Is anyone do n any AI ing behind induced heat

[dollarlessbill]

is the AI still a art being practiced ?  Has anyone got any expeirance with the drugs that induces heat and syncs  the cows?  I have read that there has been a lot of development in the meds used.
What I tried to use in the old days never seemed to work , well it brought the cows into heat but my success rate was much lower than breed n on natural heat now from what I gather it just the opsite the success rate is higher with induced, sinkroed, heat cikels.
Anyone got any 1st hand with this,


Bill

[copperhead]

Sorry Bill, I have thought about AI and it just seems like more trouble than letting the bull take care of it.
P.J.

[zephyrhillsusan]

Bill, we have used AI in the past with synchronizing. The first time we took the cow to the clinic about two miles from our home. It worked great, as I can attest because I've been milking the product of that conception. Then the tech said they could do it cheaper on-farm (no boarding fees). We tried on two separate occasions with the same cow and her heifer. Neither time took, although I have put the blame more on us for failing to recognize signs of standing heat. Our pasture was too far from the house and had areas where we couldn't observe the animals. I even sat out there for about 6 hours once! The AI tech also said it was too hot and that likely inhibited them coming into heat. The last time we took the same cow back to the clinic and got another lovely heifer. So we were at 0% out of two on-farm tries and 100% out of two clinic tries. The reason we gave up on AI and bought a bull was that it was almost impossible to get anyone from the clinic to answer our phone calls when we wanted to start the process. We only had two cows, and they deal with huge commercial breeders with valuable embryo donors, etc so we were small peanuts. Our vet does AI, but he lives over an hour away and is frantically busy, so it is just easier to keep a bull. And we love our bull!