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AI tech rates

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nebraskadave

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Just curious what the going rate for AI'ing is. Had a guy ask me what it would cost to hire someone to AI his heifers. Whats everyone charging or paying out there?
 
nebraskadave said:
Just curious what the going rate for AI'ing is. Had a guy ask me what it would cost to hire someone to AI his heifers. Whats everyone charging or paying out there?
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That all depends on what sort of hunting you throw in the deal. Right NR :wink: :D
 
This year I paid $15 a cow. But then he bred in natural heet. So he often made the trip for one cow. Some days he came twice and did one in the morning and one in the evening. I suspect that if you have then synced and do them all at oncs it is cheaper.
 
I get $10 plus semen if they bring the cow to my barn.

Haven't done any off the farm in a few years but mileage would be pretty pricey now.
 
:( I pay $40./cow/AIing. We don't live in a ranch-friendly place. In fact, people wanted us to turn our ranch into a dog park. :(
 
Just to A.I. them 4.50 or 5 bucks. (Have to have enough to make the trip worth it.) They furnish everything.

Throw in heat detecting, pushing cattle, it just all goes up.
 
I think this guy is thinking mass breeding 100 head. I had a rep from one of the semen companies tell me $5 and thats if he sells the semen.
 
Man, I guess we were too cheap. Two seasons ago a buddy and I AI bred 350 plus cows in 21 days on their natural cycle. We heat detected and AI bred twice a day. 5AM to 10AM heat detect, AI 8AM - then repeated it in the PM. Cows were on a wagon wheel pasture and we rotated them every week. Corrals in the center. The guy had plugs in his "gomer" bulls. When we were done he pulled the PVC plugs and he turned them out to clean up. We had to throw two bulls to replug them in the middle of AIing as the bolt he used through the sheath to hold in the plug tore out. We got $100/day plus .25/cow bonus. I think the real bonus was getting to spend all that time with a good friend. Heres some pics if you don't mind.

This was the ranch we did the job for
AI_JOB_5.jpg


Heres my bud heat detecting
AI_JOB_1.jpg


My friend on Elvis
AI_JOB_2.jpg


My mare misty - she lost a few lbs that trip
AI_JOB_7.jpg


buddy AIing
AI_JOB_3.jpg


me AIing
AI_JOB_4.jpg


the night before we were to finish the job my friend and I went down to Big Timber and celebrated till the sun came up

5AM - the morning after
AI_JOB_6.jpg


NOON - and he is still at it
AI_JOB_8.jpg


we got the job done though!
 
More memories than money, Hereford76, not a bad thing sometimes. Thanks for the pics.
What's a "gomer" bull and how do you plug a bull?
 
Well I guess I don't know how they got the name "gomer" - but a gomer bull is just a bull used to help heat detect. This guy used chin ball markers on the bulls and it helped for the hours we weren't there heat detecting. I had heard of some unique ways of making a gomer bull - but this guy took about a six inch chunk of 3/4 inch pvc, capped it off one end, and drilled a pin hole through the side of it. He ran the end without the cap up the bulls sheath and then drove a pin through the bulls sheath, through the hole in the pvc and he had a gomer bull. I didn't get to see how eager those bulls were to breed after we left - I would have to imagine they were a little sore.

I was curious to know if anyone reconized that ranch.
 
Found this about that:
http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/B1288.htm

Detector Animals
Detector animals (teaser animals) can be used to help producers determine estrus. A commonly used detector animal is the surgically altered gomer bull. It offers an accurate, natural method of estrous detection. When bulls undergo castration, they become steers and lose their sexual drive. Altering bulls by vasectomy, penile deviation or both can be used to prevent bulls from successfully breeding without performing castration.

Since gomer bulls are used to detect heat and not for breeding purposes, selection criteria should focus on bulls that won't become excessively large in size and weight and those that have good dispositions. Vasectomized gomer bulls are still capable of penetrating a cow's reproductive tract; therefore, for heat detection purposes, they should be home-raised or obtained from a herd free of diseases. In order to prevent the spread of diseases from bulls purchased from an auction market (unknown source), they should be penile-deviated. Although penile-deviated bulls are manipulated to prevent copulation, in some cases they may successfully complete intromission. Therefore, if penile-deviated bulls are used, they may need to have a vasectomy to ensure that pregnancy does not occur.

Androgenized cows, heifers (freemartins) and steers can also be used to help producers detect estrus. Teaser animals developed through this method are generally easier to handle than a gomer bull. A veterinarian must treat this type of detector animal, since procedures involved in this process are federally regulated due to drug withdrawal time. Response to treatment varies from animal to animal, so you will need to include alternative methods of heat detection to ensure maximum success.

Chin-Ball Marker
Detector animals are usually fitted with a marking device such as a chin-ball marker (Figure 1). When a detector animal mounts and begins to slide off and the chin rubs the back of the female, the chin-ball marker is activated and marks the back and rump of the mounted cow. Although chin-ball markers are very useful, maintenance is necessary for continuous use. Straps made of leather may break or stretch, leading to the loss or misplacement of the marker in the pasture. They must be checked periodically (every few days depending on activity) and refilled with paint.


Figure 1. Vasectomized gomer bull with chin-ball marker.
B1288-1.jpg



Using chin-ball markers will allow 24-hour estrous detection. Maintaining heat records twice daily will allow an observer to determine when cattle have been active during unobserved times. Reading the markings may take some experience to accurately determine heat. Markings located around the rump or tailhead area indicate that estrus behavior has occurred. Other markings may be the result of chin resting. Careful evaluation will enable the observer to accurately determine if the primary sign of heat has occurred in cattle that had previously displayed secondary signs of heat.
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Hereford76 said:
Well I guess I don't know how they got the name "gomer" - but a gomer bull is just a bull used to help heat detect. This guy used chin ball markers on the bulls and it helped for the hours we weren't there heat detecting. I had heard of some unique ways of making a gomer bull - but this guy took about a six inch chunk of 3/4 inch pvc, capped it off one end, and drilled a pin hole through the side of it. He ran the end without the cap up the bulls sheath and then drove a pin through the bulls sheath, through the hole in the pvc and he had a gomer bull. I didn't get to see how eager those bulls were to breed after we left - I would have to imagine they were a little sore.

I was curious to know if anyone reconized that ranch.
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My husband is positive he does, he worked up at Melville, and wonders which bar you went to as visited the ones in Big Timber also?
 
I don't remember the name of the bar - maybe it was the mint or something like that. That ranch was right by Melville - Bill Donald's place. Sure was pretty country right off the slopes of the crazys. Stormy country too - came pretty close to getting struck by lightning. We were headed back to the horse coral and we got about 100 yards from it and lightning hit the ground right between us and the corrals. Every hair on my body stood straight up - we high tailed it out of there.

Heres a picture of the horse corrals where we about got struck.

The horses in there are left to right Elvis, Carbon, Misty, Whiskey - I had to put whiskey down the summer after this picture - collic or however you spell it
CAYUSE_AI.jpg
 
I charge $10 /head even if they buy the semen from me. Most "custom" AI I do is for friends and usually under 50 head.

I would think bolting a piece of pvc in the sheath would hinder the bulls "want to". Has to be painful??

We have taken twin or leppy bull calves and made them side-winders, where they reroute the unit out the side of the belly so the gomer can't git-r-bred. Had one that would try to position himself real well, but couldnt get the job done.

We also had one one where the vet took a nose ring, went in under the crap hole, and routed the penis through the ring and attached the ring together. That was a waste of money because he could still get it out far enough. We turned him in with some steers and noticed this before we ever tried to use him as a gomer.

Gomers are sure nice to have for heat detection, but they can be a pain and are usually the dumbest things.
 
I think the name Gomer came about when Wayne Clews-one of the first guys to A'I-I think it was him anyway. He had one of the first ever marker bulls made-his kids named him Gomer after Gomer Pyle I imagine and the name became an industry term. What I charge depends on alot of variables-how good a cook the wife his-how many good dogs are going to 'help' at the chutes-if the prod bartteries are fresh. I usually sneak one in backwards so they don't work.
 

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