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Pregging

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PPRM

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Interesting topic in Cow Talk on Facebook. Do you preg? It evolved into methods.

I've been interested in biopryne blood draw. Turns out the test is $2.50/head at one nearby lab. Not sure on shipping or materials. I do like the flexibility of not having to schedule a vet.

Some other interesting things. A guy brings his cows in close and just observes who comes into heat. I like that if you have the space and time.

Anyways, especially large outfits, pregging would seemingly be pretty expensive. But, so can be feeding opens.
 
I preg 30 plus days after the bull comes out. the open heifers are sold at that time the open cows are sold at weaning time. The biopryn is a cheap way to test and usually ends up cost around 4 dollars per animal time I figure postage and other cost.
 
I have a neighbor that write down any thing that is ridding and sells. I had some ridding one time. Preg checked rectally. They were just being frisky and were pregnant.
 
I agree with 4Diamond. $3 a head is pretty cheap to have a vet check your cows compared to carrying freeloaders all winter.
 
i argue this point with my brother in law over and over(he's that vet in Eureka Ks).

I figure you're pregging 100 cows to find 5 or 6 opens. A few years of refining reduces opens to lower numbers, but use whatever percent fits your program.

It's my observation the cull cow price swings about 15% with the cheapest time to sell cows around the holidays and the highest prices are usually in the spring and again when the institutionals get into the market the first week of August.

Many cowman use this price swing as a profit center. In any case, price appreciation will feed a cow. So what if you leave Bulls out an extra 60 days, pair out and swap your late hatchers as late pairs or at least bred up. Those will nearly sell for enough to replace themselves.
 
I know some big operations (200 cows) that won't preg until the end of calving. Say 75 days or so. You will still have some that abort after a fall preg. So kinda like Brad says, so you know they are open. Pull them out and feed them different. Your run the whole herd through, have all the neighbors show up etc. Then you feed them half the winter to wait for a market ralley. I just about didn't preg this year for that reason. I just did it for the peace of mind of knowing I didn't have a disaster.

Every operation is different. Last 3 years I went to cornstalks. So I definatley did. If I had plenty of hay etc. I might wait till late spring. I guess I have an extended calving season too. By the book, they say its a no no. They do dollar up good. Guess as long as your the seller and not the buyer?????????
 
We kicked a bull out after weaning with cull cows worth $600 a head last fall. Now those cows if bred are bringing $1100 a head as fall calvers. We are just going to calve them we have one pasture that is pretty poor grass but works well on fall calvers as the demand on those cows isn't as great this grass cost me 50 cents a day per cow or pair how ever you want to figure it but spring pairs have a tough time weaning 500# calves off the grass.
 
Denny said:
We kicked a bull out after weaning with cull cows worth $600 a head last fall. Now those cows if bred are bringing $1100 a head as fall calvers. We are just going to calve them we have one pasture that is pretty poor grass but works well on fall calvers as the demand on those cows isn't as great this grass cost me 50 cents a day per cow or pair how ever you want to figure it but spring pairs have a tough time weaning 500# calves off the grass.
Click to expand...

I like how you think.

Huge computer problems this last month... Well, that and theft issues. So, I have been away from here.
 
Like every other facet of the cattle business, we all do the same things differently. In our area, winter feed is limited. Most folks preg check and sell opens each fall. Some outfits that have surplus hay or range, will keep open cows til the price bump in spring. One big outfit, ships everything that hasn't calved by their cut-off date. They have as uniform and solid set of cows as I have seen. They select for fertility and ship everything that doesn't cut the mustard based on when they calve. They calve 1200 head in 45 days. It is sure something to behold. As a tiny operation, I preg mine each fall. It works for us. :)
 

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