Synchronizing heifers

[kanshow]

We are in the process of synchronizing a set of heifers.  They've been on MGA & came off Monday.    We did not get a good heat supression while on MGA with at least one heifer cycling.    Their intake was adequate. 

Question 1.  Do you breed on the cycle after MGA? 

Question 2.  How many days til Lutalyse?

Question 3.  How many hours after Lutalyse would you do timed AI to finish up anything you haven't seen cycle?

Question 4.  Would you scrap the cycle and go to Cysterlin & Lute synch?  If so, when would you start that?

I know what we normally do, but wanted to see what everyone else does.

 

[Jill]

We do Cidr Cysterlin & Lute synch and have had really good luck with it.

 

[cowman 52]

  Have had reports to wait till hfs cycle,  lutalyse 10 days later,either breed as needed or 24 hrs after lut,  give 1 cc estradiol 1mg/ml strength then time breed aprox 26-30 hrs after injection. 

  We breed around 800 head annually & do the cysterllin  wait 7 days [can wait 6 days or 8 days]  lut,  24 hrs later estradiol,  & breed at 26 hours after that.  On large set of cows breed the ones that come in early at the front,  and work through them as they cycle.  the ones that show no signs at the end,  in our experience about 2 out of 30 .  these seem to breed about 75 percent. 
  Have have about 3 out of 30 show signs of heat about 6 days later,  am still working on how much of this is true heat or just a false heat,  feel like right now about 60 percent a false heat but not enough feed back to tell.
  Most of my customers are not real good at checking follow up,  but don't really know.
  We do the cysterllin to cut back on cost, & to cut back on the not an infection but the cidors I feel change the ph of the repro tract just to a foriegn body in there.  our luck this way with the reduced cost just about evens out.

would appreciate feedback,  this is an eve changing  process and any way to get better is welcome

 

[Cattledog]

We do Cidr Cysterlin & Lute synch and have had really good luck with it.

That's what we do too!  We have about 70% conception with this.

 

[beefy]

we use the cidr, lute, and cystrelin method the last 5 years and average around 75% on 50 head a year      <cowboy>

 

[Hilltop]

Though we only keep a handful of heifers we think MGA is awesome!! Is it possible that the feed you were using was from last year? Like one person told me it is a drug and who knows if it will keep over a year and still work. We feed for 14 days and as soon as they are off see lots of shorts heats. We estramate on day 33, then heat detect and breed. We have not had a non responder but one year when we do most reports say to breed @ 72 hrs after estramate and needle with a GNRH product. We will be breeding our heifers on April 11 and 12 if all goes well.  How many females are you working with??? We only have 8 this spring. Good luck!

 

[kanshow]

I have questioned the feed rep on the MGA.    This is the first year we've had a problem doing this program.  We started out with a pen of 35 heifers.  This is a good set that all come up to the bunk when we feed so there weren't any that were getting pushed out or hanging back.  We feed over the amount to insure that they all get the proper amount.    So on day 7, we had one heifer in heat, days 9 thru 13 there were 4 more.  They went off MGA & first day off there was yet another heifer in heat.  That is 6 out of this group.. that percentage is way too high.    We shouldn't have had that many show heats.  Now I'm holding my breath for the rest of the group.   

 

[OH Breeder]

Here is a simple chart. Heifers are at the bottom. Sometimes easier to read this. Open the attached document. It is PDF format.

 

[jbw]

I sync around 200 head of hfrs a year. I really like the MGA. Make sure you are feeding enough of it, in a very well mixed ration and feed twice a day. You feed MGA for fourteen days and give Lut 17 days after you take them off MGA. That allows them to cycle and be ready to breed. If I was only feedin once a day I would Bump the level of MGA up, and make sur there is plenty of bunk space. In fact I would feed 25% more of the recommended amount for feedlot cattle. I personally don't like cidrs on virgin hfrs. Have had better luck with this program, I love cidrs on th wet twos and cows. If you are able to have a couple of bulls standing across the fence from the hfrs. you are breeding helps in detection and I think the boys help stimulate the girls hormones as well.