Heifer Fertility

[Buck]

I had a set of yearling crossbred heifers that I began to ai back in Dec. They are all clubby bred and are mostly simmy x maine. Of the ten, two of them cycled normally and bred on the first service. I continued to observe them for heat with none detected. In Jan. I gave the remaining eight a shot of Lut. and still no heat. In Feb. I set them up with GnRH and Lut. and timed bred them and turned them out with a clean up bull. I preg checked them last week and none of them are bred. They will all be coming two years old in Sept. All were developed the same and fed the same as a group. What could be going on here and what can I do to get them bred?

 

[frostback]

Did you check the bull?

 

[ejoe326]

I agree with checking the bull.

When you time bred do you see any standing heats?

What are you feeding them?

What is your mineral program?

I never have bad much luck and haven't used 1 shot of Lut for probably 10 years.  Did you use CIDRs or just the GNRH and Lut?  What was your timing on the shots?  How did you preg check them?  If they didn't stick in February and cycled back or missed a cycle due to the shots they might be hard to palpate.

 

[cowman 52]

If you havent seen something in heat, I'm thinking you better check again in 2 months or so.

 

[BlkAngus]

I'm also curious how you preg checked them.  I just had a heifer that was palpated open.  Didn't see any heats, blood tested her and it came back preg.  I plan to test her again with the next batch just to confirm.

 

[Buck]

Had my vet check them with a scope. They were running with the bull and 20 other cows. All cows were checked at the same time and only one was open. I have never actually seen any of these 8 heifers in heat. I have been doing this for 20 years and have never seen anything like it. I bought 6 of the heifers from my brother and 2 from my nephew and those are the 8 I am talking about. It's almost like they have experienced something that has affected their fertility. They were developed with supplemental feed but I do admit they could have been fed better.

 

[obie105]

Maybe they need some high quality mineral for awhile to help them

 

[frostback]

Did the vet palpate them and if so what did he think? That is a head scratcher. Are the relatives having any issues with their remaining herd?
You said they were mostly clubby bred but then said Simmi/Maine.  How many sires are in the mix?

 

[BTDT]

I am unclear if the heifers were fed the same as the 20 head of cows or not, but you might check for aflotoxins. It is probably too late since the feed is probably gone, but certain aflotoxins mimic estrogen and will prevent pregnancy and heat cycles.

As much heat as I might get for saying this, clubbie bloodlines are not known for their fertility so a higher percentage of opens do not surprise me at all.

Honestly, if they are not bred after all of that, I would sell them and buy back some bloodlines with fertility.

 

[Buck]

That's where I think I am. I called my vet back today because of something he said while preg checking them. He mentioned something about small repro. tracts and I didn't pay much attention. When I called him I reminded him of this and asked him what he actually saw. He said that the group seemed to have small/ underdevelpoed ovaries, tubes and uteruses.

 

[cowman 52]

I'm thinking implants now.