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When we started our farm, we knew we did not want to house a bull long term. For one, it's an extra mouth to feed and an extra animal to care for. For another, bulls do have the reputation of being a little pushier and harder to handle than many other livestock animals. Keeping only two cows also means it just doesn't make sense to take on the expense and risks of keeping a bull around to. So we decided to do artificial insemination (AI) with our cows instead.
When we bought our first two cows, one had been exposed to a bull for several months prior to us purchasing her, and the other had been bred using AI. After several months, we had the naturally bred cow pregnancy checked and, much to our chagrin, she was not pregnant. So we ended up having our vet AI her as well. It was our first time doing AI but a friend who has a local farm and dairy and our bovine vet walked me through it. We bought a "straw" (of semen) from our friend and then waited for signs that our cow, Sorbet, was in heat. One way to do this is to use a heat-detectin patch. We use Estrotect patches and usually buy them in small quantities on e-bay because we don't use very many per year and haven't been able to justify spending $60 on 50 patches. The way it works is you remove the Estrotect sticker backing, apply it to the base of the cow's tail and wait and watch for the scratch-off surface to rub off, at which point we call the vet. Ideally breeding happens within 4-6 hours of standing heat if you don't observe your cows more than twice a day. If you keep a close eye on your cows, you can safely use a 6-12 hour window after first observing standing heat. Another option, and one to do in conjunction with the heat detecting patch, is to simply watch your cows for signs they are in standing heat. When this happens, your other cows (male or females alike) will mounth them and they will stand still instead of moving away. This is where the term "standing heat" comes from, and it indicates the time when the cow is receptive to breeding. Without another cow present, it can be very hard to know when your cow is in heat and you will want to talk to your vet about other options like induced ovulation for timed AI. With this method instead of trying to figure out when the cow is in standing heat, you induce ovulation at a particular time so you know when they will be receptive to breeding.
We have semen straws stored with our vet (we bought ours from Hoffman AI and had them shipped directly to the vet), so when we need a cow bred we contact him and let him know when we first observed standing heat and then we arrange to have him come out and breed the cow. Our cows are handled regularly so we just restrain them with a halter next to the vet's truck and it usually only takes a few minutes. We don't have access to restraining stocks, but with gentle cows you don't need to anyway.
One nice thing about breeding with AI is that you can be very selective about the bulls you breed to. If your cows are pedigreed, purebred cows this is even more important as you will want to produce high quality offspring to bring in top dollar for the calves you raise every year. But even for crossbred cows like ours, it allows us to change up the bulls we breed to as we choose (to improve udder quality or carcass traits depending on our breeding goals) and it allows us the opportunity to breed to really nice bulls we would not have access to locally. If you have a small herd of cattle, breeding with AI is a great way to go and requires very little knowledge to get started. Call your vet office and talk with them about the AI services they can provide, the costs of storing semen, and what to expect with your first round of breeding.
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