Sunday 6th August 2017
Our first AI!!
Big excitements today... maybe... as we made a call first thing to our AI man. Yesterday afternoon Sage ‘seemed’ to be in season although it was very subdued compared to previous occasions. We expected her to show a bit more in the evening but she didn’t, hence waiting till today before deciding whether to phone Mr AI man (John Rozenbergs). This morning she was quietly chewing the cud and looking very chilled BUT because the timings are 21/22 days which is consistent with previous cycles, we decided to ring John and get his advice. He said it was worth him coming out which he did and so Sage has now been inseminated!!
John said that she was a tad ‘slack’ at her back end and that her uterus was as he might expect if she was cycling so we now keep fingers crossed and wait and see. In theory she should NOT return, i.e. come back into season but sometimes even if pregnant, cows do, plus they can excrete a bit of blood, again, even if pregnant. Pregnancy scans can be performed at 28 days although there is still a risk of miscarriage at that early stage. By two months, that risk has drastically reduced and so a scan then is a better option. Of course, waiting two months and THEN discovering the cow is not pregnant is a serious upset as regards one’s breeding programme.
We will take advice from Rachel...
As for Thyme, it is now 72 days since she calved and as yet we have not seen any signs of bulling at all. We last saw Parsley cycle on 7th July and have not seen one since. It is highly likely we have missed both cows and so we are tying really hard to be extra vigilant and to continue to spend at least 15/20 minutes watching the herd mornings and evenings (best times to see bulling taking place) and if possible during the afternoons too.
IF all else fails it is possible to induce the oestrus cycle using a Progesterone hormone which is inserted into the cow’s vagina, so stimulating ovulation 2-3 days later. There is obviously a cost involved with this!
In an ideal world we would like all three cows to become pregnant this month as that will then give us May births next year, If we slip a 'little' into June, we won’t worry too much.
SO.. the pressure is now on...
Amidst the worry of getting all this right it was rather lovely to hear John tell us what great condition the cows were all in – a totally unprompted comment which definitely put a smile on our faces!!!
We will take advice from Rachel...
As for Thyme, it is now 72 days since she calved and as yet we have not seen any signs of bulling at all. We last saw Parsley cycle on 7th July and have not seen one since. It is highly likely we have missed both cows and so we are tying really hard to be extra vigilant and to continue to spend at least 15/20 minutes watching the herd mornings and evenings (best times to see bulling taking place) and if possible during the afternoons too.
IF all else fails it is possible to induce the oestrus cycle using a Progesterone hormone which is inserted into the cow’s vagina, so stimulating ovulation 2-3 days later. There is obviously a cost involved with this!
In an ideal world we would like all three cows to become pregnant this month as that will then give us May births next year, If we slip a 'little' into June, we won’t worry too much.
SO.. the pressure is now on...
Amidst the worry of getting all this right it was rather lovely to hear John tell us what great condition the cows were all in – a totally unprompted comment which definitely put a smile on our faces!!!