Detecting heat in sucklers.

[ajcc]

Does anyone use a steer with a chin marker raddle crayon?
I want to try and ai 25 sucker cows this spring and read that a steer with a marker can considerably assist. Who knows about this?

 

[buttercup]

Have used a chin market with the bull, works well, but the current bull keeps taking it off. Do think that a teaser will work well, but why not buy a bull, and then sell it ??

 

[ajcc]

Have used a chin market with the bull, works well, but the current bull keeps taking it off. Do think that a teaser will work well, but why not buy a bull, and then sell it ??

Got a new bull bought but thought 65 cows was plenty for him so thought to run him with 40 and try and get some aied for variety.

 

[neilo]

Does anyone use a steer with a chin marker raddle crayon?
I want to try and ai 25 sucker cows this spring and read that a steer with a marker can considerably assist. Who knows about this?

A steer wouldn’t work, but a teaser bull would, as in needs to be vasectomised not castrated.

It’d be too late to do one for this Spring I would have thought.

We used to run one with the dairy cows at home. He would run himself ragged serving everything on heat (we only ran one in a big herd), then seemed to get bored after a year. His replacement did the same too, but maybe we just overfeed them too much.

 

[neilo]

It would likely be easier & cheaper to synchronise & AI a bunch, then turn them out with the bull’s mob for him to catch the returns.

 

[ajcc]

The article I was reading said observe 1 times daily with marker on teaser bull, observe 3 times daily with marker on dairy steer or observe 5 times daily with no detector animal.
The implication being a steer (easily obtained and utilised) would be a useful detection aid although not as good as a true teaser bull.
Synchronising is a step to far in my cattle management @neilo

 

[Beames]

I use these on my sucklers when watching for heats for AI. Seems to work well.

Boviflag Heat Detection aid to help detect estrus in cows | HanPro

The BOViFLAG heat detection aid helps to identify estrus in cows. The product features a scratch-off surface on top of a brightly coloured self-adhesive layer

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[Woolless]

The article I was reading said observe 1 times daily with marker on teaser bull, observe 3 times daily with marker on dairy steer or observe 5 times daily with no detector animal.
The implication being a steer (easily obtained and utilised) would be a useful detection aid although not as good as a true teaser bull.
Synchronising is a step to far in my cattle management @neilo

Five times a day! You wouldn't have time for anything else. I would have thought a good look am/pm would be sufficient, perhaps with some aid to help.

 

[neilo]

The article I was reading said observe 1 times daily with marker on teaser bull, observe 3 times daily with marker on dairy steer or observe 5 times daily with no detector animal.
The implication being a steer (easily obtained and utilised) would be a useful detection aid although not as good as a true teaser bull.
Synchronising is a step to far in my cattle management @neilo

I’ve certainly never heard of a castrated bull serving anything, or not enough to be able to rely on it. Heifers run with steers don’t get mobbed when they’re bulling, or ewe lambs with castrated lambs. I agree it would be easy if you could use one though.

Synchronising is a doddle, it just needs a bit of attention to detail with timings, which are well established programs. It won’t result in 100% in calf, but then nor will AI from observed heats.
It costs of course, but much cheaper than buying a second bull.

 

[Henarar]

Maybe a silly question but why is raddle not used on bulls?

 

[Henarar]

I’ve certainly never heard of a castrated bull serving anything

Neighbour had a steer and he would find anything that was bulling, wouldn't leave it alone
Wouldnt serve the cow but you certainly knew it was bulling

 

[neilo]

Neighbour had a steer and he would find anything that was bulling, wouldn't leave it alone

Was he a rig?
They will only exhibit that behaviour if the have elevated testosterone levels. I suppose some will have naturally higher levels anyway, but would be a job to find one when you needed one to rely on.

If we had a cysted dairy cow that couldn’t be easily treated then she’d stay in the herd for a good while before culling, purely to help with heat detection. They’d work as well, or better, than teaser bulls, and still give a bit of milk. Their hormone imbalances meant they became very muscley by the time they were culled too, like bulls would.

 

[Henarar]

Pretty sure he wasnt a rig, never saw anything anyway

 

[Muck Spreader]

We synchronised and AI'ed our replacement sucker heifers for a couple of years but it was a right faff. With only average conception rates and inseminators who were nervous of of dealing with frisky Limmys compared to dairy cows.

 

[Sid]

Use chalk, Kmars or scratch pads and check daily.

Your going to have to get them in to serve anything bulling anyway so physical aids are going to be easy to use.

 

[unlacedgecko]

Was he a rig?
They will only exhibit that behaviour if the have elevated testosterone levels. I suppose some will have naturally higher levels anyway, but would be a job to find one when you needed one to rely on.

If we had a cysted dairy cow that couldn’t be easily treated then she’d stay in the herd for a good while before culling, purely to help with heat detection. They’d work as well, or better, than teaser bulls, and still give a bit of milk. Their hormone imbalances meant they became very muscley by the time they were culled too, like bulls would.

would a speyed heifer do the same job? I’ve seen videos of them doing it on feedlot bound heifers in the US. Probably not legal in the UK though.

 

[neilo]

We synchronised and AI'ed our replacement sucker heifers for a couple of years but it was a right faff. With only average conception rates and inseminators who were nervous of of dealing with frisky Limmys compared to dairy cows.

I thought you guys insisted French Limmies were quieter than the nutty things sent over here......

 

[Muck Spreader]

I thought you guys insisted French Limmies were quieter than the nutty things sent over here......

World of difference between Dairy cow quiet and Suckler cow quiet.

 

[Agri Spec Solicitor]

We find synchro AI works well on heifers. We do a single AI at the appointed time. Then catch the failures at approx 21days .

 

[Woolless]

We find synchro AI works well on heifers. We do a single AI at the appointed time. Then catch the failures at approx 21days .

What sort of conception rate do you get to AI?