Heifer Problem

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Rocky Hill Simmental

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Joined
Aug 22, 2007
Messages
397
Location
Missouri
I have been having a lot of trouble getting a certain heifer bred and was wondering if someone here could give me some advice. It's a long story..

I got this certain simmental heifer when she was about 11 months old to show and breed, she is my oldest heifer. She was an April 2005 heifer and she was looks excellent. The breeders had statisics on her mother and on average, she produced a calf every 12 months. When my heifer turned 12 months old she started coming in heat every few weeks (and from what I've seen in my other simmental heifers, this is normal). She wanted everyone to know she was in heat. She bawled, she rode other heifers/cows and teased the bull across the fence. Well I trained her and showed her and it seems like the more excerise she got, the more often she came in heat. She even came in heat the day of her biggest open show (she tried to butt the judge and was riding gates - needless to say she didn't place too well. Oh well, she got first in FFA).
I don't own a registered simmental bull but my uncle has a pretty neat 2004 Ameritrade son and he agreed to let me use his bull to breed my heifer. He's pretty good about loaning cattle, at the time he owned an angus bull too and was letting someone barrow the angus so only the simmental was even there so I could just drop her off for a month and go back and get her after I thought she was bred.
After all her shows were complete, I decided to have her bred in December 2006. She came in heat every few weeks at home so I figured she'd do the same in a large pasture where should get more excerise. So at the first of December I dropped her off there and went and checked on her every few days. She came in heat about mid-December and was riding a lot of the other cows. The bull was nowhere in sight. I figured he probably noticed she was in heat eventually and go her bred sometime because she didn't come in heat again by the end of December, so I brought her home but that bull wasn't happy about it, which I thought was odd.
She came home and was real calm like she wasn't going to come in heat. And she didn't - until about Februray or March 2007. She was riding a steer I had in there for an upcoming weigh-in and she was riding him and she was swelled up so we went to see where his bull was. He had his angus bull back so we had to run the simmental bull in a holding pen and we brought my heifer over there. We saw the bull breed her this time and left them together for about 20 minutes just to make sure he got her breed. He was real worn out by the time we got her back in the trailer and didn't even mind that she was being taken away but the angus was trying to push the paneling down and we could hear a bull at the next farm bawling too (she lets everyone know she's in heat).
A few weeks later she looked like she was in heat and acted like it too and our commercial bull wanted in with her but she'd only stay in heat half a day. Everyone told us this was because she was in false heat and not to worry about it. So we just ran our mixed breed bull in the lower field so he could consentrate on the old cows instead of having her bother him all the time. She continued with these "false heats" quite often.
Then in July 2007, we decided to take her to the vet and have her preguant checked. We thought by then they could tell if she was carrying a calf or not. They checked, she wasn't. They said there was no reason why she wasn't taking up, she has good ovaries and was a very healthy heifer. So we had them give her a shot so she'd come in heat within a few days and we brought her back to the simmental bull once again (he sold his angus bull by then). I was really busy with training some other show heifers at the time so my uncle said he'd be there anyway to keep an eye on her. About a week later he said she was in heat and a lot of his cows where riding her (and vice-versa) but the bull was following a different cow in heat and didn't seem to notice her (he doesn't live at his farm, btw). As far as he knows she hasn't come in heat again, unless he didn't notice (I'm not sure how close attention he pays to her though) and everytime I've been there the bull is never around her. In fact, the bull is often off by himself and my heifer says with the herd.
My family feels bad for having to bring her over there all the time and have her eat all his pasture and everything. She has lost a little weight on the pasture (we always gave her grain and hay). Next time he works his cows he's going to keep her up seperate so we can come and get her and have her preg checked again. Hopefully she actually got bred this time. My dad is getting real sick of having to run her everywhere and wants me to sell her. I think we should give her some more chances because she'll make an amazing cow.

What would you do if she wasn't bred this time?
I've heard the national average for a successful AI-ing is about 70%? Do you think this would be a better option? This way the bull wouldn't have to pay attention to her. I have never worked with AI technology but I could find someone who has and have them give me some help with her.
She obviously does come in heat. I'm weak- I've already kept a useless show heifer but the one I've kept never comes in heat. My simmental is already one step ahead of this other heifer.
My dad said some heifers just never take up but others do eventually and then do easily on future breedings.
I keep wanting to blame the bull. But my uncle has got a lot of calves out of him. But he is a little lazy, I've never seen this bull run. He just walks everywhere and is real slow. He's a healthy, good looking bull: he's just really lazy. My heifer is high spirited and real smart and I'm wondering if she just doesn't want to wait for a slow bull. But this is the only simmental bull I know of around where I live. Almost everyone else has angus cattle but I was really wanting a PB simmie baby.
I have 2 more registered heifers that will be ready to breed in a few months (there not as loud when they're in heat though) and I don't want to go threw this with them too. I thought about buying a bull but my commercial bull is young, good, and tame and if I sold him now I probably wouldn't get half of what he was worth so I didn't really want sell him yet. Plus, I kind of wanted to keep their calves if they had heifers and don't want to get a new bull every year for 15 cows (this includes my mixes).

What would you do? I'd really hate to sell this heifer but the breeder already told me if I wanted to sell her then he's help me but I don't want it come to that. My dad is getting impatient with her too.

Thank you.
 

Show Heifer

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Jan 28, 2007
Messages
2,221
I really hate to be discouraging, but...I have an angus heifer that comes in heat, stands, the whole nine yards, but she didn't breed her first year, nor her second....and I did EVERYTHING I could think of.
Some heifers just don't breed for whatever reason.
Another thought....(and I had to admit this too) if she is this hard to breed as a heifer, do you really want her genetics in your herd???
Sorry for the bad luck and little hope, but sometimes ya just have to throw in the towel... :'(
 

Rocky Hill Simmental

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Joined
Aug 22, 2007
Messages
397
Location
Missouri
Thanks. :) I'm just hoping she got bred this time. How long does it take for a vet to be able to tell if their pregaunt or not?

Just curious - Do you think I should try using another bull? I could always try to get a simangus or 1/2 simmental.
 

DL

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Jan 29, 2007
Messages
3,622
A long sad story but the bottom line is you have an almost 2 year old heifer that is not bred with more chances than most people would give her and as Show Heifer says if she is this hard to breed as a heifer she will likely be perfectly miserable as a first calf heifer.

You can ultra sound her pregnant at 30 days

Who did you get her from? What is the breeding guarantee?

You might want to have another vet check her? Any chance she was twin to a bull?

I give my heifers 2 (two) chances AI - if they don't stick they don't stay...................sorry for the not so upbeat news, DL
 

afhm

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May 1, 2007
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parts unknown
Maybe she is too fat, a common problem when breeding show heifers.  I would kick her out with your bull and quit feeding her.  I had one that we had to leave out for 2 months to get her to breed.  You mught get her checked out by a et person to see if there is a problem with her repro tract.  If none of this works and you can't stand to sell her then give her the shots to make her into a spotter cow that way she will earn her keep.
 

SWMO

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Jul 27, 2007
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Carthage MO
I wouldn't blame the bull at all especially if he has settled all the other females he is with.  Mature bulls will typically only breed a cow one time (many times at night especially if it is hot)  and then pay absolutely no attention to her again.  They are not lazy they just know that they got their job done and are moving on to other females.  A mature bull will not waste the energy that a young bull does. 
 

dori36

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Jul 29, 2007
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969
Location
Central Lower Michigan
afhm said:
Maybe she is too fat, a common problem when breeding show heifers.  I would kick her out with your bull and quit feeding her.  I had one that we had to leave out for 2 months to get her to breed.  You mught get her checked out by a et person to see if there is a problem with her repro tract.  If none of this works and you can't stand to sell her then give her the shots to make her into a spotter cow that way she will earn her keep.

I'll agree with some of this assessment.  Too fat can be a real problem with breeding heifers that have been shown and/or conditioned to be shown.  I'd also be putting her in with the bull and leaving her there for the season if you really want her bred.  Seems like you're putting her in and pulling her out a bit too frequently.  A good herd bull 'will' get the job done and not always when you're watching.  Mine breeds primarily at night and I rarely ever see the "act".  He knows what he's doing, apparently, as in the 6 years I've had him pasture breeding, he's NEVER missed - never.  Some heifers take two or three cycles to "get it right".  I'd respectfully suggesst you put her out with whatever bull you want to use and leave her there.
 

ROAD WARRIOR

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Jun 9, 2007
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1,865
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Iowa
Our rule of thumb for breeding cows or heifers is AI once, bull once, open once -shipped. That is assuming that the cow has had a fair chance to get bred in one fashion or another. I don't penalize a cow for my poor management skills during breeding season.
 

fluffer

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Sep 6, 2007
Messages
644
Location
Springfield, Ohio
I agree with these guys- as hard as it may be to see her go- you don't want to promote bad genes.  I had a red Angus one time that did really well in the showring.  We COULD NOT get her bred.  We put her out with the bull and about 3 months after all our other cows calved she calved.  Then we had trouble getting her bred every year after that so we finally shipped her.  Now we have a 0 tolerance for open cattle, even if they abort after being bred.  Come November (preg check time) any opens go on the big truck.  But I wish you luck with her  :) and hope she is bred.
 

Rocky Hill Simmental

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Joined
Aug 22, 2007
Messages
397
Location
Missouri
I was kind of wondering if she was too fat. She did always get feed grain twice a day and I never keep her on pasture except when she visited the bull. I bet she weighs around 1,500-1,600 lbs.

If she isn't bred this time then I might bring her home to the mixed breed bull. If she gets bred by him and has a bull calf, I could use him as a market steer and if she has a heifer and she turns out good, I could register her as a 1/2 simmental who can have 3/4 simmental calves.

Thanks again, everybody.  :) I have 2 more heifers I want to get bred this winter. I hope they're a little less trouble.
 
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