You are running a ranch that runs 200 cows and 50 yearlings. 45% are registered cows. You begin A.I.'ing the middle of March and continue through the end of April. You want to A.I. all of the registered cows and yearlings first, so they calve during the month of January. But you want to take a two week vacation in February, so after the first round of A.I., you take a two week break between A.I. and turning out your clean up bulls. Which heat detection aids would you use? Why?

     In order to determine when your registered cows and yearlings will come in heat when you are on vacation, I would recommend a relatively new product called HeatWatch II. HeatWatch II,  has been on the market since 2006 and is an electronic chipped sensor which relays information back to your computer and to your HeatWatch II software which tells you what cows are in estrus, what cows have been in estrus, and when each cow will come into standing heat next. The sensor that is on the cow is a polyester patch which has 3 components, the polyester pouch which encloses the monitor, the monitor, and the retention strap which keeps the monitor mounted if the glue were to wear from intensive mounting. The sensor sends out a signal when the cow has been mounted twice for more than 2 or 3 seconds. The signal is then received at a repeater or at the base station. With several repeaters the range of HeatWatch II is up to several miles. With the information now received at the base station, the information is sent to your computer for analysis. This program costs around $4,000 with an additional $3.75 cost per cow. But if you want to go on vacation from your 500 head ranch, then an additional $6,000 dollars would be money well spent.