We're In the Cattle Business!--Part II

Our cattle business had officially begun with the birth of GRR Ladysmith's calf. It was a beautiful dun heifer calf we named GRR Ophelia. (Registration rules require the farm name of the breeder, not the owner at time of birth, as in this case.)

There were a few things I hadn't thought about too much during my initial search for our first cow. Important factors such as: how to get the cow re-bred. You couldn't very well have a cattle business when you couldn't reproduce. I mean, that was the whole idea.

I knew I did not want to get a bull at that time. I needed a little experience with the cows first. So my next obvious choice was Artificial Insemination. I was a little familiar with that process because my sister used that method on one of her horses a few times. It could be a risky venture in that sometimes the straws could be very expensive and they wouldn't take and there were no guarantees, as there often is with live coverings. Horses can be AI'd using fresh or frozen semen, and as far as I could tell, the cow's AI'ing involved frozen only.

My next step was to call the vet I used for our horses. It turns out he did do a lot of cattle business, but he did not have the proper storage facilities. While there are no shortages of bovine specialty veterinarians in Kern County (we have lots of dairies around) he could recommend the only vet he knew to have a storage tank. That was Dr. Michael Kerfoot of Bovine Health Services.

I called Dr. Kerfoot and told him my situation. It turns out he really was quite the specialist in bovines and he was also a very nice man. He let me know that he would be happy to store any straws I bought and they could be shipped directly to his office. He would ensure the straws were stored and the shipping container returned as required. There would be no extra charge for any of this, providing I used him for my bovine needs. That sounded like a great deal to me.

Then it was time to search available candidates for the genetic material. I pored through my Dexter magazine and searched the ads. Since I still didn't really know what to look for I made a list of the possibles. I made a note of color, size, and location. The short legged bulls were immediately eliminated. There were some I could have gotten from Canada, but I thought I'd stay in country for the first time around. After much agonizing I finally made my choice.

Turns out, bull semen is a lot cheaper than stallion semen. Each straw is only $20 to $40 (average). The only other thing was some owners had a minimum of how many straws you could buy, anywhere from three to five.

The man I bought the straws from was very trusting. I told him I would take five straws. I told him where to ship to (all the vet's details) and to send me the bill for the straws and shipping. He assured me this would be no problem.

Dr. Kerfoot's office called to let me know they had received my shipment and we could start with the lutelyse (a hormone) shots used to bring the cow into heat.

There were to be a total of two shots, carefully timed. The timing was important because apparently cows are only receptive to being bred during a very short time frame (like two hours, within about 88 hours of the second shot).

The day and time came for the actual insemination. Dr. Kerfoot arrived and got ready. First he came out to check the cow, to make sure the drugs had worked their magic. Since I don't have a squeeze he suggested putting the cow in the corner of the big gate and using the gate as a squeeze. (Ladysmith never kicked him, even though I used to worry about that.) He carefully worked his gloved arm into her, mildly complaining of how small she was compared to the cows he usually worked with. He declared her ready and the insemination was done.

We walked back to his SUV so he could write up the bill and I ran into the house to get my checkbook. He told me it would be $300, and without batting an eye I began to write the check. To me that was still pretty cheap compared to horse standards.

"No, no! I was just joking," he said. "It's actually $30."

"What? Are you sure?" I asked. I was so used the expensive equine vet bills.

Wow! Cows are ten times cheaper than horses. I was liking this cattle business so far.

Several months passed and I still had not paid for the AI straws or shipping. I had yet to receive a bill. I wondered if I ever would. I finally decided to take matters into my own hands and sent a check to the bull owner. Eventually, the check cleared, along with my conscience.