I'll be honest and tell you that I have very little hope that she's bred. She's been with three bulls now, and my past experience tells me that bulls aren't shy. Typical male, you might say.
I've raised Secret from the time she was ten days old. I know she isn't a freemartin, because she does come in heat. But for some reason she hasn't become pregnant.
No real farmer would have given her as many chances as we have, but we're not real farmers. I really love this heifer. Still, she's neither my child nor my dog, and she can't stay if she can't have a baby. It's called "cutting your losses".
I've been through this sort of thing before. So if Secret comes in heat again, she goes to the sale barn where somebody can take his chances on her. I'll eventually buy a Jersey cow that's either bred, or has a calf by her side.
You're right if Secret was in John's pasture she would have been gone by now. Poor girls.
ReplyDeleteHello I saw you on my blog and thought I would check yours out! It is great. I am sorry to hear about secrets troubles. I know exactely what you are going through. Though we have a ton of bottle calves go through our barn each year I get attached to a select few for one reason or another and then they get sent on down the line. Since we work for this ranch and don't own it. it is not my discsion to keep the calves I want. Just a thought on secret. I don't know if this is an option for you or not. Maybe have a local rancher or your local vet AI her. If they get her heat cycles working with cysterelin and lutalyse also a hormone implant she may actually take. Now a cow that is bred AI has around a 60% chance of taking. So if the bull didn't get her the AI may not but if her heats aren't strong the hormones may bring her in better. But it is all just a shot in the dark. Most people would not go through all this trouble and my hubby bubbly is one of them, but I like to give things as much a chance as possible. On our ranch if a cow does not take or if she loses a calf and does not get an orphan put on her no matter how good a cow she is she is sold. Sorry for writing so much. Hope it is helpful! Oh yeah AI does cost when you have someone else do it especially so you have to factor that in aswell. SOrry I am rambling Megan
ReplyDeletewww.happyheiferhouse.blogspot.com
I hope she takes this time for her sake and for your sake since you have raised her from a baby and have spent a lot of time with her. Helen
ReplyDeleteI understand. 2 years in a row for Crystal and no baby
ReplyDeleteHate to break it to you but freemartins often do cycle. They have poorly working ovaries but enough to make them cycle. The problem is often that they don't have a vagina so even if the ovaries work, there is no place for a calf to develope. I raise alot of bottle calves and almost every heifer I have bought has been a freemartin. The only ones that weren't, I saw them take the heifer calf from her mother in the sale ring....
ReplyDeleteTana Mc