deep in the southeastern corner of Idaho | We AI all our cows once. 7 day Cidr protocol. We calve in the fall so breeding the end of November. Tough time of year in our country but we make it work. It is impossible for our cows to be on the gain that time of year but we do all we can to keep them from loosing weight. If I can maintain BCS I call it a win. I start feeding good quality hay around first of October to accomplish this and keep them on that kind of hay all the way thru breeding.
A couple take a ways on this thread.
1. Cows must be at least maintaining weight or on the gain to be successful.
2. Nursing calves should never be blamed for poor conception rates. Look for other reasons.
3. Pulling calves for 24 hours prior to breeding will not improve conception but will increase % that exhibit estrous. From experience not a recommended practice. The newer protocols are working very well for getting a tighter estrous which will help for TAI or Embryo work.
4. No matter the protocol you use it is a lot of work and effort to do very many at a time. My hat goes off to those willing to put in the time and effort to better their genetics. If you don't put in that time and effort and do it right you wont want to AI for very long! As a professor told me a long time ago, a successful AI program is a lot of little details done properly that insures your success.
Happy breeding.
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Ai syncing lactating cows
