Pieces of a puzzle coming together
Apr 24, 2020 20:43:38 GMT -5
suzorse, treatlisa, and 10 more like this
Post by Shawn on Apr 24, 2020 20:43:38 GMT -5
I've been wondering what's going on with Ellie, my Milking Shorthorn. She calved as a 2 year old in May. She didn't show heats well, so calved in September the next year. After calving, same problem, not solid heats, so next calved November 1st. I've seen a calving heat since then and one regular heat in January, then nada. And she has gotten thin in the last month or so.
A month ago, I bought a new mineral that a member recommended AMPT-A. I have 3 cows and 5 calves. In the span of one month they ate almost an entire bag of kelp and the entire bag of AMPT-A.
I also increased her grain and went back to TAD feeding about 2 weeks ago. On Tuesday I got wormer from the vet and applied that. (He said her worm load was moderate)
This morning, I go out to milk and her heat detection patch is completely rubbed off. She was very warm, so had been having some fun for a while. I thought, too late to do an AI now because when I turned her out, she wasn't really standing for anybody. Later at noon, DH said Ellie was standing for a steer. So I called the AI tech and she came at 7:00 PM. By that time, she had worn off patches of "road rash" all over. (She is very easily skinned up, though) And her patch was GONE. LOL
The interesting thing is while telling this to the AI tech and telling her about Pippa slipping a calf, she asked if the mineral has selenium in it? I said I wasn't sure (it does) but I'll check. She said even though they say we're not, we ARE in a selenium deficient area and feeding brome (instead of native prairie hay) makes it worse. (that's the hay I feed).
So I feel like now I know what's going on. I am hopeful that I can keep her on a yearly schedule, (moving toward May calving) and get all of them back on track. It's depressing to have only one calf (out of 3) coming next month.
I also got some Multimin at the vet and I am going to give her the recommended 3 injections per year to see if that also helps.
Previously, I had tried other minerals, but they would not eat them. Not sure if they didn't need them then, or they weren't palatable. But they do like the AMPT stuff, so I'm putting in a plug for that.
A month ago, I bought a new mineral that a member recommended AMPT-A. I have 3 cows and 5 calves. In the span of one month they ate almost an entire bag of kelp and the entire bag of AMPT-A.
I also increased her grain and went back to TAD feeding about 2 weeks ago. On Tuesday I got wormer from the vet and applied that. (He said her worm load was moderate)
This morning, I go out to milk and her heat detection patch is completely rubbed off. She was very warm, so had been having some fun for a while. I thought, too late to do an AI now because when I turned her out, she wasn't really standing for anybody. Later at noon, DH said Ellie was standing for a steer. So I called the AI tech and she came at 7:00 PM. By that time, she had worn off patches of "road rash" all over. (She is very easily skinned up, though) And her patch was GONE. LOL
The interesting thing is while telling this to the AI tech and telling her about Pippa slipping a calf, she asked if the mineral has selenium in it? I said I wasn't sure (it does) but I'll check. She said even though they say we're not, we ARE in a selenium deficient area and feeding brome (instead of native prairie hay) makes it worse. (that's the hay I feed).
So I feel like now I know what's going on. I am hopeful that I can keep her on a yearly schedule, (moving toward May calving) and get all of them back on track. It's depressing to have only one calf (out of 3) coming next month.
I also got some Multimin at the vet and I am going to give her the recommended 3 injections per year to see if that also helps.
Previously, I had tried other minerals, but they would not eat them. Not sure if they didn't need them then, or they weren't palatable. But they do like the AMPT stuff, so I'm putting in a plug for that.