Following on from last times blog post where a cow had been artificially inseminated by Gavin, I wanted to talk to you about the next stage in the life of a cows year.  Approximately 30 days after the AI has taken place the cow will then be seen by the vet for a scan to establish if it is pregnant or not.  

If the cow is pregnant it will join the rest of the herd for a time until it is time for them to go on a ‘holiday’ (I’ll talk about this in a future blog post)!

However,If the cow isn’t pregnant, the vet will usually suggest what the next stage is and if there is a course of treatment required or an action needed to be taken.  This could include:

The vet could body condition score the cow to make sure she is healthy and hasn’t lost too much weight, suggesting a poor diet. 

If a vet says the cow is ‘clean and cycling’ this is a positive and means that she will just go through the steps again (back to cow diaries – stage three post).  

ONO are small ovaries, which means the cows system overall is tired and not functioning correctly.  This usually means the cow isn’t ovulating at all or there are no signs of an ovulation happening from either ovary.  A ‘seeder’ will be implanted into the cow to make her body think she is having a false pregnancy which in turn should start the ovulation process again.  The seeder is removed after 7 days.

FLO or FRO are follicles seen on either the left ovary (LO) or right ovary (RO) on the vets ultrasound scanner.  This means an egg is going to be released soon, so the vet will prescribe receptol.  This is a drug in the form of an injection that helps the synchronisation of her ovulation pattern.  Two days later they get vetirelin which releases the egg and twelve hours later AI, by Gavin, is required.

CLLO or CLRO are left over remnants of an egg that has already been released from either the left ovary (LO) or right ovary (RO).  Estrumate will be given to this cow on the vet visit and then again two days later.  This is in anticipation for Gavin to AI (artificially inseminate) the cow twelve hours later.

As always, I would just like to reiterate, what happens on our farm doesn’t always happen on other farms.  All cows are different and lastly, I do hope I don’t receive any negativity for sharing this information as I have taken the time to write this, with no opinions shown, just the facts given! I look forward to sharing the next instalment of the year in a cows life.

Much love
Rebecca