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| I've never done it, and I never A.I. anything here. The biggest reason is I don't want dropping 50 -70 % of calf crop on the ground in bad weather in a week or two's time. I like to spread it out just a little more. I need to start calving the first of March on all beef cows, in order to have them ready to trail out of Utah in first part of May. Also I don't want to have to extend my calving time by starting first calf heifers a full cycle earlier, to be able to clean up with bulls. The only beef cattle we bring in close to watch at calving time is the first calf heifers, all other cows are run on wide open desert country. They calve all on their own.
I've been able to get 85 % calved out on first calf heifers on first cycle using bulls, and finish up 100% on second cycle. So why would I want to change that? I bull all heifers up in a feedlot for two cycles then truck them to grass, then they are turned with older cows and bulls. A preg. time in fall all later calving heifers are noted or sold at that time.
I can see if a person was in a area were weather and other constraints didn't bother them, A.I. is a great tool, but it takes more labor. I find it is easier to spend more money for heifer / growth bulls for my operation. At this point in time, the only way I would consider A.I. heifers would be to keep 100 % of heifer calf crop in fall, not to market any to pay bills. Mass breed all heifers in spring, then cull everything that didn't take on first cycle. But I still think I would use bulls, just to save the labor.
It sure is nice to be able to read everybody's posts about how they run their operations, everybody is different. What will work for some, will not work for others. | |
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Questions about sychronizing hiefers.
