How It Works
After you submit your request form, we'll reach out to understand your needs and how we can support your herd! You'll receive a quote for our services and once approved by you, we'll get you scheduled for your first visit! The first visit will induce heat, and then the actual AI process takes place 7 to 10 days later, when we've confirmed they're ready!
Inducing Heat for AI
The first step in the AI process is to induce heat. This step essentially includes natural hormones to induce heat, and the seeder will ensure they cannot get pregnant by a bull. This helps us plan when to AI your cows and ensure we nail the timing. Cattle AI is all about timing.
AI-ing
The actual AI process will take place 7 to 10 days after your first visit. If you have other cattle, we can leverage a scratch patch to identify their cycle timing. If you do not have other cattle, we will have you watch for specific signs of heat. Otherwise, we'll show up on day 10 and AI your cows.
AI is all about timing and for it to succeed, clients should assist in understanding their symptoms during a heat cycle.
We'll need your cows in a chute or secure stanchion to facilitate the AI process.
Pregnancy Confirmation
Optional
As an optional service, we can do a pregnancy confirmation on your cow. We can do a blood draw as early as 28 days on heifers or 60 days on cows.
Pre-Calving Check
Optional
Post-Calving Check
Optional
Who We Are
Our family was recently introduced to cattle and this great state of Texas just three years ago. Originally from Minnesota, we never pursued the idea of raising cattle. We kept busy with the 10,000 lakes that Minnesota delivers. After moving here, we realized we could chase that "I want a cow someday" dream. And that we did.
We started raising mini homestead cattle and learning everything there was to learn about cattle, by choice or not. We also dove deep into educational classes, programs, and resources. We fell in love with our bovine friends.
So, we turned our passion for cattle into a business. We're Jeff & Tessa Kriesel, and we can't wait to serve you & your herd. We prefer to build meaningful relationships with our clients as early as possible in their cattle journey and evolve together in knowledge and experience. We love to help the newbies and get our hands dirty.
We want to help you plan, manage, & breed your herd.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why AI over a live bull?
Bulls Are a Nightmare
There is no other way to say it. Bulls are a pain in the bum. They escape. They destroy. They growl. They are naughty. Sure, they're cute sometimes, but at what cost?!
Replacing Bulls is a Pain
If you're maintaining stock, bulls have a fairly short lifecycle in your herd. It's a lot of work to shop and purchase the perfect bull or create the perfect pairings to hope to raise the perfect bull. It never seems to work in our favor.
Good Bulls Are Expensive
You can buy semen from bulls that have a market value in the tens of thousands or even more. To purchase an equivalent bull, you'd need to have the operation required for that investment to make sense. Most of us don't have that.
Calf Gender Reveals are Stressful
What if you could put the odds in your favor when it comes to the sex of your calf? We're always hoping for one gender over the other, with sexed semen there are no more suspenseful in-pasture gender reveals that bum you out. You already know.
In Summary, AI Usually Wins
Between the extra feed and hassle of maintaining the bull and the overall investment to purchase and replace, AI seems like the clear winner.
In Case You Need a Bull
We realize some cases require live testosterone, so we help folks find bulls they can "borrow" instead, like BB, our 43" A2A2 homozygous polled paint Jersey bull, or others across our network.
What is the cost to AI?
There are four parts to the cost of AI services.
- Ranch call or service fee
- Semen straws
- Syncing supplies
- Mileage to your property
Service Fee or Ranch Call
Our service fee is $200 and includes insemination services for up to two cows. This provides us with a full hour of service time at your property. The cost to AI a herd varies based on infrastructure required to shift around cattle and time required to provide services.
For example, if you have secure stanchions for dairy cattle, we can move down the row and get many cows inseminated quickly. However, if we have to wait for cattle to be shifted in and out of one chute or stanchion, the process will take longer, and therefore, require more of our billable time.
Semen Straws
Semen straws can range from $20 to $300+ per straw. This varies drastically on the bull semen you choose. Specific breeds, sizes, colors, etc., all have different prices. We can help you find the right semen for your herd. You can either cover the process of ordering the semen and having shipped to us, or we can order and extend the cost to you on your AI invoice.
Semen straws must be shipped to our property via dry ice and be immediately stored, as they must stay frozen. We're happy to store extra semen straws for you for a small annual storage fee. We prefer return relationships, so we ensure we are very competitive on storage for our clients. Shipping can be $150 to $200.
Syncing Supplies
Unless you watch your cows daily and know exactly what behavior to watch for, it makes more sense to sync your cow. Syncing your cow means initiating the heat cycle to ensure we do not miss the perfect opportunity to AI your cow. This improves our success rates by ensuring the insemination is appropriately timed. Syncing supplies cost around $20-$30 per cow. We extend our direct cost to our clients, there is no markup.
We understand that some clients may not want to sync their cows using natural hormones. If this is you, we will work with you to understand precisely when your cow is in heat and how to recognize it. From there, we can estimate the perfect time to come out and AI your cows. Since we're estimating based on symptoms, sometimes we need to AI more than once for it to take. It's a timing game with cows. But we can try a few techniques for heat indicators like scratch patches (if with other cows) or electronic heat detection devices, depending on your preference, of course.
Mileage
We charge a flat rate of $2 per mile, one-way, after 10 miles. Local clients are great! We prefer not to travel more than 60 miles. We're "on-call" for our clients as their cows reach the perfect time in cycle, so we must stay as local as possible to accomodate and serve our clients with the level of service we want to provide.
Invoice Example
For two cows, your invoice could look something like this if we ordered the semen straws and did a post-AI pregnancy check:
Cost of Goods: Semen Straws $250
- Semen Straws, $50 per straw x 2
- Shipping: $150
Visit 1: Initiate Sync $90
- Service fee, Initiate Sync $50
- Syncing supplies, $30
- Mileage, 15 miles away, $10
Visit 2 (7-10 days later): AI Cows $210
- Service fee, AI $200
- Mileage, 15 miles away, $10
Visit 3: Post-AI Pregnancy Check (Optional) $60
- Service fee, Preg Check, Palpate $50
- Mileage, 15 miles away, $10
Total: $360 to Homestead Herds, $250 to Semen Straw Provider
This invoice could represent two confirmed pregnant cows from high-quality, meticulously-selected bull semen, without the hassle of a bull.
Your investment per calf is ~$305 (in this scenario). Depending on your pairings, weaned calves from in-demand breeds are going for $2k & up. This is also where you can plan a profitable herd by selecting in-demand bulls and selling calves you don't intend to keep. Or breeding for quality in calves you do intend to keep. In some cases you can even get sexed semen—either male or female—to align with your ideal herd plan.