Breed early or late.

[GLZ]

So I have a 4 year old cow that just came into standing heat literally 10 minutes ago.  (7:30 PM)

Due to work tomorrow I can either breed her at 6 in the morning (not quite 12 hours), or 5 in the evening at the earliest.

I have always been under the thought process of if I am going to error, I want to error on the late side of things.

So would you breed her in the morning (10 1/2 hours), or in the evening (21 1/2 hours)

 

[jagerbeef]

I would breed her early have had a lot better luck early than late.  The semen will last inside the cow for up to 12 hours I have been told.
Hope this helps

 

[Freddy]

Try to see when she goes out of heat ,if she is still active in morning breed at night ...

 

[MCC]

Freddy's right. But what we would do in this case is if you have plenty of semen and it's not to expensive is breed her in the morning and then again in the evening. If you can't then I would breed her in the evening. I have always used the rule 8 to 12 hours after they go out of standing heat. That would put you good until about 7:30 tomorrow night. I've always been told better late than early.

 

[OLD WORLD SHORTIE]

I dunno if this is just me, but when i breed early (tomorrow morning) i get a better ratio of heifers. For instance 6 out of my last 7 born were heifers and i dunno if its luck or my early breeding.  But just to make sure since it seems that you really want it get her bred i would do one in the morning and the evening just to make sure you get a pregnancy.
+1

 

[kfacres]

I dunno if this is just me, but when i breed early (tomorrow morning) i get a better ratio of heifers. For instance 6 out of my last 7 born were heifers and i dunno if its luck or my early breeding.  But just to make sure since it seems that you really want it get her bred i would do one in the morning and the evening just to make sure you get a pregnancy.
+1

cowboy on here, the ET specialist... says the opposite if I remember right...  If I remember right, the heifer sperm are less mobile, but longer lasting

Maybe he'll chime in.. 

 

[husker1]

I know it's past decision time for you, but all of my contacts say breed early rather than late.  One guy that I really trust says he'd much rather breed at 8 hours rather than 18...I've always been told to calculate from the time they first stand and not worry about when they come out. 

I know we've bred plenty of heifers 12 hours after the onset of heat that are still standing on hour 24...with success.

 

[Alscows]

Early. 

 

[GLZ]

I find it interesting how the answers vary on here.

My update, she showed no signs at all this morning, so she was bred this morning, with a little Cystorellin to hopefully help.  (If I couldn't get her to come up I probably would have bred her tonight)

 

[Mueller Show Cattle]

Breed early, the Doc at my AI school advised the semen can live in the reproductive tract for 20 to 24 hours. The cow is suppose to ovulate an egg 12 hours after last standing heat. I would AI this morning. As far as the heifers calfs, the female sperm are less mobile/slower than the male sperm, if you AI early the chance is that the female sperm will be there waiting when the egg is released and more of the male sperm could be dead increasing the chance of the pregnancy being a heifer as male sperm don't live as long as the female does. 

 

[OLD WORLD SHORTIE]

Thats pretty much what my AI instructor told me, and its worked like a charm. I have about an 80% heifers to bulls over the past 7 years. And of course remember to make them dance, by squeezing the vulva and it will make them arch their back and some how it works. I don't know much of the science behind all this but i know when a female is in heat and how to do the rest.

All this AI talk has got me thinking of putting together another kit on a budget to keep in the truck so i don't have to go back to the barn every time work needs to be done off site. I pretty much have everything i need but im gonna need a thaw thermos to complete the kit. The standard AI thaw thermos runs a little over $130 and my question is what do you guys think about using this Burton 12 volt thermos that claims it can boil water in 15 minutes at a cost of just $25.

 

[Mueller Show Cattle]

Can you adjust the temprature of the water in the thermos? You don't want the water too hot or you will kill them pretty fast. The nice think with the defrost unit is that the temp does not change  much when it is at the adjusted temp. They taught squeezing the vulva in my AI school also as it is proven to help the conception rate rise as that makes the cow have muscle contractions which allow the semen move through the uterus better plus gravity helps.