Cattle Pregnancy Scanning

[unlacedgecko]

When do spring block calving herds scan?

Typically how much is it? Is it done by vets? Or like sheep, do people use lay scanners?

Thanks.

 

[Cripper]

Lay scanners who does ai aswell. Much more accurate as they are doing the same job all the time. Cost a couple of pounds each. May be more for small numbers. They need to be scanned fairly early if you want to know if they are carrying twins. For me it’s done in November. Vets are far too expensive and you are paying per minute which makes you rush and ends up taking longer especially with suckler cows. Sometimes get them to pd the odd cow if I have to get one for another job

 

[saly123]

We did ours last week and we'll be calving end march onwards... vet did ours and charge by the hour. We did our 45 in under the hour and that wasn't with us rushing or the best set up.

 

[Fendt516profi]

Did mine about 10 days ago for April was £100 for 29 sure I've had him for 40+ before and been same price it's the turning up that I expect I'm paying for a extra 10 cows or so is only minutes more

 

[scholland]

We bull for 9 weeks then scan 6 weeks after bulls come out. That means twins can be found and calving date can be assessed.

 

[milkloss]

Calving in mid April and scanned over the last couple of weeks. We have used a lay scanner in the past and they are extremely good especially with the back pack and google glass and goes in The forcing pen PDing cows as he pushes them round. £2.50 a beast for over 30 I think.

we now use the vet, nothing wrong with the scanner man but I had a squiggle at the vets over their charges and they said they’d match it but I agreed to pay a little more where they had to use the scanner. Not as accurate but good enough for us and we seem to struggle with getting the perfect timing anyhow.

the added bonus is that you can tb test the barreners as you go ready for selling.
Also enjoy the chat with the vet about the animals etc, treatments, new protocols etc which is why I left RT because of the compulsory vet consultation part which we manage to do a few times a year without paying extra!

 

[S J H]

I'm sure most of the new ones are that type, but if you have the googles rather than a tv setup then you can do it through feed yokes or an aI race. I can't use our sheep scanner for that reason so have to use the vet per hour.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

6 weeks after the bull comes out.

 

[unlacedgecko]

Much call for scanning May - July?

 

[Cows 'n grass]

We did our in mid September, calving from mid February onwards.

It depends how good your handling is as whether a vet or scanner is cheaper. We have 2 vets here and they would do 550 in a little over 2 hours which works out as £1 / cow. My vet will scan and date faster than I can write.

 

[Blue.]

We scan every fortnight,locking head yokes for 26 cows,vet says were the best set up they do.

They obviously don’t go to @cows’n grass with his herringbone race.?

 

[Beef farmer]

Scan 600 here on 2 units in 5 hours with 1 vet. Takes 3 of us to keep up with loading and paper work. Holding 30 odd in a herringbone race pretty helps

 

[Cows 'n grass]

We scan every fortnight,locking head yokes for 26 cows,vet says were the best set up they do.

They obviously don’t got to @cows’n grass with his herringbone race.?

We have a 40/45 cow race which is brilliant if you have enough people to keep it loaded. It would be no use at all in your situation. I would have a minimum of 5 people here for scanning.

 

[Wooly]

Scan 600 here on 2 units in 5 hours with 1 vet. Takes 3 of us to keep up with loading and paper work. Holding 30 odd in a herringbone race pretty helps

Good going on the vet. Bet his arm is sore in the morning !

Experianced vets are worth their £120 hour for scanning, but then you get a fresh young vet doing only 20 an hour and the cost is enormous.

Scanner man here is around £2-50 a head and a £25 set up fee for smaller numbers.

 

[buffalo_soldier]

Do weekly PD's starting next week?.

Can get a 5 cows in my herringbone race. So probably a cowsngrass equivalent of 20?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

How many to PD @unlacedgecko ?
This can make a difference to how you approach it, as well as what management decisions you'll make with the data.
How accurate do you want the dates as timing has a bearing on this, hence there are a few correct answers?
If you want to check your AI tech / bull's performance (as an example) then you modify your approach to, say, identifying cows that'll extend your calving pattern

 

[som farmer]

we pd 30 i'sh days after finishing with ai, like to get a few bull services in, lets you know bulls are working, 75 held to ai, and 1st 3 natural services +ve. That was 2nd august, have left the bulls in, as we are down with tb for the 1 st time, have ended up with 15 cows not I/c, out of 140, some of which are welcome ! But we have 10 cows, 7 of which are hfrs, -ve, the hfrs, we had to wash out, treat after calving, as they were bought fresh, reckoned they had had calving probs, and drew rebate. The next conumdrum, what do you do with them ? It's easy decision with older cows, but the hfrs are not worth to much to kill, but they have had every opportunity to get I/c, either ai or bull, dry them off, and put a bull in ? As this is our 1st yr spr calving, we do have a very small aut block, 15/20 cows. Or take the hit ? It seems wrong to cull them, but, the established spr calvers, will say, take the hit, correct ?

 

[jimmer]

Did 140 here in just over 2 hours
One at a time in race, although one always waiting
Call it £2 a head, I'll take that
30 days after bull out, 18 weeks after start of ai

 

[Beef farmer]

we pd 30 i'sh days after finishing with ai, like to get a few bull services in, lets you know bulls are working, 75 held to ai, and 1st 3 natural services +ve. That was 2nd august, have left the bulls in, as we are down with tb for the 1 st time, have ended up with 15 cows not I/c, out of 140, some of which are welcome ! But we have 10 cows, 7 of which are hfrs, -ve, the hfrs, we had to wash out, treat after calving, as they were bought fresh, reckoned they had had calving probs, and drew rebate. The next conumdrum, what do you do with them ? It's easy decision with older cows, but the hfrs are not worth to much to kill, but they have had every opportunity to get I/c, either ai or bull, dry them off, and put a bull in ? As this is our 1st yr spr calving, we do have a very small aut block, 15/20 cows. Or take the hit ? It seems wrong to cull them, but, the established spr calvers, will say, take the hit, correct ?

Cull. Make 400 quid if fleshed. In calf heifers for feb are 800 quid

 

[Beef farmer]

Good going on the vet. Bet his arm is sore in the morning !

Experianced vets are worth their £120 hour for scanning, but then you get a fresh young vet doing only 20 an hour and the cost is enormous.

Scanner man here is around £2-50 a head and a £25 set up fee for smaller numbers.

Yeah we get the most from him, hangs a jug of lube on his belt, so in between cows just chucks his hand and scanner head in the jug.