AI'ing

[CJC]

What protocol works best for you and what is your percentage?

 

[kfacres]

Lutalyse everybody.. then 7 or 8 ( i dont' remember) days later, whatever it calls for we give shot 2 (always a thursday).  Breed them as heat is shown over the weekend while I am home from school.. those that don't show heat, get time bred before I leave Sunday afternoon... Been getting real good luck- 75-80% conception rates, most of the time higher... (didn't matter if heat checked, or time bred) if you want more definate details, ask...

typically we breed on the see in heat, breed ASAP, or within a few hours, whatever is convienient

 

[Hofstatter Farms]

we have switched over to the timed AI. using a cider and lut on day one and on day seven pull the cider and hit with 2cc of cyst and 60hrs later for heifers, breed and 72hrs later for anything that has had a calf breed them. after going to this we went from 60% to 85%+

 

[CAB]

  I think Hofstatter that you may have turned your 2 shots around. I think that you give GnRH @ the time you put the Cider in and shoot a ( PG ) when you pull them & can give another shot of GnRH @ the time of insemination if deemed necessary.

 

[tadpole]

I put in a cidr and give 2-2.5 cc of cystorelin when cidr goes in.  7 days later I give 6 cc of lutalyse.  Day eight I pull cidr.  I heat detect and usually breed them 3.5-5.5 hours after they go out of standing heat and go lay down and rest.  It seems like a breed alot of cows at midnight.  If one or two dont respond I usually time breed them with the last ones that came into heat.  Also if they havent shown a real good heat but have seen them stand a time or two I give them 2-2.5 of cystorelin.  I havent pregged the cows yet but I think probably 80% or maybe a little more pregnant,  which im pretty happy with for it only being 17 and second year AI'in cows.

 

[JSchroeder]

Just realize there is a difference between what a good conception rate is on a message board and real life.

Virtually all scientific studies on AI conception rates (including many of the protocols listed here) are in the 60-75% range.  However if you read most threads on the subject on virtually any board, that would be extremely low.  The protocol that's been shown to work the best by researchers involves off label use of estradiol benzoate and even then I haven't seen a study that claims higher than 75% conception rates.

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

I think there may be a difference in the number of cows that are AIed as well. If you are only breeding 10 or 12 cows and possibly breeding them multiple times I think your average may be higher than if you are breeding 75 to 100 or more cows one time.  My best success has always been breeding on natural heats and using a gomer bull for heat detection. I believe that I have stronger heats using a gomer bull than other wise, and he works 24 jhours a day not just a few hours in the morning and a few at night. My best percentage ever was about 72% but my average is probably closer to 65%. RW

 

[kfacres]

agree with RW...  we get really good conceoption rates, but only breed a few cows, typically no more than 10 at a time...  

At our other farm, we breed whenever heat is shown, no shots aor anything, and get about 60%... these are dairy cattle though... The beef herd I refered to above..

I agree it does matter how many cows you are breeding.. but then again, percentages are percentages... 70% is still 70%, whether it was 7 out of 10, or 700 out of 1000...    What needs to be added to the above post, is accuracy in numbers

 

[chambero]

Most of the bigger breeders I've talked to about it do it completely natural as much as possible.  Some will use a lutalyse shot only after so many days, but that's it.

Because of time constraints, we have to synchronize.  We'll get close to 60% success on mature cows, lower on first calf heifers bred back for second calf, and usually just under 50% on 12-month old heifers we are breeding for the first time doing timed-AI, breeding them all at once.

How successful are bulls getting a cow a bred based on one attempt?  They told me in AI class that a bull is only around 60-65% successful.  Based on my own observations it might be a little better than that, but not much.

 

[jackpotcattle]

We have went to time breeding everything due to all the hay we have and for the last 4 yrs of time ai we have run anywhere from 58 to 72% on yring hfrs and 63 to 78% on cows. As everybody else has said natrural heat is the best way to go. We would run 75to almost 90 on natrual heats. There were a couple yrs before we went to time AI we would natrual breed for 10 days or so then run everything else in and give them a shot of Lut. That worked really well and of course shortened up our breeding season.

by waiting to give the lut till day 10 it puts those cows that came in heat right before we started breeding in the right part of the cycle so the lut worked to bring them in.

 

[CJC]

By breeding natural at what time do you breed them 1st stand, 2nd stand or which one?

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

A natural heat is one that occurrs without any manmade intervention - Lut, cedars etc. I usually breed 12 hrs after standing heat sometimes a little later. RW

 

[CJC]

A natural heat is one that occurrs without any manmade intervention - Lut, cedars etc. I usually breed 12 hrs after standing heat sometimes a little later. RW

Thanks RW. cjc

 

[Gary]

I'm like RW we use a gomer and breed natural cycles, just have found I get more stuck.
I use the am/pm rule as for the timing but I don't want the cow to standing to be mounted. If I am early and she stands after she is AI'ed I will usually re-breed her latter if it's a mating that's taken all winter to decide on, ( Come on I can't be the only one ). The bulk of the cows get AI'ed and moved to pasture the same day and not handled again until fall. If we put in enough time we will get above 70 percent.

 

[Mizzou2013]

We had awesome luck with a shot of lutalyse, ten days later another shot of lutalyse then 3 days after that last shot you breed every one but not all the cows will be showing signs of heat at that time. We used it and had 10 cows out of 14 stick and a friend had around an 80% conception rate with his heifers. It works well and isn't all that time consuming.

 

[Hofstatter Farms]

  I think Hofstatter that you may have turned your 2 shots around. I think that you give GnRH @ the time you put the Cider in and shoot a ( PG ) when you pull them & can give another shot of GnRH @ the time of insemination if deemed necessary.

right, i knew what i meant to say, just said it backwards.