Artificial insemination... practical?

[forester7]

I am currently in the planning stages of building a hobby barn and possibly keeping a few Dexter cattle. I was thinking of keeping 2 cows and their offspring until slaughter. Would it be practical to go this route and plan to have AI done each year on the cows, or would this cost too much or be too difficult to pull off? I doubt I could keep enough cows to make getting a bull practical. 

Any thoughts?

[Lynne Simpson 180Farm FaberVA]

We used AI very successfully on 4-6 Dexters for several years. Not sure you will be lucky enough to find a former Select Sires AI tech like ours that just enjoyed helping small start ups like us, and only charged $25 per AI!! You will need a good way of restraining the cow of course, and a head chute is not cheap. AI techs like to use different drugs to induce heat, so that could be an added cost. I think I remember buying a large multi-dose bottle of Lutylase for $80. Our tech managed great success by only having us give one IM injection of Lutylase per cow, so that bottle lasted a long time. We would just call the tech when we observed standing heat and he would AI them about 12 hours later. I think we only had to repeat AI on 2 cows in the several years we used him. We used semen straws from AI bulls on the ADCA website and they ran from $25-100 each plus shipping at the time. So, if you find the right AI tech, have the right facilities, can give injections, and have the time to observe for standing heat, it could be cheaper and more practical than keeping a bull...unless you have an easy keeper like our bull Shamrock Yogi of course!

There is nothing like Dexter beef, and knowing where it came from. Good Luck with your new addictive Dexter hobby!

[forester7]

Thanks, Lynne. That is encouraging! I have read recently that Dexter cattle are harder to do AI on because signs of estrous are more subtle. Good to hear at least someone had good luck!

[Lynne Simpson 180Farm FaberVA]

If you only have 1 animal it might be a little difficult to tell when they are in heat, but as long as you have 2 bovines, you will be have no problem knowing who is in standing heat. There was nothing subtle about our frisky girls, so it was very easy to detect. In the slowest southern drawl you can imagine, our tech would tell us "if she's gettin' rid in the evenin', I'll AI 'er in the mornin' before I git on the tractor...an' if she's gettin' rid in the mornin', I'll AI 'er when I git off the tractor."

Hope you get a gem of a tech like we did! Best, Lynne

[hoperefuge]

Love that quote from your tech, Lynne! 

I've also had excellent success with AI, breeding on a natural heat, and no injections of any kind.   I use the Estrotect stickers to help with heat detection.  www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=b109dd61-fdb6-4229-b420-de0af382da7c  I don't know why somebody would say Dexters are harder to AI than others!  The hardest part may be finding an AI tech or vet to do it for you.

Good luck!

Kim