Managing During Breeding Season
The breeding season is a most critical time in the cycle of your beef herd. You must decide if you are going to use a bull or inseminate the females artificially. Which program is best for you will depend on your situation. Some of the benefits of using a herd bull are as follows.
- Reduced labor.
- Less equipment and facilities needed.
- Hired help needs less training.
Benefits to using artificial insemination:
- May be less costly for small herd.
- Genetic improvement can be achieved more rapidly.
- You do not need facilities for keeping a bull.
Cows will normally come in heat between 30 and 50 days after calving. Body conditions and level of nutrition have a definite effect on this. Nutrition before calving and the month after are most important.
The breeding season should start 40 to 55 days after the start of calving.
A 60 to 75-day breeding season will allow the cows time for three heat periods.
If artificial insemination is to be practiced, here are important points to remember.
- Heat periods can range from 6 to 36 hours with an average of 18 hours.
- Cows will "stand" during the heat period.
- Egg is shed 8 to 12 hours after the end of the heat period.
- Sperm can live 12 to 20 hours after insemination.
- Almost all cows will pass blood 14 to 36 hours after the heat period. If blood is present, it is usually too late to breed.