Post by april on Nov 21, 2008 22:46:47 GMT -5
Hello, everyone!
I'm so frustrated this evening that I'm about to cry. (Ok.. I admit it, I did shed a few tears, but only where no one could see me! )
The third AI for our 5 year old (ish) Jersey seems to have failed. She's got a bit of mucous showing and she just started bellowing this evening. I was so excited because we passed day 22 of her cycle, which has been the day she went into heat the last three cycles.
Now, the first AI really shouldn't count because we had no idea what heat looked (sounded) like, and we were syncing her. She came into heat the day of the second sync shot, and it was two days later before our AI tech came out to breed her. Our fault for not knowing what heat was, but live and learn.
So now I have to decide if I want to go ahead and have her AI'd for the fourth time. The problem is that we're getting close to the point (in my uneducated opinion, of course) where it could end up being too cold for the calf by the time it's born. We've missed this heat, of course, meaning that a successful AI would result in a late September calf. So - is that too late in the year for a calf to survive the winter?
I also need to decide if I want to keep pouring cash in feed into her just to keep having AI fail. AI is cheap, so that's not really an issue, but wowza can that girl eat. She was extremely skinny when we got her, but with good groceries she's filling out nicely. (I guess.. I should post before and after pictures and have you all tell me what you think.) I really really want some good milk!
So I got to thinking that maybe I'm getting the AI tech out here at the wrong time. The tech said that she felt "really good" the last time, but no joy anyway.
What specific time of heat do you all think gives the best chance for conception. We can use today as an example if you like. This morning at feed time there was no mucous and she wasn't even "skittery". (The day before heat last month she danced around a lot and acted like she wanted to play like puppies do.) No bellowing all day long, except when we were outside and she could hear us but not see us - that's normal for the silly thing. This afternoon at about 2:30, hubby went to take a look at her and said he couldn't tell if she was mucousy (is that a word?) or if she had just peed. (He refuses to touch anything 'down there' to really take a look.) At evening feeding time, 4:30 ish, she had a little glob of mucous on her tail and looked slightly slimy inside. She also started trumpeting just before that. The past few heats, I called the tech when she started bellowing and the tech usually came out a few hours later. Does that sound about right?
As some background data, she didn't have a calf last year, but did each year since she was about 18 months old. All of her previous conceptions have been straight from the bull as well. You can find pictures of her at our blog at boughshiredale.blogspot.com.
I'm sorry this post is so long, so whiny and so full of questions. I just want her bred back so badly and I hate giving up on things - I'm just very discouraged.
Thanks much,
April
I'm so frustrated this evening that I'm about to cry. (Ok.. I admit it, I did shed a few tears, but only where no one could see me! )
The third AI for our 5 year old (ish) Jersey seems to have failed. She's got a bit of mucous showing and she just started bellowing this evening. I was so excited because we passed day 22 of her cycle, which has been the day she went into heat the last three cycles.
Now, the first AI really shouldn't count because we had no idea what heat looked (sounded) like, and we were syncing her. She came into heat the day of the second sync shot, and it was two days later before our AI tech came out to breed her. Our fault for not knowing what heat was, but live and learn.
So now I have to decide if I want to go ahead and have her AI'd for the fourth time. The problem is that we're getting close to the point (in my uneducated opinion, of course) where it could end up being too cold for the calf by the time it's born. We've missed this heat, of course, meaning that a successful AI would result in a late September calf. So - is that too late in the year for a calf to survive the winter?
I also need to decide if I want to keep pouring cash in feed into her just to keep having AI fail. AI is cheap, so that's not really an issue, but wowza can that girl eat. She was extremely skinny when we got her, but with good groceries she's filling out nicely. (I guess.. I should post before and after pictures and have you all tell me what you think.) I really really want some good milk!
So I got to thinking that maybe I'm getting the AI tech out here at the wrong time. The tech said that she felt "really good" the last time, but no joy anyway.
What specific time of heat do you all think gives the best chance for conception. We can use today as an example if you like. This morning at feed time there was no mucous and she wasn't even "skittery". (The day before heat last month she danced around a lot and acted like she wanted to play like puppies do.) No bellowing all day long, except when we were outside and she could hear us but not see us - that's normal for the silly thing. This afternoon at about 2:30, hubby went to take a look at her and said he couldn't tell if she was mucousy (is that a word?) or if she had just peed. (He refuses to touch anything 'down there' to really take a look.) At evening feeding time, 4:30 ish, she had a little glob of mucous on her tail and looked slightly slimy inside. She also started trumpeting just before that. The past few heats, I called the tech when she started bellowing and the tech usually came out a few hours later. Does that sound about right?
As some background data, she didn't have a calf last year, but did each year since she was about 18 months old. All of her previous conceptions have been straight from the bull as well. You can find pictures of her at our blog at boughshiredale.blogspot.com.
I'm sorry this post is so long, so whiny and so full of questions. I just want her bred back so badly and I hate giving up on things - I'm just very discouraged.
Thanks much,
April