Steer Planet - Show Steers and Club Calves Forum

I just recieved a brochure yesterday from SEK with several things talked about including the Embyos on Snow Sale and Curly Calf Sydrome.  Most of the brochure is about a new Pregnancy Detection Technology developed by Bio PRYN that SEK is going to represent.  The test is all done by bloodtest and turn around is quick.  From the Brochure: The biggest advantages of the test are cost effectiveness, excellent accuracy, safety and Convenience.  When recieved by SEK, the samples will be analyzed for Pregnancy- Specific Protein B (PSPB).  The presence of PSPB indicates the animal is currently Pregnant.  Results from the test are available 27 hrs after lab set-up.  The test costs $2.50 per sample and the total cost of pregnancy testing a herd of cows will run to less than $ 3.25/animal, not including labor.  You may test at least 30 days after breeding, and at least 90 days post calving.

I like run my herd bull with my recip cows right after implanting the embyos.  My one question would be is when does a cow develop PSPB.  If I test at let's say 31 days, can a cow that is only pregnant 7 days from the herd bull still show PSPB?  Also to cheapen up labor,  I have never pulled blood from a cow by myself?  Is this difficult to learn?

Anyone have any thoughts on this service?  If Dr. Coover is promoting this I imagine that it must be a good deal.

RSC

I read that & I think it could be practical in some applications.    How hard is it to draw blood? 

It's been a while but I learned how to draw blood in a livestock production skills class in college.  You draw it from the neck.  I believe I pulled it easily the first time.  What my professor had me do was block an artery in the neck and when you saw it fill up you go ahead and draw.  Wasn't too hard.

You can google bio-pryn and find the same test ran for $2.25.  I draw mine and send them there all the time.  And it is much easier from the tail.  PM me and I will give you the details.  And they do have to be AT LEAST 21 days for the numbers to be showing at all.  The nice thing is, they give you the value not just a yes or no answer.

I'd say it would be a valuable tool for the small time cattle producer.

Don't think it has much value for operations that use ultrasound/palpation.

For the labor involved for blood collection, (remember that includes cost of vials, shipping costs too) getting the cow in the chute, I think you are better off knowing your results chute side, if you have access to it.

I use it 30 days after AI; saves the guessing on whether the calf is late AI or early clean up bull. I also use it on my fall calf herd as it is smaller and the breeding time is shorter so it is not as important to know how far along. I tested ~30 in July and total cost (test, vial, needles, postage) was 3.41 per test plus time to run through shoot. It
would  be less if you did more as postage is big expense.f Drawing blood from tail usually pretty easy and tests have been accurate.

I have been using this test for two years and routinely pull blood from my recips at 30 to 32 days following embryos being implanted. I have do not put a clean up bull out for 45 days so there is never an issue of whether the calf is an ET or from the clean up bull. The bio Pryn test has been pretty accurate in my opinion. I have had a few that they have suggested a retest. I pull blood out of the tail on Monday or Tuesday,  and courier it to the lab in Lethbridge Alberta and it is tested on Thursday and I have the results emailed to me the same day. It gives me a good idea of how many are pregnant at 30 days . Once the clean up bull is turned out, I try to watch for activity for the first cycle .

I have also used it to verify if heifer calves are indeed open, coming in from the pasture. Sometimes these Shorthorn heifers cycle at very young ages, and this is a quick easy way to find out if they are open or bred.

Quote from: CPL on October 28, 2008, 02:25:37 PM

I've used it the past two years and its been accurate. I like the values too and blood out of the tail is not that hard. Is very inexpensive and if you don't have a good local LAV its probably a whole heck of a lot accurate than  a regular preg check.

Explain to me the Values?  What's that tell you?

RSC

As others have said its will tell you how much. For instances a barn is red, but is it dark red? light red? rusted red? The ELISA will tell you how "much" she is bred. And if she has enough of PSPB in her blood then she is definitely carrying a calf. Last I talked with Jeremy at the BioTracking in ID he said they were working on a test that could be done at the farm. Other than that I haven't heard much but that would be nice.

We only use this method to preg test our cattle and have been doing so for several years.  It's cheaper, less stressful, and can be done at our convenience.  We don't have to pay for a farm call or have all the cattle sorted by a certain time.  Not sure about everyone else but our vet rarely gets here at the scheduled appointment time, so we're usually wasting time waiting for them. Plus we've lost pregnancies after palpation, and I've seen other conversations that say it's rare...but we don't want to lose ANY pregnancies due to palpation so we just don't do it.  We've tested recip cows as early as 28 days after implant with great results.  Plus we haven't been in cattle as long as most of you, so if we can learn to draw blood then most anyone can!