Rocky Hill Simmental
Well-known member
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.
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.
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? 
