Content

• Steps
• Tips
• Warnings

Knowing that a cow or heifer is pregnant is essential to your breeding work. Infertile cows or non-pregnant cows are considered a burden because they absorb the feed you give them without giving anything in return. These cows can hurt your wallet, and the sooner you get rid of them, the better. Thus, knowing that the cow may or may not calve, it is possible to determine whether it is worth keeping it until the calves appear, or whether it should be discarded and sold as quickly as possible.

Steps

1. 1 Watch them after fertilization has taken place. After breeding season, or after your cows or heifers have been artificially inseminated, watch the cows for any signs of heat for the next 45 days. If a cow does not show signs of estrus for the first 21 days after fertilization and the next 21 days, then she is most likely pregnant.
   • If any of the cows have a fever during this period, they are infertile or not pregnant.
   • You can also tell if a cow is pregnant or not if her belly is growing, especially at the end of pregnancy.
2. 2 After 45 days, but before 120 days after the date of intended fertilization, take the cow to the veterinarian (if you have one on the farm) to double-check the pregnancy.
   • Below are 4 different methods to double-check pregnancy, in order from cheapest and most commonly used to most expensive and least popular among cattle producers:
   1. Rectal palpation
   2. Blood analysis
   3. ELISA test (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay)
   4. Ultrasound
   • The best method your veterinarian will use is rectal palpation.
3. 3 Write down the tag name and the cow's name if she is bred or not pregnant so that you can see how far from pregnancy she is. Any infertile cows should be discarded as they will only diminish your weaning profit for the next year.
4. 4 Move from the tested cow to the next one.

Tips

• Use the best pregnancy rechecking method that your veterinarian recommends or that is available to you.
• The best time to sell selected cows is when it is clear that they are not pregnant, or even when a cow that has been on the shortlist for a long period of time is eligible for divorce. Divorced cows sell better than non-pregnant cows.
• Check all your heifers and cows, whether you are sure the cow is pregnant or not.
• Heavy pregnant cows are fairly easy to spot because they look like large barrels with a head and four legs.

Warnings

• Some rechecking methods, such as rectal palpation, blood tests, and ELISA tests, can give false results.
  • An ELISA test is more prone to false positives or false negatives, especially if all test guidelines are not followed.
  • A blood test can give unreliable results if the test is done in the wrong place; blood samples were collected incorrectly.
  • Rectal palpation can also give false results if the person performing the procedure is not experienced enough and / or does not know exactly what to grope.
• Fever in pregnant heifers or cows is rare, but sometimes it does. That is why it is recommended to double check using the methods mentioned above.