Bred Heifer?

[cjc]

Yes that's just it. It seems to be pretty easy to tell with my other girls who have had one or more. She's not only maturing and I am see those changes I am also looking for pregnancy signs. With a heifer I find if its hard to determine if its her maturing and growing or her growing from a calf.

 

[TAH]

Yes that's just it. It seems to be pretty easy to tell with my other girls who have had one or more. She's not only maturing and I am see those changes I am also looking for pregnancy signs. With a heifer I find if its hard to determine if its her maturing and growing or her growing from a calf.

Okay got.

 

[cjc]

I snapped a few pics of her progress. This is 2 days after the pics I posted above. She has been holding her tail to the side for days. She's more swollen than she was before. Bag is filling fast.

@Latestarter I took a side profile of her for you.

 

[Sumi]

Watching and learning here myself I remember a few years ago we had a few Nguni cows, 3 ladies and a bull. The smallest cow refused to take and we seriously considered selling her when one day she calmly dropped a calf. No apparent changes that let on she was carrying one.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

OK... I know next to nothing about cows (aside from the obvious - they make milk and I LOVE milk), so the following is an attempt to learn... When I look at the pictures, her whole lower abdomen seems "sunken" and thin... much thinner than the chest area. I would have though if there was a calf in there, that whole portion of her anatomy would be much fuller... wider, deeper, hard to describe/explain what I'm trying to say. Also, her belly area, behind the ribs but before the udder seems to slope up towards the rear... shouldn't this be much lower with a calf in there?

I see her lady parts seem rather swollen and apparent, and you mention a discharge, and udder development... Would that happen with 2-4 months still to go?

Can anyone help me out here? What am I missing? How small will/would this calf be? From what I'm seeing, if pregnant, I would have guessed nowhere near calving time... the calf would still have a LOT of growing/developing to do.

For one, it's the lighting and possibly the way that she's standing--note the rear leg distended out. For another, we're looking on the rumen-side of the animal. The rumen always sits mostly on the left side of a cow, which can have some effect of her "preg" look. The other thing is that the fetus isn't way down in the belly, it would be more on the right side and up a bit, hence that "sunken" thin look. The fetus does move around quite a bit in the uterus, so it can affect that pregnancy look in cows, and even in horses. Mares can be the same way: one moment they look like they have a huge belly on them because the fetal foal is sitting down lower in her belly, and the next she looks somewhat "normal" as not pregnant, because the foal moved up towards the spinal column of mom.

She'll start looking like she's really ready to calf when the belly drops down more and her tail-head sinks down as her pins (rear part of the pelvis) begin to relax and separate. I am not seeing that here, so she still has a little way to go.

Heifers are weird, and will fool you. The udder development in heifers can start months before they calve out. It's completely normal for them to start developing an udder 3 or 4 months--some earlier--before calving. Others won't look like they have an udder until the calf drops and oh, all of a sudden the heifer looks like she's got enough milk to feed her calf, and her udder really starts to take form. Each heifer is to her own, so you can never predict what or how it will happen.

Oh yeah, and they'll certainly look like they're imminent to calving even months before they're actually ready. Like I said, heifers are weird, and unpredictable. And because they are first timers, it's always hard to tell when they're actually going to calve. It can be like waiting for water to boil.

@cjc That big cow you mention sounds like she has one heck of a huge rumen.

 

[cjc]

Ok! It happened we have a calf from our Heifer. It was born last night. I believe it's a bull calf but I need to go and get a better look.

This calf has managed to name itself. It was born early morning/late night. I went out into the field at 730am to go and get it cleaned up and make sure it was ok. This calf is SMALL. Maybe 40lbs. After I dipped its navel it just started bolting. It ran right past mama and the herd and continued to run through the 4 board fencing. That's how small it is! The calf was gone for 2 hours. Finally at around 9:30am it came back to mama. During that time I was searching everywhere with my mother and with neighbours! In light of his escape we shall name him El Chapo.

Welcome to the world El Chapo.

 

[TAH]

Ok! It happened we have a calf from our Heifer. It was born last night. I believe it's a bull calf but I need to go and get a better look.

This calf has managed to name itself. It was born early morning/late night. I went out into the field at 730am to go and get it cleaned up and make sure it was ok. This calf is SMALL. Maybe 40lbs. After I dipped its navel it just started bolting. It ran right past mama and the herd and continued to run through the 4 board fencing. That's how small it is! The calf was gone for 2 hours. Finally at around 9:30am it came back to mama. During that time I was searching everywhere with my mother and with neighbours! In light of his escape we shall name him El Chapo.

Welcome to the world El Chapo.

View attachment 18868 View attachment 18869 View attachment 18870

Cute name. I am so happy for you.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Man I was way off LOL. If I would've switched "months" to "weeks" I would've been right on the money!

But hey, congratulations on the new addition! He looks healthy (yes, cute too), and in just a matter of a week or two he'll be the little guy raising hell all over the pasture LOL.

 

[Latestarter]

Wow, first congrats! Glad your heifer delivered unassisted with success! Sounds like he's (if it is a bull calf) off to a running start! Now that I see mom without calf, I see what you were talking about WRT her size, she look "hollow" now.

 

[cjc]

@WildRoseBeef woke up this morning to a crazy bucking calf! Always a good sign when they are crazy! He seems to be nursing well and he is a tiny healthy little bull calf. Smallest one we've ever had but his Dam doesn't have the name Little Red for no reason. She is a tiny girl herself and she has proven to be one great mama so far! I have two more cows to calf this year hoping its in the next month. They are old mamas, both 8 years old and on their 5th and 6th calves. They will be a breeze.