Everyone wants to be a successful dairy farmer. It is never the idea of just having dairy animals on your farm in your possession. Start with proper breeding. Most of the current dairy farmers rely on Artificial Insemination (AI) as a method of breeding for their herds. Proper timing of estrus is paramount here. Never serve your animals outside the optimal range of time from the onset of heat. The general recommendation is always to serve in the 12th hour from start of heat.
This therefore means that the whole technique becomes inappropriate if you are not keen enough to observe the actual time your animal started showing signs of estrus. Bad news for you is that there is no shortcut for this. Just be a good manager of the herd, spend no more than 3 hours away from the animal yard/units. This will give you an opportunity to make that timely observation for the onset of heat and hence be able to estimate the 12th hour from then at which the animal is very “ready” to be served.
Tracking the heat cycle in a Dairy cow for timely serving
The primary Science behind this is that it is after about 12 hours from the onset of heat that most cows/heifers come in the best position for conception. In simple terms, it is when the hormonal activities hit the peak. Serving too early means your animal is not yet ready.
Again, serving too late means the animal is no longer in estrus and this will just translate into wastage of time, energy and farmer’s valuable resources.