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Every now and again I look back on my farming journey to see what has worked well and helped to improve the farm.
I generally don’t like dwelling on the past, but sometimes you have to look at what you were doing farming wise and compare it to what you are doing now, to make sure that you are going forward.
One big change in my farming career has been the use of artificial insemination (AI) in my cows. It is something I have been doing for twenty years now, and in my opinion, the genetic gains made in this herd have been immense.
Looking back on 20 years of AI.
At times, it did feel like progress was slow or non-existent, as it takes so long from insemination until you have a working cow in the herd. But on reflection, AI has arguably had the biggest influence on this farm out of all of the changes that I have made in my lifetime. And to top that, it has also cost me the least amount of money.
Expectations
Twenty years ago, I went on a course and learned how to artificially inseminate cows. In the beginning, I didn’t have any high expectations, but after a year I got rid of the stock bull and it has been 100% AI ever since.
Back then I had a friend who told me that I would only last about two years without a stock bull. He was a pedigree breeder and was probably hoping to sell me a bull. Well, I now take some delight in telling him that I have made it this far.
Has it been easy? The simple answer is no. I have often doubted myself. Using AI can be frustrating and there have been heifers I just could not get done.
There’s not a lot of room in a heifer and they have a very small cervix. It’s like blindfolding yourself, putting your arm into a bucket of offal and searching for something the size of a pea. Then, to top that, you have to try and get the AI straw into that pea-sized hole, making sure that you don’t go too far in, as you are then into the uterus and it is very easy to do damage when there.
There are times that you can get it fairly quickly and there are other times that it might take up to fifteen minutes. With her squeezing your arm it can get very painful and sometimes you have to take a rest and then start again. Some patience is required.
Took off
It reminds me of my father, who sadly wasn’t blessed with a great deal of this particular virtue. I remember on one occasion trying to AI a cow and it was taking a long time. He was getting more and more exasperated and kept asking if I was nearly finished.
I eventually got my insemination gun through the cow’s cervix, but made the mistake of telling him that. He immediately opened the crush gate and let the cow out. But I had only got about half of the straw into her before she took off across the yard.
I told him he had let her out too soon, but his reply was that I was too slow. He opened the gate into the field and away she went.
I was left looking at the half empty straw and thinking that there wasn’t much chance of her holding. Well she did hold in-calf, and in fact she had twins, which was quite a surprise to us both.
There are lots of occasions (even after twenty years) that I come across a cow or heifer that is very difficult to AI and there are times that I think that if I had a bull, I wouldn’t have this hassle. But I quickly remind myself of all the problems that a bull would cause. So I intend remaining patient, and sticking with AI.
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