> I was just wondering what methods farmers in the USA use for heat
> detection. �I know in NZ tail paint is very common, and also k-mar's and
> those scratchy patch things. �I have heard that some farmers use k-mar's
> here in the USA but I don't think tail paint is common is it? �I am more
> specifically interested in the methods used by conventional farmers, both
> large and small farms.
I would like to try this one.
When we were doing conventional dairy farming, we used orange paint sticks for
heat detection for many years with good success.
We had self-locks for everything breeding age and up, but not for dry cows or
tailenders.
We walked the lines very rapidly and touched up the paint on every tail head
on every individual every day. About 300 head per day for us.
It's not as time consuming as it sounds as I could do this at a lope. That is
about 3 to six paint sticks per day. I didn't use the holder, just the
cardbard wrapper.
Any questionable rub-offs, I sleeved within seconds of finding them, and tried
to bounce a follicle with a fingertip or find some other secondary heat
indication.
Some cows always have their marks off. You just have to know those. That's
what makes tail painting with paint sticks pretty much a one man dog. Those
cows had personalities (or sore feet) so that cows in heat rode them almost
every day.
Other cows (a different bunch from the regulars) also had their marks off but
were not in heat. Those were "sawed" off just from movement, such as
breathing and wiggling, with their tailheads against another cow or against a
freestall board or partition. This also frequently happens on pasture
becuase lay together touching.
This method doesn't work the best with long, natural length hair on the
tailheads and rump.
We frequently clipped the hair starting at the switch and up over the tailhead
and rump. If left to long (time between clipping tailheads) there was a
marked improvement in heat detection each time we clipped the herd. About a
month in winter is borderline. Three weeks is good.
I also have experience with chin ball markers on altered bulls (realigned) and
permanently cystic cows as riders. The main problem was refilling the the
chinball head harness with paint on such aggressive individuals.
I don't believe my method was in common use as missing even one day defeats
the system. I just never missed a day.
Also, with this many paint sticks around, one or two are bound to end up in
the clothes washing machine, which isn't that serious.
But what is serious is that occasionally one would make it all the way through
and end up in the clothes drier. That has dramatic consequences.
But the good thing about all this is that it was about 100% effective for us.
Oh, I wrote the cow numbers on a folded 4x6 file card. These I filed and
still have today.
That data was (after 1979) typed into a computer, and as I did that, I flagged
cows that needed a reproduction exam. On vet day, once a week, I could
produce a printout of cows to check.
This is why I originally bought a computer in 1979 (Apple II). I had to write
my own program but didn't know any better and had great fun doing it. Later
we used FileMaker from Claris on Macintosh.
--
Kindest regards,
========================
F. W. Owen
Owenlea Holsteins
9430 Spencer Road
Homerville, Ohio 44235
e-mail fwo@bright.net
home page http://www.bright.net/~fwo
voice & fax 330.625.2369
cell 330.635.2287
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