Joined: Aug 2008 Gender: Female Posts: 27 Location: Puyallup, Washington
Cant detect Heat after Calving « Thread Started on Aug 6, 2009, 2:10am »
I am having trouble figuring out when Ethel is in heat. Before she calved it was VERY obvious when she was in heat, she turned into a give it to me from any one or anything. Now I know she has had to have had a heat cycle by now, Lucy is almost two months old. (Born June 10th) If she isn't have as strong of heats as she used to what is a good sign I can look for? There are no bulls around, that is why I am looking for signs so I can set up a time frame with the breeder. I am getting a little bit confused. Any ideas from people with way more experience would be great
Re: Cant detect Heat after Calving « Reply #1 on Aug 6, 2009, 4:19am »
Things to look for: her (Ethel) attempting to mount another female in the pasture and/or another female in the pasture attempting to mount Ethel. clear discharge from Ethel bloody discharge from Ethel all this is just observation, watch her every time you feed or are around the pasture for a few minutes. depending upon where she is in the cycle, it could take 3 weeks before you see one or more of these signs.
Re: Cant detect Heat after Calving « Reply #2 on Aug 6, 2009, 9:43am »
If she is a first time calver, having her first lactation, it may take her 45 to 60 days (or more) after calving to show her first strong heat. If there aren't any other cows around, she may try to climb on her calf -- so be aware of that, because she could unintentionally hurt the calf if she is too aggressive in her mounting behavior.
Typically, when a cow is approaching her heat cycle, she becomes more restless and she may walk (pace) the fence, make noises, and act more aggressive than usual (head butting with other animals, including her own offspring). For some cows it's almost like they have PMS!
When we have a cow that starts to act this way, I start brushing her in the morning and evening, especially around her tail area, so that I can look for changes such as swelling and/or increasing redness of the vulva, mucous discharge at the vulva, and mucous discharge on the tail or sides of her rear quarters, etc.
What I've found is that if the cow is actually in standing heat, she will often stand very still while I'm inspecting her back end -- she may even lift her tail for me. It's very obvious that she's ready to be bred. If I halter her and try to lead her, then she will stop periodically and stand while we are trying to walk together -- another sign that she's ready to be serviced (if we're doing live cover with a bull).
If you are AI breeding her, your best time to get a conception is to AI breed at the end of her standing heat, not at the beginning or middle of it. A standing heat typically lasts about 8 to 12 hours. That's why the "rule of thumb" used by many AI techs is if you see a cow in standing heat in the morning, then you AI breed her that evening -- if you see a cow in standing heat in the evening, then you AI breed her the first thing the next morning.
That "rule of thumb" assumes that you're observing the beginning of her standing heat and trying to AI breed her approximately 12 hours after the start of her standing heat. She will typically ovulate about 6 to 8 hours after the end of her standing heat -- so you're trying to AI breed her prior to ovulation and allowing the sperm cells time to reach the optimum place in her reproductive tract to meet up with the egg that gets released.
This works well most of the time, but some cows conceive best if they are AI-bred a little earlier or a little later than the "rule of thumb". Experience with each animal is your best guide on this. With our Dexters and Kerries, we usually try to AI breed them within 8-10 hours of the start of their standing heat. If the start of their standing heat is in the afternoon-- then we'll AI breed them late that night and again early in the morning.
Good timing is essential in AI breeding -- the semen has to be placed into the cow's reproductive tract 6 to 12 hours prior to ovulation. If she has already ovulated, or if she ovulates too soon after artificial insemination, then the sperm will not be in the right place at the right time to meet the egg, and conception will not occur.
Our conception rates have been exceptionally good this year and we attribute it to the cooler than normal July weather and to using a better mineral supplement (we started offering all the cows Cargill's RIGHT NOW Onyx mineral in March). Selenium is a critical mineral when it comes to maximizing a cow's fertility. If she is deficient in selenium, even marginally deficient, she will be less fertile and she may take repeated servicing in order to conceive or she may not conceive at all.
Last year, we blood tested several of our Dexter and Kerry cows to determine if they had adequate intake of selenium and copper. The ones that had difficulty conceiving or carrying to term were the ones that were deficient in selenium. To bring their selenium blood levels up, these two Kerry cows needed injections of Mu-Se, a selenium/Vitamin E supplement obtained from our veterinarian. By getting their selenium blood levels into the normal range, prior to breeding, they conceived without any problem. One of these cows calved in mid-July, and her new heifer calf was full term and vigorous. The other Kerry cow that received Mu-Se injections is due in November. We will blood test these cows again (prior to breeding) to determine if their selenium levels are normal and to see if another round of Mu-Se injections are needed or if our new mineral supplement is adequately addressing the selenium deficiency problem experienced by these two Kerry cows.
Hope this is helpful information for your situation.
Re: Cant detect Heat after Calving « Reply #3 on Aug 6, 2009, 10:52am »
Another thing to watch for is excessive bawling. One cow by herself, most of the time, will switch her tail a lot, walk the fences and bawl her head off.
Joined: May 2008 Gender: Female Posts: 104 Location: Central New York
Re: Cant detect Heat after Calving « Reply #5 on Nov 1, 2009, 6:00pm »
Having a bull has taken that stress off. He is onto the heats way before I notice. Now I just have to watch his behavior and make note of the day/days that he spends with her to determine her calving next year. AI was definitely more complicated and the cows ended up having their calves later and later each year. Next year using our first bull the cows are going to have their calves at least one month earlier than this year.
![[Home]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/menu/home.gif)
![[Help]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/menu/help.gif)
![[Search]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/menu/search.gif)
![[Login]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/menu/login.gif)
![[Register]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/menu/register.gif)
![[Search This Thread]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/search2.gif)
![[Send Topic To Friend]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/buttons/sendtopic.gif)
![[Print]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/buttons/print.gif)
Author
![[avatar]](http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/640/dscf2673.jpg)
Logged
![[avatar]](http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b180/lsg2450/th_DDbaby.jpg)
![[homepage]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/buttons/www_sm.gif)
