how do you improve your conception rates?

[drl]

Would anybody like to share any tips or tricks beyond normal protocol for AI that they feel helps with their conception rates? I got a few ideas that may not be new or that great but here is a start.

Provide plenty of shade
Heatwatch
Easy handling of cows
Good facilities...
increasing plane of nutrition
vaccinated up the ying-yang

 

[frostback]

I think a big one that many skimp on is semen handleling techniques. Make sure you know where your semen came from and how many tanks its been in. Taking it to the top and just trying to see what bull it is hurts the straw. Also it has been said before that you should unplug the thaw unit just before you put the straw in and then after it is out plug it back in. We have been using the unit at the north place but brought it home to do one heifer and I checked to see how warm the water is to see how much time I had and sure enough it shocked me. My husband then put his finger in but could not feel the tingle, so all you calloused handed men dont take it for granted that it does not happen. Also make sure your cutter is clean along with all your AI tools. Your other ideas are all great too. I am a big fan of the Heatwatch system. You would be surprised how many cows will start at midnight have only a few jumps then be out at dawn, or just before you get out to check. We have breed a lot of cows of one or twos jumps and have them stick. We know our cows very well and usually see other signs that help us decide to go off those few jumps though. Good luck Frostie.

 

[drl]

Thanks, never thought about unplugging the thermos. I might stick a power strip just before the unit so it is easy to turn on and off. Heatwatch is awesome because I have 4 cows to breed this afternoon that started between 1 and 2 am this morning, pretty sure I am not checking that time of day.

 

[simtal]

best mineral you can afford.

 

[CAB]

After you unplug the thaw unit, you also need to ground it once. Brent

 

[farmboy]

get lucky?  ;D

 

[Jeferin]

best mineral you can afford.

YES!!!

 

[olsencattleco]

We feed a really good mineral year round, but about three months before breeding season we feed Vita-ferm with concent aid mineral. We have had really good success rates the past few years using this. The last two years we had about 93% conception on 50 head.

eric

 

[jrg]

We also use Vita-Ferm with Concept Aid prior to breeding.  REI was impressed with it the first time we had them out to flush.  Our donors don't necessarily produce any better, but the recips sure are in better condition and we rarely have a recip that has to be kicked out.

What is the price tag on the heatwatch system?  What is the range on it?  I haven't ever checked out the details on it.

 

[LazyGLowlines]

We bought one a couple years ago and it was around $4500 with 10 transmitters.  We had to have the owner come out to get it working, though, so if you buy one you may want to test it first.  We've got at least 1 cow that comes in around 10pm and is out around 5:30 the next morning.  It's pretty tough to catch them in the middle of the night, that's for sure.  Plus it's really nice to tell a vet exactly when the cow came in heat when he's there to flush.

 

[vet tech]

What exactly is the heatwatch system??

 

[drl]

I would check out this website. http://www.jm-sales.com/benefits.htm
I love how it gets those heats in the middle of the night but also it frees up your time in the summer to do other things such as other work or going out on the town or whatever versus having somebody tied down morning and night every day you want to check. Also, if you synchronize a big group of cows it is hard to break up the pack of those in heat to check ear tags.

 

[LazyGLowlines]

What exactly is the heatwatch system??

We put transmitters on the tailhead of our cattle.  The transmitters send a signal to an outdoor antenna that transmits it to another box inside that is connected to a computer.  The computer program tells us when a cow is in heat by the number of times a cow mounts her.  It determines whether it was a supsect heat, standing heat, etc by the number of seconds the cow was mounted. You can also set it up for either AI or ET.  We use it primarily when setting up cows to flush.  Our ET vet is quite a ways away so we don't want to pay for a wasted trip.