# cow won't breed



## marytx (Dec 4, 2002)

Well Bessie is bellowing again, which just makes me think she is in heat. Again. She has been with a bull for the most part of a year. Two different bulls, since the bull that bred the other four heifers flew the coop and we bought a new bull.

Bessie appeared to be in heat the week we brought the new bull home, several months ago, and so I hoped that she'd settled then.

But the bellowing makes me think otherwise.

So here are my questions. I bought her as a bottle calf at auction a couple of years ago, so there is a chance she is a free martin. Would a free martin come into heat every month?

And if not, what else would cause this? I'm just wondering what I should be thinking about or checking. 

She is my favorite cow, and would be a great mom, judging by the way she loves on the other cows' calves. But if she can't have a calf, she will be a butcher cow. Really I don't need another butcher cow.


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## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

Get her examined by a vet and see if she is a freemartin, cystic or abnormal in some way. I have heard of success with lutalayse (sp) if they are cystic. Or take her to the sale barn as a kill cow if you don't need the beef and aren't too attached. She's worth close to $1 a pound.


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## opportunity (Mar 31, 2012)

I bough a cow that had had a calf before (so claimed the rancher) but after 18 months she still didn't bred no reason why so we ate her. Sometimes you don't know why.


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## SpaceCadet12364 (Apr 27, 2003)

Around here You watch out for the ones that flush a cow then implant her so they can sell her. But that is another problem but have a vet check her she maybe a free martin without a twin, yes it does happen not often. Or there maybe another reason. If you have to sell or butcher some can't eat one that they get attached to.


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## jdcarnathan (Feb 16, 2014)

You may also look into giving her a lepto vaccine. In areas with high deer populations lepto is pretty common. Alot of the cattlemen around here will give the vaccine twice a year. Just a thought, but lepto will keep them from breeding and if they do breed it will cause them to lose it. If it were my cow, i would have her checked to not be a free martin, then I would give the lepto vaccine and maybe lutalyse and try another couple months.


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## Lazy J (Jan 2, 2008)

If she is a valuable cow have your vet do an examination complete with palpation.

Were she my cow, she'd be hamburger after not being pregnant for two years. Feed is too expensive, whether hay or complete rations, for a female to be unproductive.


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## FarmerDavid (Jul 16, 2012)

SpaceCadet12364 said:


> Around here You watch out for the ones that flush a cow then implant her so they can sell her. But that is another problem but have a vet check her she maybe a free martin without a twin, yes it does happen not often. Or there maybe another reason. If you have to sell or butcher some can't eat one that they get attached to.


Leukosis could be an option. I had a cow that died from it. She'd come into heat and I'd see her getting bred multiple times but vet said it reduces fertility and makes it harder for them to get bred. If they have it they will have it by 6 months as it is passed through milk. You can pull blood and send it off for a test. I'm planning to test any heifers I keep from now on. The test is so cheep I probably need to draw blood on all my females and test them next time I work them. She was only 3 when she died but he said 5 is a pretty normal age for them to die and most get culled by that time due to not breeding.


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