Beef Cattle fertility rate

[marke985]

Today I made a tough decision to cull one of my favorite cows.  She is about 3 years old and we have been unable to get her pregnant.  We tried artificial insemination 4 times and natural insemination 2 times.

 

I'm new to this game but enjoy being around the cows and the work is pleasant enough. (i.e. gathering food (cut and carry), cleaning the manure, ect.)

 

I'm interested in gaining more knowledge from others in the Thai cattle game such as when to give up on a non producing heifer.  

 

Also, what are your opinions on AI versus natural insemination here in Thailand, or any other advice or mistakes you made along the way 

 

Thanks

[kickstart]

Your problem is almost certainly to do with nutrition, a three year first calving heifer, I would say a s a maiden heifer she held to get n calf with 1-2 service?

I live in a big dairy cow area, and getting first calving heifers back in calf is almost mission impossible, the reason the diet is short of energy, any cattle textbook will tell you energy is the limiting factor in production and fertility in cattle dairy and beef,

Also, a first calving heifer needs more energy in the diet to allow for production, and growth, which can be done, but a diet short of energy will give you a fertility problem, main problem being small nonfunctioning ovaries, hence the heifer being served 6 times.

To solve the problem, increase the energy containt of the ration, you said you cut grass what grass? from the roadside? roadside grass is low in protein and energy etc. ,or do grow some planted/sown grass ,if you can grow some good quality grass it would help ,if you have the land ,contact Ubon Forage Seed for some grass seed ,,if you can find some concentrate feed in your area a few kg's of that a day will help ,plus minerals ,not ,the mineral blocks only they are really salt block about 98% salt 2%minrals ,with Thai soil being shot of minerals they need some supplement ,and getting your vet in to inject her with a multi vitamin or whatever is a waste of time and money .

And if you feed rice straw that will not help very low in protein and energy

As for AI verses natural service natural service has a higher percent on conception, but the bull must server her a good few times, once or twice is not enough, our few beef cattle we use AI without many problems.

What breed is the heifer, a Brahman Thai Native, or a European cross, if it is a long-eared thing, they are not easy cattle to rear, need the same diet as a dairy cow.

So, do not cull her, with the market as it is you will not get a lot for her, buy some feed and minerals and feed her up for a while.

[marke985]

The cow breed I am told is 50% brahman and 50% thai.  The larger cow pictured is the cow I have been unable to get pregnant. There is a definite language barrier as I speak very little Thai and only 1 associate of mine speaks ok English so I'm not sure what is meant by 50% Thai cow.  The two pictures of grass attached makes up about 70% of the cows diet.  It is the 2 most common grasses in the area.  They usually graze for a few hours each day and will eat whatever grows naturally in the area (Rice fields before rice is planted, school grounds on the weekends) I recently planted 1.5 rai of Mulatto 2 grass, but it will be at least a month before it's ready and I have a 4 rai lot reserved for grass but it is prone to flooding and was unable to get a drainage pond dug before the rains came.  

 

The 2nd picture of bound grass seems to be flood resistant and I have about 1.5 rai of it growing well in my flooded 4 rai lot.  I don't know the names of the grass but if anyone does please share.

 

Thanks, I enjoy learning everything and anything I can about cattle in Thailand.

[kickstart]

Thai cattle breeds are almost a Heinz 57 ,what is ment by 50% Thai cow ,is that the dam is 50% Brahman, and 50 % Thai Native, that is about one of the best breeds you can have, relatively easy to rear. 

She looks in good condition, that grass is Purple Guinee grass, the other in Thai, is Yar Con, or Para Grass ,Yar Con loves wet areas, both are low protein grasses, and these samples are looking like old grass ,so the quality will be even lower., as I said hence your infertility problem.

You have made a right move growing that Mulato II, but it must be grazed young to get the quality, say 45 days between cuts or grazing, and it should be no higher than the top of a wellington boot when grazed or cut,.

Hope the Mulato II grass is on dry land as it does not like wet conditions, you could be better growing it on the flood resistant land, and for it to do well it will need some urea fertilizer on it 

[marke985]

Thanks for the knowledge.  I'm curious what would be your thoughts on giving the cow in question and in the future all cows the high protein purchased feed 3-4 weeks before attempting to breed?  Is that enough time to make a substantial difference in conception rate?  I've ruled out continuous feeding of the store bought feed as it is too cost prohibitive for what I'm planning, but would definitely be open to mixing in the high protein feed with the regular grass feed when near breeding time.

[kickstart]

7 hours ago, marke985 said:

Thanks for the knowledge.  I'm curious what would be your thoughts on giving the cow in question and in the future all cows the high protein purchased feed 3-4 weeks before attempting to breed?  Is that enough time to make a substantial difference in conception rate?  I've ruled out continuous feeding of the store bought feed as it is too cost prohibitive for what I'm planning, but would definitely be open to mixing in the high protein feed with the regular grass feed when near breeding time.

 

7 hours ago, marke985 said:

 

In a nutshell, no ,you would be better off feeding some concentrate at calving and for about 100 days afterwards .

The reason, when a cow calves she will lose weight, they all do it, the cow is using all her energy to produce milk for the calf, so feeding just say 2kg of feed/day will help prevent weight loss, and more importantly keep her fertility up, so when she has calved about 3-4 months she should come on heat and be fertile.

As for concentrate feed do not use the pellet feed that is expencive ,use the straight mixed feed, if you do have the good quality grass a 14% feed should do, if you do not have any good quality gras use a 16%feed.

Where you are do you have any brewers' grains? (Google it), a good feed, a byproduct of the brewing industry, not always available.

[473geo]

We have gained success by injecting the cows to bring them on to want the bull 

Having had explanations ranging from cattle too fat, to lacking condition as reasons for not showing s desire for the bull, we gave a reluctant charolais one last chance with injection to bring it into season and it worked 

Recently we did another charolais it seems to have held, shortly two more will go the injection route ????

We also have a similar heifer to yours, used AI thought it was in calf, it came mad a bulling a few weeks ago and again recently, we used AI again, thing is it doesn't appear to be about condition on this particular cow as it has always looked fit and we didn't need to inject 

However we will continue injecting rather than feeding concentrate to get the cows serviced 

Once in calf we can push them on a bit as required

Only other thing to mention is I understand cooler weather helps even when injecting to bring a cow on 

[kickstart]

21 hours ago, 473geo said:

We have gained success by injecting the cows to bring them on to want the bull 

Having had explanations ranging from cattle too fat, to lacking condition as reasons for not showing s desire for the bull, we gave a reluctant charolais one last chance with injection to bring it into season and it worked 

Recently we did another charolais it seems to have held, shortly two more will go the injection route ????

We also have a similar heifer to yours, used AI thought it was in calf, it came mad a bulling a few weeks ago and again recently, we used AI again, thing is it doesn't appear to be about condition on this particular cow as it has always looked fit and we didn't need to inject 

However we will continue injecting rather than feeding concentrate to get the cows serviced 

Once in calf we can push them on a bit as required

Only other thing to mention is I understand cooler weather helps even when injecting to bring a cow on 

Where to start, you said you had one cow not coming on heat, an injection of hormone brings her on heat, was the hormone Lutalyse ? , not certain but the reason she did not come om heat she could have had a cyst on her ovaries ,that would prevent her from coming on heat, an injection of hormone will cure the cyst and bring her on heat.

Using hormones does not increase the conception rate, it just brings them on heat, one of my cows does not show many heat signs, one year I saw her on standing heat just the once, served her and she held, as I said to the op the cow comes on heat but if she is not fertile, she will not hold.

From your other posts of your grazing fields are better than the op's ,OK your grass is still Yar Con, Para Grass, but it is young and better quality than the op' ,so your cows will come on heat, and you do feed some concentrate???

As for injecting rather than feeding, it might be working now but, you will come unstuck if your grass quality drops, you stop feed concentrate you will have problems remember your cattle are Brahman X Charolais, Charolais are a European breed and will need feeding to get any production out the, again they will come on heat but will not hold.

Cooler weather will bring cow on heat, that is true to some extent, with the cooler weather cows will eat more spend less time in the shade, more content so they become fitter, our dairy farmers always say conception rate is always best around the New Year, when the when the is cooler.

But saying that I know farmers who inject hormone in the hot season, and they still come on heat, and they still get in calf.