Post by jenna on May 9, 2010 22:30:29 GMT -5
Hello,
I'm sooo glad I found this site. I've only been a member a day, but I loved every minute of it!!
Any how, to my question. We have a few beef cows and a family milk cow. Up until this year we have always purchased a bull to do the breeding. After a close call last year with our bull, and deciding we could improve our genetics quicker we decided to switch to A.I. I was fully willing to become certified to A.I., but wasn't able to get to a class this spring. Our neighbor girl who helps out on our farm alot is in her first year of animal science and offered to A.I. for us if we wanted her to. There really are not any A.I. techs close by and she is really good around cattle so we took her up on it. We bought the equipment and tank, since I intend to do it someday anyway.
So, today our first cow was in heat. Our jersey heifer April. Our neighbor, Sara was over to help me with chores this morning and when we were done she bred her. I know what AI involves, but am not super familiar with the exact procedure so I have a couple questions.
First Sara wanted to palpate her to make sure she was in good heat. I led April into our crush and Sara gloved up to do a check. Now anytime our vet has palpated, she has always lubed her glove first. Sara didn't even though there was lube in the AI kit. When she tried to enter April, she had alot of trouble and wasn't able to get her hand in right away. After a couple hard pushes she finally did get her hand in. Still she had quite a bit of trouble going farther. Our heifer arched her back. It seemed to hurt her. Finally Sara determined she was ready to breed. She loaded the gun and proceeded to AI April. Once again she didn't put any lube on her glove and it seemed hard for her to get her arm in. When she was done and withdrew her arm I noticed some blood on her glove.
So, is it normal not to lube up for AI. The bottle of lube is right next to the gloves in the kit. Would it be OK for me to ask Sara next time to lube her glove before she AI's another cow? I guess I feel it would make her job easier too, but Sorry for the "novel" LOL, but any advice would be much appreciated,
Jenna
I'm sooo glad I found this site. I've only been a member a day, but I loved every minute of it!!
Any how, to my question. We have a few beef cows and a family milk cow. Up until this year we have always purchased a bull to do the breeding. After a close call last year with our bull, and deciding we could improve our genetics quicker we decided to switch to A.I. I was fully willing to become certified to A.I., but wasn't able to get to a class this spring. Our neighbor girl who helps out on our farm alot is in her first year of animal science and offered to A.I. for us if we wanted her to. There really are not any A.I. techs close by and she is really good around cattle so we took her up on it. We bought the equipment and tank, since I intend to do it someday anyway.
So, today our first cow was in heat. Our jersey heifer April. Our neighbor, Sara was over to help me with chores this morning and when we were done she bred her. I know what AI involves, but am not super familiar with the exact procedure so I have a couple questions.
First Sara wanted to palpate her to make sure she was in good heat. I led April into our crush and Sara gloved up to do a check. Now anytime our vet has palpated, she has always lubed her glove first. Sara didn't even though there was lube in the AI kit. When she tried to enter April, she had alot of trouble and wasn't able to get her hand in right away. After a couple hard pushes she finally did get her hand in. Still she had quite a bit of trouble going farther. Our heifer arched her back. It seemed to hurt her. Finally Sara determined she was ready to breed. She loaded the gun and proceeded to AI April. Once again she didn't put any lube on her glove and it seemed hard for her to get her arm in. When she was done and withdrew her arm I noticed some blood on her glove.
So, is it normal not to lube up for AI. The bottle of lube is right next to the gloves in the kit. Would it be OK for me to ask Sara next time to lube her glove before she AI's another cow? I guess I feel it would make her job easier too, but Sorry for the "novel" LOL, but any advice would be much appreciated,
Jenna