Today, Elsie the milk cow is headed for a road trip to the vet's office.  She is going to be AI'd since she shows all signs of standing heat.  We selected a bull that will make her baby an even nicer cow than she already is.  So now we hope that it takes and that she will give us a lovely heifer calf in about 9 months. 

Pros of AI:

• You don't have to keep and feed a grumpy and/or mean bull
• It is inexpensive (like less than $50)
• You can improve your herd significantly with great bulls that you wouldn't have access to, otherwise
• You select the bull that matches your cow
• It is easy for a trained AI tech to breed the cow this way
• You can choose to have a heifer calf (yes, you really can!)
  

• It may be hard to detect standing heat if you have no other cows
• Takes time on your part: you have to either take the cow to the vet or have him come out and you have to watch the cow to see when she is ready for the procedure.  Still, this is less time than caring for a bull.
  

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Tuesday, April 1, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by countrylivin

I never even knew about this procedure! HOpe all goes well! :)

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