Wanted to say a quick thank you to all the peeps (yeah, I just said peeps, it's like we're back in 2001) who have emailed me and messaged me asking about our dear Kula girl. The ‘ol hussy is doing well.
As goes Kula's saga, many of you are aware that we've had to make the decision to artificially inseminate her, after her vacation with ‘ol Wallace didn't quite turn out as we planned.
We gave Kula her first shot of prostoglandin last week. She will receive a second shot 12 days after the initial shot. This causes her to enter into a predictable heat cycle. Once we know *when* she will ovulate, we can time the insemination appropriately.
Here's a super easy breakdown:
Day One: First injection of prostoglandin
Day Twelve: Second injection of prostoglandin
Day Fifteen: Artificially inseminate cow
Day Sixteen: Artificially inseminate cow again
Even though she hasn't had a problem coming into heat on her own, with having only one cow, it's been a little difficult to predict exactly when that will be. Giving her the injections will allow us to know (ideally) the exact time that she will ovulate. This will increases our chances of success in breeding her. It's typical to inseminate a cow two days in a row. Bull semen can survive in a cow's body for up to seven days – but a cow's egg will only live for 24 hours. Injecting sperm two days in a row helps to catch the egg as soon as it's dropped from the ovary. After the insemination, all we can do is pray for success.
Success = pregnancy.
Pregnancy = calf.
Calf = milk.
Milk = the happiest homesteader in the world.
We will be breeding her to a Jersey bull. I was able to source semen from Select Sires who was wonderful to work with. They are sending two straws of semen ($18 each) in a nitrogen tank that will keep the semen frozen for 12-14 days. This enables to us to receive it a few days prior to her insemination date. We also purchased an A.I. gun that will be used to deposit the semen for $20. We'll keep this on hand for future breedings. Learning about this artificial insemination process and breeding Kula has given us a great chance to get to know our sweet cow prior to having to engage in the (no doubt) intimate relationship of milk-giver and milker.
And for other potential cow-owners out there, I thought I would breakdown a few of the tips and lessons that I've learned thus far:
1. A cow is like a dog. It needs attention. It needs to be scratched. It needs to be groomed. It needs to be loved on. Kula's personality has completely changed since we received advice to start treating her as if she was a dog – she is now sweet, docile, and (although a bit spunky) non-aggressive. Cow's are such large animals that it's a bit difficult to get over the initial fear of just being around such a massive creature and knowing the potential pain it could easily inflict on you – and no doubt, it's good to be smart, alert, and attentive while around them. But it's also important to not act fearful and to treat your cow as if it was a family pet – because (at least for dairy cows) that's very true.
2. Grooming = love. More than anything else, this has build our relationship with Kula to one that is good for both of us. When she sees us bring out the comb, she literally runs across the field to get to us. And quite gracefully, I might add. Considering she's 1,000 pounds.
3. Expect to feed about 30 pounds of good, high-quality hay per day. It may be more (if you have a larger breed of dairy cow) or slightly less (if you have a miniature breed) but we've found this advice to pretty much be right on the money. Three flakes in the morning. Three flakes in the evening. We'll plant pasture in the fall for next spring, so hopefully we'll be able to cut our feed bill significantly by grazing her from June – November. Right now, we pay about $6 a bale for high-quality alfalfa hay and each bale lasts us about 2 1/2 days.
4. Have pasture. Even though it's totally possible to raise cattle on hay, this is expensive and not nearly as much fun. Since we've finished fencing off the pasture we built for Kula last week, she's been having a great time grazing, chewing her cud, and bedding down in the tall grass. There isn't a ton for her to eat out there right now, but she still enjoys munching on the weeds and roaming the hillside. Getting to see a cow acting like a normal cow is a beautiful thing. I could watch her graze for hours.
5. Make sure you provide the cow with a salt/mineral lick. Cows need all their minerals, just like humans. It ain't rocket science.
I suppose that's all my lessons thus far… Oh… here's another:
6. Get the bull semen tested before you feed him for six weeks. Make sure his swimmers work. Otherwise, he's a freeloader. I totally should have thought about this before…
A day older and a lesson wiser. It's totally my new motto.
Rose
ahhhhh I LOVE that first picture of her!!! SO CUTE! give the dearie a smooch for me, and good luck with conception!
Liz
Hi, I just ran across your blog and I had some information you might be interested in. Forgive me, I forgot to introduce myself, I am a fellow dairy farmer – although we dairy commercially. Our blog is http://www.amazinggracedairy.blogspot.com (I haven’t updated it in a while though, but I need to) – my name is Liz.
I read about your procuring of Kula and finding out she wasn’t pregnant. We have been there too! Lesson learned – when purchasing cattle ALWAYS have a vet confirm the pregnancy before trucking them anywhere – we had 9 out of 27 that we purchased that were not pregnant to the date that the farmer thought that they were…that was expensive.
Anyway, there are some
alternative pregnancy tests which may be cheaper for you then having a
vet out to palpate her (granted it is nice to have the vet confirm a pregnancy). You can pregnancy test the cow by drawing a blood sample. She
has to be at least 29 days since bred and I think it is 90 days since
she last calved. Here is a link about
the blood test – http://www.biopregcheck.com/ they are about $3.50 a
sample (not including shipping, but including the vacuum tube and
needle, etc.) If you are only going to use this type of test to check for pregnancy I would do it at 30 days post breeding and again at 60 days post breeding – since they are less likely to reabsorb the pregnancy once they get to two months. Here is a link which shows you how to take the blood
sample via the tail – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ylfip7tolT0 (it is
amazing what you can learn on youtube) – that is how I taught myself how
to take a blood sample – it is scarey as all get out when first doing
it, but surprisingly easy to do – provided you have a way of restraining
Kula so she doesn’t run off while you are trying to obtain the sample.
There is also a milk pregnancy test (granted she needs to be milking
for this one to work) It is $4.50 a sample
http://www.antelbio.com/Milk-based_Pregnancy_Test/Milk-based_Pregnancy_Test.html
(I am not sure if that includes shipping), but it might be a bit of
information to tuck away for when you are trying to breed her after she
calves. We have used both types of testing. I prefer the milk testing (so do the cows), but in situations where the cow isn’t milking, one isn’t left with a lot of options.
Random – this is a book that we have. http://www.amazon.com/Barn-Guide-Treating-Dairy-Naturally/dp/1601730233
It is a book about troubleshooting health problems in dairy cows. The
thing I like most about it is that the vet that wrote the book used
lots of pictures, which I find extremely helpful. It isn’t an
exhaustive reference, but it will cover the common issues. Granted it is written from an organic producer’s standpoint, but I find the organic vets have the interesting little tricks that you don’t hear about as much from the non-organic vets (our regular vet is non-organic). So it won’t cover what antibiotics to give her, but still helpful.
Hope this info helps and i am not overstepping my bounds in giving you unwanted information.
Kula looks like a very well cared for cow. 🙂 I pray she will settle (get pregnant) quickly for you.
Blessings,
Liz
raisingcropsandbabies
Cute! I will cross my fingers for you. The dog thing is so true. My Rosie is more like a cat though… she rubs up and down on my leg (which I have to brace for because she can knock me over). Love milk cows!
Callie
So do you give the shot at the same time on day 1 and day 12? and then when you AI on day 15 and 16, do you do it at the same TIME? I mean like as close to exact as possible? I want to breed my jersey this summer, but I’m not sure of timing for everything. 🙂 thanks!
Shaye Elliott
Yes to all of the above, but our attempts were unsuccessful which still could happen. I would talk to your local vet as well.