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 AI our cows but as our herd grew we needed to AI ourselves. After going to the first AI school, I didn’t have any confidence. A year later I attended Bovine Elite’s AI school in College Station, Texas. There Terry Williams was my instructor and suddenly everything came together. To further assist me Terry offered to come out to the ranch on my next breeding.
Today I synchronize the cows, breed them, marking the bred date down on the calendar, then in around 21 days, give or take, I start watching for signs of heat. If all cows are settled, on day 28 I take blood to check for pregnancy. If cows do come back into heat, I rebreed them and start the cycle over again. A calendar is the best tool for breeding. I use this calendar year round, not just for breeding but also to record cycles and calving due dates.
