Preg-Checking

During winter, we preg-check and cull any cows that aren’t pregnant. These are first time heifers.

First-time heifers always have the highest cull rate because we want to only keep the most fertile cows. So for the first time heifers we only keep the bulls with them for a cycle or two. 

We always hire a vet or two to help us for the day because it’s very important to be accurate with these things. Which is why we keep all the animals we’re not sure about and cull them in the summer, despite the cost of keeping cows who aren’t producing. 

This year, my brother, Maeser, also went. He was the one in charge of making sure the cows didn’t go backwards in the shoot. By the end of the day he had become good enough at his job that he was only smashing his fingers one in 5 times.