Cow Project During and After Labs 2 - 4

Review the cow project if needed.

Activities for Week 2:

• You are now assigned a cow group and a timed artificial insemination (AI) protocol to implement. That AI will occur in class during lab 5.
• Identify your group's animal. All groups have dry dairy cows. What does this mean?
  • What type of animals do dairy farms likely have that they are breeding? On a typical dairy farm, either heifers or lactating cows are inseminated. A dry cow will require being kept an additional 9 months for gestation and birth, before she will begin to lactate. This is not economical and so you do not see dry cows in a typical herd. In addition, a dry dairy cow responds to the protocols we will use more like a beef cow.
• Determine what is the protocol for your lab section and review the dates and times you will need to do something with your cow. Start assigning group members to be present at those times. All members may come but at least 1 member must be present. Check to make sure Dr. Parrish has the correcct dates and times for adminstering specific steps of a protocol.
• More information is in the general page for the cow project identified above.
• Implement your protocol.
• Place a new estrus detection patch when giving your last prostaglandin shot as you will need to determine when or if your cow comes into estrus.