Silent Heat in dairy Cows
A silent heat, or sub estrus, is defined as the lack of behavioral estrus symptoms although the genital organs undergo normal cyclical changes.
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| How to identify silent heat in dairy cows |
A cow with a silent heat doesn't display any of the obvious signs, like licking or sniffing other cows, mounting, standing to be mounted, or acting nervous and excitable.
However, she can still become pregnant, and the bull will know about it, even if they’re vasectomised. But you won’t.
This is why these vasectomised (or teaser) animals are used for heat detection.
They are the same as a stock bull essentially, but because the tubes that deliver semen have been cut, they can’t inseminate a cow.
If you get the procedure done, don't let the bull in with the cows for a month because his sperm could still be viable.
A chin ball can be fitted to a teaser for adding paint to the cow as she is mounted. This device requires a lot of maintenance as you have to top up the pain every 15-20 mounts.
Additionally it can only tell you so much unless you go back and check how progress is going regularly and take lots of notes.