We Preg-checked the replacement heifers yesterday. I wish I could say it went well but that wouldn't be the case. It is normal for me to have 10-12% dries on my replacement heifers. This time they went, I hate to admit it, 23% dry. Almost twice what is normal. When the vet checked the first one he said, "this isn't a good sign guys, she's dry."
The question now is why were there so many drys? The first thought was trich. The vet has had some experience with this and says he really doesn't think that is the problem for three reasons. A herd being infected with trich for the first time will normally run right around 33% dry and we were well off that figure. Second, if the herd was infected with trich he would expect to find some bred early and almost everything else bred real late with almost none in the middle. He said the pregnant ones were well spread out through the breeding cycle so it just didn't feel like trich. Lastly we used all virgin bulls on these heifers and since the bulls carry the disease from year to year they couldn't have infected the heifers.
Next he said any other disease that could realistically be a problem, bvd, ibr, we vaccinate for and have for years. So he said he would question the bulls. Truthfully I would to. I did use one less bull than I would normally use in a pasture of this size and roughness and then one of the bulls got foot rot that I didn't catch a ways into the breeding season so he didn't work the full season. I would bet this is the problem but I'm just not sure.
The only way to double check this would be to preg check the whole herd after weaning. If there were a disease problem with then heifers it would also more than likely affect the cows so they would come in with a high percentage of drys too. If they don't that would more point towards the bulls situation. I haven't decided yet if I want to preg check the whole herd or not. That's quite a bit of money and work to do something i normally don't do and I'm not sure it is necessary. I will have to think about it and decide.
Damn the bad luck. I hate shit like this.
It is innocence that is full and experience that is empty. It is innocence that wins and experience that loses. Charles Peguy
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The calves are looking a lot better this year and I'm sure are going to weigh good again. The cows are looking better and are a lot calmer and happier so I think the grass is a lot better this year.
Could hot weather have caused this? I don't think so. The hot weather never really commenced until after breeding season for the heifers was over. They were bred from May to June. The heat shouldn't have affected that.
It's a good question though. Since I breed the cows later they would more be affected by this. Something to think about.
Tough work if you can get it.
When I saw the title of this post on my RSS reader I was hoping there wouldn't be any photos and thankfully you spared us.
All kidding aside, tough luck on the high number of dries. I hope the vet just happened to have found a high number in the group he checked and not the entire herd. One can hope anyway.