Artificial Insemination and Embryo Transfer

Artificial Insemination and Embryo Transfer

Artificial Insemination and Embryo Transfer  is the core behind every  great cattle program.  The way it works here at Silvey Angus, Pearl is the hand’s on girl (yes the one that wears the long glove) and Mike is the brains behind the awesome sire selection process.  Together we make a great team and oh yeah Emily throws in her two cents also.

Let’s talk about Artificial Insemination (A.I.)

In the beginning we hired an outside breeding service to artificially inseminate our cows but as our herd grew we needed to artificially inseminate ourselves.  After going to one AI school, Pearl didn’t have the confidence needed to go it alone.  A year later she attended  Bovine Elite’s AI school in College Station, Texas. There, Terry Williams  was my instructor and suddenly everything came together.  To further assist our program, Terry offered to come out to the ranch on our next breeding.

Today, Pearl synchronizes the cows, breeds them, marking the bred date down on the calendar, then in about 21 days, give or take, we start watching for signs of heat. If all cows are settled, on day 28 Pearl takes blood to check for pregnancy.  If  cows do come back into heat, they’re rebred and the cycle starts over again.  A calendar is the best tool for breeding. The calendar is used calendar year round, not just for breeding but also to record cycles and calving due dates.