Tried for 3 cycles, but she's still open.

[winton]

Managed to borrow a bull with a good track record for six weeks to put with my 18-month-old heifer. I saw her go through heat right away but didn't see standing heat, then three weeks later the same thing, and then three weeks later she appeared not to cycle so I figured I had just missed witnessing standing heat and so the bull went home.

Three weeks after he left, she came into heat again!

It's too late in the season for me to want to breed her now -- I want her to calve in the spring, so I'll wait another year -- but is there anything I should do differently when the bull is here next year? Should I try a different bull?

Thanks.

[al]

Winton,

It may not be key, but when we rented a bull for our first cow part of the deal was that he stay 3 months. The owner of the bull basically guaranteed she'd be pregnant after that time. He also charged $100 a month for rental. Yipes! I've since decided to keep a bull around. It makes more sense. $300 or so for a bull--he gives us maybe 2 yrs worth of calves--then he becomes beef.

Al

[copperhead]

If you really don't want to breed her this time of year, I would take her to the vet, check for any problem, like a cyst or something so that when you get ready nest year, you'll know she is able to get pregnant. My cow that just gave birth missed a lot of cycles before she finally got pregnant, sometimes it's hard to catch them on the first pregnancy. She'd been with a bull for over a year before she got bred, I'd see her in standing heat, but it never took. I wonder if my old bull was too big and my young bull was too young. ( she's a really small short leg and they are both long legged) It was after I got rid of the old bull that the young one nailed her and we got a baby. Is she your only cow, if you have several it might be to your advantage to buy a bull, or learn how to AI.
P.J.

[liz]

The thing that I am wondering about is 'not seeing her in standing heat'. Does that mean that there was no mounting by the bull even though she was in heat? I mean if she was in heat the bull should still mount her; assuming that he has enough testosterone! Even if you don't 'see' the mounting one bull with one cow in heat should pretty well wear her out. What exactly do you mean by being in heat? Did you see the 'bull string' meaning blood after she ovulated, or was there just discharge. Some cows will still show discharge after they are in calf, depending on the type of discharge. I think that I would get the vet to preg check her manually (can be done 42 days after she would possibly have conceived) and at the same time he/she should be able to tell you if she is cystic. Finally why don't you want to breed her now to calf in August? It sometimes is more difficault to get a cow in calf as they age and maybe get a little fat Liz

[Olga]

I don't know your location or the exact time of year when you rented the bull, but:

When abmient temps during the day avarage 95 or more degrees, the semen quality decreases dramatically and the conception rate dropps.

If your cow is over conditioned (fat) or under conditioned, she may have trouble concieving. Cows don't loose weight easily, so you really have to be strict and starve her. Only so much hay per day, instead of freechoice, and no grain. Fattening a cow up, on the other side, is easy. Limit her travel in search for food, allow hay free choice, and include a grain supplement. You may have to check the worm load and treat uppropriately to minimize loss of nutrients to parasites. Calf Manna is one of those products that really improve condition on any animal, IMO.

Also, many mineral defficiencies cause breeding problems. It may be too early to be taking the cow to the vet, depending on vet availability and price of services, but you could get a good free-choice mineral mix (not a salt block, not a trace mineral block either), i.e. a 50 lbs bag of loose minerals recommended for your area by the extension service agent. I would then give it several weeks and invite the bull back during the cool season. We "released" the bull in early December last year and the calves were born Sept.16, Oct. 1 and Oct. 10. It was still warm enough even if it was raining, but not stifling hot like in July.

[winton]

Thanks, everyone.

I'm in Massachusetts, so it wasn't an issue of it being too hot when the bull was here. My cow is very healthy and not over or under weight, so I don't think that's an issue, either. Since I'm mainly breeding her so I can milk her, I don't want her calving too late in the summer, since I want as long a milking season as I can get but will want to dry her off in November. I'd love to have my own bull, but with only about an acre of pasture it won't work.

So, I'm going to just enjoy her company for another year and bring in a bull again in July.

[anthony]

You should realy have the heifer examined to make sure she is actually capable of conceiving.. Shouldn't be a problem but you never know, a ovarian cyst could cause some troubles but their are a number of things that a vet could find or not find that would save you some serious money and time... Or Mr. Bull was shooting blanks because of age, sickness or injury.. All three are possible even after having been a proven bull..

[fuzzy]

have the vet out and check the cow for cystic ovries

[Cloverbell]

I have one just like this. Kept thinking she was bred. Even saw her bag getting a little bigger. Nope, nope every time. One vet insisted her uterus was "hard", the other said it was normal. We finally lutalysed her twice and put her back in with the bull. Now we're waiting to get the vet back out at the end of the month. We call her the 40 year old virgin. She would be gone except she's the prettiest one of the lot. The next step is blood tests. Not quite sure what the vet will be looking for with that but I'm willing to go the next step to get her bred. Fingers crossed.