Many farmers also prefer to freshen their cows in the cooler seasons. This is also the time when they are not busy with crops. He breeds more cows from December to March, probably 20 percent more than normal. If cows are in barn pens, paddocks or pastures, the farmers single out the cow in heat, tying her to a fence or isolating her in a pen. If the farmer has a stanchion barn, the cow may be waiting with a sign over her head.
Timing is critical.
They may have 20 hours to get the cow bred successfully or they will have to wait for another opportunity. When rake pulls into a driveway, hopefully on time, he opens up the back hatch of his vehicle and starts asking for information about the cow. He carries a supply of semen in a liquid nitrogen refrigerator which keeps the semen frozen. Rake knows many of the bulls by name, the good and bad points of the bulls, what the farmer wants from a calf and the traits the bull carries. He selects the bull with the most desirable traits and heads into the milk house to prepare his o-ring gun.