So, the vet came yesterday afternoon and first vaccinated and wormed the calves. They were fairly easy to get into the chute since they had no idea what it was! It always looks very medeival but doesn't hurt them. Three calves down, two momma cows to go.
After the slightly unpleasant task of loading the first into the chute, which wasn't as hard as usual for any of them, the vet whips out this device, a probe hooked to glasses with a cord. I asked what it was and he said "the ultrasound". I had thought he was just going to palpate for the sac in the uterus. Wrong! I was so excited that he would actually see something. After a couple of minutes he told us she was pregnant!!! I made a "woo hoo" out loud and he chuckled at me. He took off the video glasses and let me put them on. Wow! I could see it. The next momma went exactly the same although he couldn't see the baby only the embryonic vessicle, which he said means she is pregnant!
So, for our first time trying artificial insemination we had 2 out of 3 take the first time. That's not so bad. This is also our first time using a hereford bull named Traditions from www.SelectSires.com -usually it's a angus bull from a local farmer. The 3rd heifer we probably won't have preg-checked. If she is then she will calve about July 9, 2013 and if she isn't we will re-breed her at a later date. I still haven't decided if we will AI next year or rent a bull. There are pros and cons to each.
A big thanks to such a wonderful vet that not only understands my excitement, but answers all my questions and offers tons of info and explanation to aid my learning.
Our little ones are about an inch long right now and hopefully they stay put! We haven't ever had trouble maintaining a pregnancy, but he said it does happen. At least we are out of the woods for super hot temps now.
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