Scan shows cows not seen bulling isn’t all bad news
At this time of the year, we get called to see cows that have not been seen bulling.
Yesterday was no different and I was called out by Kieran to a cow like this. He wanted to have a CIDR implanted into her. He had a list of additional medication that he needed to give her so that she would come bulling and hopefully go in-calf.
I said “Kieran, I hope you don’t mind, but I am going to scan her first, just in case she is in calf and that might be the reason she has not come bulling”.
“Fair enough” he said, so I got gowned up, hooked up my scanner and set to work.
As it turned out she was not in calf. Her ovaries were small, and not doing much, so I was able to continue with the implanting of the CIDR, and leaving him the rest of the required medication.
Today, I was called out to another similar job at Tom’s.
He had a line-up of cows that were not seen bulling, and he wanted them scanned.
It was sweltering hot, even though it was early in the morning. I put on the disposable gown, which was going to make things even warmer, but I had to suffer it, or else be covered in you know what.
A few of the cows had a luteal cyst and I treated them with hormone to try and get rid of the cyst. When a cow has a luteal cyst, the hormone being produced by this cyst makes the cow think that she is in calf and she will not come into heat.
Argument has it that this may be caused by negative energy balance, and considering the kind of spring we have just come through, this argument can be given some merit.
Other cows were cycling and had lovely corpus luteums, with follicles coming on nicely.
Again, I treated these cows with a hormone to bring them on, and hopefully heighten the heat they would have.
There were two cows whose ovaries were sleeping and needed to be woken up. The cows were in good condition and the therapy should work.
A CIDR was implanted into both of these cows, and they were placed on a hormone treatment regime.
Then I spotted her, out of the blue, and what a beauty. A beautiful pregnancy. “The bull must have got at this one, Tom!” I said. “Maybe we forgot to write her down too because the bull is with the heifers” said Tom.
In any case, this discovery reinforced my belief that all such cows should be scanned before embarking on a hormone treatment regime. Those who start such a plan as a blanket thing always run the risk of blowing away a pregnancy and thereby making the cow very difficult to get in calf immediately.
This cow had a beautiful 35-day pregnancy and a dancing heartbeat. What a wonderful thing to see. On the adjacent ovary, there was a fine healthy corpus luteum to support the pregnancy. Tom was surprised and delighted, all at once, at his new found stroke of luck. “You should buy a Lotto ticket tonight, Tom,” I said.
No doubt I will find a few more surprises like this over the coming weeks as we go from scanning cows not seen bulling to cows supposed to be in calf.
I always enjoy scanning the ones that are in the early stages of pregnancy, as you can tell a lot at this stage. You can be far more accurate with calving dates and whether the cow might be carrying twins.
