lower success rates with AI. If you want to keep the bull off of your land, i'd maybe talk to your neighbor into getting him to put a hotwire on the fenceline that borders yours. It's a better deterent than anything, but it's just that, a deterent. It won't guarantee that the bull definately won't march through the wire (hot or barbed), as he certainly can if he's got the mind to. And you can't stop a cow from coming into heat and putting her rear up to the fence for the bull to check out.

JHM is the pro on here for AI (he's a certified AI tech), so I will let him fill you in on anything you need to know. The things I would like to mention about AI is that, one, you need facilities to hold her, and equipment to hold semen straws and carry out AI. AI also has a less success rate than with natural insemination, but this can depend on the AI tech or vet you hire or your own personal experience if you choose to breed her yourself. You also have to keep an eye on her to see when she goes into heat and judge the time when to have her AI'd. This might be more difficult because she is alone, but then if you know her well enough, it may not be. A cow's heat period lasts for 24 hours, so as soon as you see her in heat (and it better not be when she's going out of heat!) she has to be bred 12 hours later.

Hope that helps.

 

[Cara]

AI tends to be more practical for large scale operations as the set-up costs are so high. The actual semen cost is relatively low, probably $20-30 per straw. The actual apparatus required is where the expense lies. I think a conservative estimate for equipment would be $2000-2500, with vet/AI tech fees also to consider. That's an awful lot of money to breed one cow!

 

[jhm47]

It would help a lot to know the location of everyone. There should be well trained AI techs nearly everywhere in the USA, however it is sometimes hard to find them. By Googling the major AI companies, you should be able to connect to their websites and find someone to breed your cow. I happen to work for Genex, and their website is:

http://genex.crinet.com

You should be able to contact them and find almost any information you need. There are a LOT of Angus bulls in the beef catalog, and you definitely should find one that will work well on your Jersey cow. Just be sure to use one that is VERY easy calving.

If, on the off chance that there are no techs in your area, you should be able to buy the equipment for around $1000. However, you will still need to become trained, and that would cost another $500 or more. Like everything else, practice makes perfect, and with one cow, you will most likely not get enough practice to become really proficient. This would mean that you probably won't have a real high success rate. 50% would be fair with no experience. Some never do make the grade.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Oh okay. Thanks.

Sounds like live coverage seems to be more of the reasonable option, especially with just one cow. Our fence is hot, the neighbor's is cattle fencing with barbed wire.

It sounds as though the cow will be kept on the smaller side of the pasture and be provided will all her feed. It will keep her from the horses, and keep her from the fence that borders the neighbors.

I understand that any calves won't be pure beef type, simply because of their mother being a dairy type. The calf would be more beefy if it's sire was an angus or other beef type than if the sire was another dairy type.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Imissmygirls]

My take on your situation:
It will be near impossible to keep Mr Angus away from Ms. Jersey. There will be broken fences unless both are EXTREMELY well fence trained and the fences are hot hot. Then you might have a chance. On the other hand, I am told by veteran Jersey breeders that Angus/Jersey is the tenderest beef around. We had registered 4H jerseys and had I had the benefit of knowing a calf would be a bull, I would have definitely had an Angus/Jersey cross. As it was, we only wanted the heifers
AI breeding depends upon locating a technician. Unless jhm makes a house call, you would need to make some calls to find one. The hard part is catching your cow/heifer in heat. With only one cow and you not being familiar with cattle heat cycles, this could be very difficult. You would need to chart behavior and note mucus, etc. And you assume she will have normal heat cycles.
That being said, we bred our cow AI without any problems and she stood at halter in the field for breeding and preg checks. ( Honest jhm, she was that tame!) I have also sold jersey heifers that I tried all ways to get bred, and they just wouldn't!

We had a milk Jersey cow/calf on 2 acres in southeastern PA. I fed about 5-10 lbs grain ( mixed by local feed mill) to the milk cow daily. Calves got up to 5# calf starter /day until they were 6 months old plus all the hay or pasture they could eat. After 6 months, depending upon season, they only got enough grain to keep them growing. You don't want fat dairy heifers.
I preferred GOOD grass hay for them. Yearlings can get what we would call Heifer Hay: second quality; but the calves and milk cow get the good stuff.
As jhm says, a LOT depends upon where you are located. I would read as much as you possibly can on dairy cattle and lactation. Find a mentor... or a number of mentors. Find a 4H dairy group.
Search the net for magazine articles on dairy cattle husbandry.
In general, beef cattle are easier to raise than dairy because you aren't dealing with main lactation problems.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

My take on your situation:
It will be near impossible to keep Mr Angus away from Ms. Jersey. There will be broken fences unless both are EXTREMELY well fence trained and the fences are hot hot. Then you might have a chance. On the other hand, I am told by veteran Jersey breeders that Angus/Jersey is the tenderest beef around. We had registered 4H jerseys and had I had the benefit of knowing a calf would be a bull, I would have definitely had an Angus/Jersey cross. As it was, we only wanted the heifers
AI breeding depends upon locating a technician. Unless jhm makes a house call, you would need to make some calls to find one. The hard part is catching your cow/heifer in heat. With only one cow and you not being familiar with cattle heat cycles, this could be very difficult. You would need to chart behavior and note mucus, etc. And you assume she will have normal heat cycles.
That being said, we bred our cow AI without any problems and she stood at halter in the field for breeding and preg checks. ( Honest jhm, she was that tame!) I have also sold jersey heifers that I tried all ways to get bred, and they just wouldn't!

We had a milk Jersey cow/calf on 2 acres in southeastern PA. I fed about 5-10 lbs grain ( mixed by local feed mill) to the milk cow daily. Calves got up to 5# calf starter /day until they were 6 months old plus all the hay or pasture they could eat. After 6 months, depending upon season, they only got enough grain to keep them growing. You don't want fat dairy heifers.
I preferred GOOD grass hay for them. Yearlings can get what we would call Heifer Hay: second quality; but the calves and milk cow get the good stuff.
As jhm says, a LOT depends upon where you are located. I would read as much as you possibly can on dairy cattle and lactation. Find a mentor... or a number of mentors. Find a 4H dairy group.
Search the net for magazine articles on dairy cattle husbandry.
In general, beef cattle are easier to raise than dairy because you aren't dealing with main lactation problems.

Thank you sooo much everyone.

The neighbors cows are very well behaved, I know that sounds strange, but of the years we've lived here, they've never come to our side, even after there pasture is stripped. Although I understand that a male after a female in heat will do amazing things.

Once the Jersey is bred, will the bull be a problem? Or is it just while she's in heat? I figured it would be like with the horses, where the intact males could care less about the females unless they were in heat.

Our fence is pretty darn hot. We were able to keep stallions on one side and our most floosiest(is that a word. LOL) mares on the other. Without any "accidents".

 

[kelsey2017]

When it comes to some mares that is not only a word it's the ONLY word.

I being a owner of a bovine for just 24 hrs and 40 minutes that I know that at least with the beef cows next door there is almost no 'activities' of that nature happening by the time the little beefers are 3 months old and even then a few cows take longer. He has been out here every day checking to see if anyone is still not bred. The bull runs with the girls all summer and not even the bull came over to see who was (still is) bellowing. So I am hoping my little darling is bred.

If you are actually physically going (like with a truck and trailer and money) to get a cow- even an older one that has had a few calves I would think you could breed to an angus. If she has had some calves and the bull will make small enough babies I don't see why not. That was kind of my plan with the heifer I just got today. The neighbor raises angus or angus cross and he breeds his ladies with a nice bull that makes smaller babies. He has a fairly large herd and they calve out in the pasture and he just keeps on checking on everybody. He has been doing it for like 50 years and had only had one incident where a calf died as a result of them not being able to deliver. My little Kjersten (Heifer) is bred to a little jersey bull from a dairy nearby (good small calf). He was older than her but not any bigger so that seems like a no brainer. And if I don't get a heifer calf the first time I will definitely try the sexed semen and AI. And after she has had a couple calves (girls, girls) for us and we see how she milks and get her bred to the angus next door. She is not a pure Jersey though her mother is a Blue shorthorn which is quite a big animal. So Kjersten will be around 900lbs when sheis full grown. If you haven't bought a cow yet try a cross so breeding for beef babies is easy. All cows can be milked right? If you don't to start a dairy.

 

[PattySh]

A simple solution if the neighbor is agreeing is to pay him board to let her run with his bull as that's your breed of choice for several months then preg check her and bring her home. I just had my Jersey/Holstein heifer bred AI. Finding the tech was no problem I asked at the local feed store for the name of the Genex guys. Luckily we are in the middle of a dairy area and I wanted a Jersey bull. It was also cheap $10 for Jersey semen and $10 for the AI tech (still can't believe the price.) The plus was he came right over and she did stand perfect for the breeding on just a lead line and the AI guy feels we caught her right on. He was awesome and explained what to watch for next. Time will tell, waiting to see if she comes back into heat. The down side is she didn't show the average signs of heat and she's 22 months and just now bred. Being hand raised I guess she imprinted more on us, tho she hangs out with him she didn't want anything to do with the steer who was supposed to ride her and tell me she was cycling. Instead where she will run off playfully a couple of times before letting me approach her, she was all lovey and rubbing on me, when I went to rub her by her tail she lifted her tail and she peed in my hand lol. Figured oh my call the AI guy. Guess I got it right. I will say getting this girl bred has been a serious challenge, if I'd have had a little Jersey bull local I have begged the farmer to board her a few months. Everyone is AI around here, my only access was a hereford bull and I opted out on that one, didn't want a big calf. Cross your fingers for me if all goes as planned we'll get her preg checked at 45 days (from Sept 16).

 

[elevan]

Here's a list of A.I. Companies