Progesterone Tracking: Time the Breeding Right

Ask any breeder who has missed a cycle: the expensive part of breeding isn't the stud fee. It's the timing. Progesterone testing takes the guesswork out, but the numbers usually end up on a sticky note by the phone, and the math that turns them into a breeding date happens in your head at the vet's parking lot.

Now the whole thing lives on the heat cycle in BreederBuddy.

What the numbers mean

Progesterone starts near zero and climbs as a female approaches ovulation. Under 2 ng/mL she's at baseline. Around 2 to 3, the LH surge is happening. When she crosses 5, she's ovulating. The eggs then need about two days to mature, which is why the right breeding day is after the ovulation reading, not the day of it.

Every breeder doing progesterone testing knows this curve. The work is tracking it: which draw was Tuesday, what her number was last time, how many days past the crossing you are now.

Log the test, see the rise

Open a female's Heat Cycles tab and expand Cycle Activity on her current cycle. Each test takes seconds to log: the date, the value, and the vet or lab if you want it on record.

As results come in, the app charts the rise with two lines marked on it: the LH surge band at 2-3 ng/mL and the ovulation threshold at 5. One glance tells you where she is in the climb.

If a result comes back under 5, BreederBuddy offers to put a retest reminder on your calendar two days out. The rise doesn't wait, and neither should the next draw.

Your breeding window, by method

The moment a test crosses 5 ng/mL, the cycle marks that as ovulation day and shows your window:

• Natural ties and fresh AI: ovulation +2 to +3 days
• Frozen or surgical AI: ovulation +3 to +4 days, because thawed semen lives hours, not days

One click applies the window to her fertile window on the cycle, replacing the generic day-9-to-14 estimate with her actual biology. You stay in control; nothing changes unless you apply it.

A due date you can plan around

Counting 63 days from the breeding date gets you close. Counting 63 days from ovulation gets you right, because breeding dates drift but ovulation doesn't. Once the crossing is logged, the cycle shows the refined due date, so the whelping box is ready when she is.

Breedings tie into the same picture

Log the breeding right from the cycle, natural or AI, and it lands in her Health records like always, now stamped with the cycle it belongs to. Breedings you log from the Health tab during a heat connect automatically too, and the record shows up on the sire's profile as well as hers. Pregnancy check and due date reminders offer themselves the moment you save.

The result: one cycle, one screen, the whole story. Tests, the rise, the window, the mating, the due date.

Just ask Buddy

Buddy reads straight from your records. Ask "what were Luna's progesterone numbers this cycle?" or "when did we breed her last heat?" and you get the tests, the ovulation call, and the breeding dates in one answer.

Part of BreederBuddy

Progesterone tracking is included for every program, right alongside heat cycles, Whelping Watch, weights, and health records. The full reproductive picture for every female, on one profile.

No more sticky notes by the phone.