Post by tinytexasranch on Jan 30, 2015 13:05:42 GMT -5
We’ve been raising registered Guernsey’s for several years now and have used the same AI tech successfully from the beginning. Until 2014, we had never had one not take which I thought was amazing considering the stats on AI. Since it had been so successful, I ordered sexed semen in 2014 and bred 3 girls. We had been breeding in February because that was the correct waiting period after calving but I got the bright idea to postpone the breeding to May so we could have early spring calves to coincide with the growth of the grass (spring arrives in February here). Well, only one took so we chalked it up to the sexed semen and tried again. We sold the heifer rather than risk keeping her open all summer and gaining weight and we bred Sally back using regular semen. By then it was up in the summer and summers are extremely warm here. Needless to say, it didn’t take either. So, we gave up for the summer and decided to wait it out until cooler weather to try again. She had been very regular all this time (exactly 21 days) so we didn’t think she had hormone problems. We bred her using regular semen on Jan 1 and here we are on the 30th and she has not come back in heat. Knowing her, this means it took. But, she missed a whole year and will be dry for 9 months. Who knows what kind of problems that will create at calving.
I’m glad she is bred but I still don’t know what happened. Why will she only settle if bred in the winter? I read an article this month in the Acres magazine about balancing cattle feed. It was not so much about how much you feed them but making sure that it is balanced when it comes to carbs and proteins. Too much carbs (grain) and you get acidosis and lots of other problems, too much protein and you get ketosis and/or nitrogen in the blood which can do some bad things including affect reproduction. According to this article, when you grass feed, (which we mostly do except for a small amount of grain), they get out of balance eating the fresh growth due to its low fiber, high protein continent. We have costal Bermuda which is normally very high in protein anyway and add the quick growth in the spring, I’m sure it is very hot. At least it keeps our animals extremely fat and sassy. I am wondering now if it was the grass and not the heat or was it a combination. At any rate, nix the spring calves. We’ll get back to breeding in the winter again. I should have known, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
I’m glad she is bred but I still don’t know what happened. Why will she only settle if bred in the winter? I read an article this month in the Acres magazine about balancing cattle feed. It was not so much about how much you feed them but making sure that it is balanced when it comes to carbs and proteins. Too much carbs (grain) and you get acidosis and lots of other problems, too much protein and you get ketosis and/or nitrogen in the blood which can do some bad things including affect reproduction. According to this article, when you grass feed, (which we mostly do except for a small amount of grain), they get out of balance eating the fresh growth due to its low fiber, high protein continent. We have costal Bermuda which is normally very high in protein anyway and add the quick growth in the spring, I’m sure it is very hot. At least it keeps our animals extremely fat and sassy. I am wondering now if it was the grass and not the heat or was it a combination. At any rate, nix the spring calves. We’ll get back to breeding in the winter again. I should have known, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!