Poor Conception Rates...

[DCC_Cattle]

Not too happy, out of the last 11 cows that have been AI'd, 9 of them have come back in heat. 2 of them have been confirmed bred by blood testing. Has anyone else had trouble this year? It appears we could have some semen quality issues. Usually it's the other way around. Out of 11, only 2 would be re-breeds. Good thing we have a couple bulls out working also, they're getting theirs settled 

 

[FriedgesCharolais]

I have too. Not really sure why tho I didnt do anything different than last year, and last year I was pushing 80% conception

 

[redoak]

Are you ai' ing them yourself?  How do you handle the semen?  All the same bull or different bulls from same distributor. 

I would be upset too, especially depending on what I paid for the straws.  2 out of 11 isn't any fun.

 

[ejoe326]

What did you use for semen and did you do natural heats or set them up?

 

[frostback]

Do you unplug your thaw unit right before you put in the straw after it is the right temp? I would check the thaw unit for a electric shock you may not be able to feel. I know that someone a year or two ago was having the same issue and found out with a bit of checking that they were shocking and killing the semen.

 

[DCC_Cattle]

We used probably 6 different bulls on those 11 cows. All semen was purchased from the same place. We always breed on natural heats. We thaw our semen in a thermos that's not electric. Just water out of the faucet to the correct temperature. Actually, 4 of the cows were bred by another technician that did use an electric thermos. Have about 12 cows due in this weekend, with half of those being re-breeds, so we'll see if we had ant better luck. Switched up what we bred them to the second time on a few of them.

 

[frostback]

Are you doing it inside or outside? Are you keeping the straws out of the sunlight? Was the semen purchased out of the back of a car with a traveling salesman or sent via mail?

 

[ejoe326]

We use an electric thermos but unplug it before the semen goes in.

Typically I would not be as concerned about distributor as where the semen originated.  Have you thawed out a straw and see what you have under a microscope? 

Hopefully this weekend goes much better than the last round.