Last Chance

Meet "Railcrest Aerocerf Karina".  Karina was born June 2, 2004.  During her initial classification she was Railcrest Farms' first Very Good 2 year old scoring 86 points and moved up to Very Good 88 during her third lactation.  She scores 88 on rump, 88 on mammary system, 87 on feet and legs and 89 on dairy strength.  She is a good looking cow with excellent height and a deep rib.  Her highest scoring traits are her udder texture being very soft and body depth being very deep.  Traits that we will try to improve with her progeny are rump angle and udder depth.  Her rump is a bit high and her udder depth is a bit deep.

Karina is a fantastic cow and is always noticed by visitors when they enter the barn.  So this is all great right?  Well, we have a dilemma.  We have not been able to get Karina pregnant and this is leading to much frustration and the general realization that her time her at Railcrest Farms is coming to and end.

You see, a dairy cow just doesn't keep producing milk forever, she needs to become pregnant again and again.  A good goal to strive for is a 12-13 month calving interval in which the cow milks for about 305 days, is non-producing for 60 days and has another calf and enters the lactation cycle again.  A rule of thumb is that when a cow is over 100 days in milk and isn't pregnant, she is going to be losing you money eventually.

Karina is over 360 days in milk.  Ouch!  The only reason she has lasted in the barn this long is the fact that she is such a high classifying cow and probably because she has me for an owner. You see, it is every dairy farmer's dream to produce an "Excellent Cow".  An Excellent cow is a cow that scores 90 points or higher.  Some farmer's wait their whole lives for that infamous Excellent animal.   Karina is our best chance to achieve this title.  After she has another calf we can reclassify her and I believe she as a great shot at gaining those 2 extra points.

So, what is her deal?  Why all the problems with conception? Well during her last delivery she had a torsion in her uterus which I believe restricted blood flow, damaged tissues and probably left fibrotic tissue or scar tissue which led to her reproductive system being susceptible to infections.  And infections happened.  She had a "boggy" uterus for a long time which was treated with antibiotics.

Karina has been artificially inseminated multiple times with no success.  And today is her last chance for reproductive success.  Unfortunately if this insemination does not result in a pregnancy it is the end of the road for my beloved Karina.

So this is what I was doing at 9 am on Sunday morning.  Off to the barn with my husband to inseminate "my girl" for the last time.

The magic dose of semen

My "much needed" breeding stand.

This breeding stand has a great story behind it, but I'll share that another day.

The procedure.

I asked my husband to take the picture of me artificially inseminating because I wanted to give an appreciation of how tall the cow is and how short I am.  I said, "take a picture from the floor up and cut off my head".  He didn't get it.

Karina will be pregnancy checked in about 35 days using ultrasound.  If she is pregnant she will be due February 5, 2012.  I don't even want to calculate her calving interval and if she does get pregnant I will not dwell on this damaging statistic.  Let's just say she will have a lot of time to spend in the dry cow pasture which is basically "Cow Vacation".  Eat, sleep, drink, and enjoy the sunshine.

The happy "dry cow" pasture.

If Karina doesn't get pregnant then she will be shipped for meat.  That is the sad but necessary part of farming.  In the grand scheme of themes it really won't be the end of the world and our dream for an Excellent Cow will continue.  It will happen some day.....maybe with one of Karina's daughters or grand-daughters.  Only time will tell.