Over weight Brahma

[john in wa]

I wonder if you could use a grazing muzzle like the do one horses?

I have no idea. i have had her on nothing but grass hay. no grain no alfalfa and i dont think she has lost 1 pound. I guess i will need to cut her feed down even more. maybe a small flake of grass hay twice aday.

 

[Imissmygirls]

it will take her a few months to lose weight correctly. You must keep her on enough hay to keep the rumen working all the time or you will have a sick heifer. Just make it low-calorie hay- or what is referred to as heifer-hay: rough, with coarse stems. Lots of roughage, not too much nutrition. On the bright side.. .it's cheaper.

 

[jhm47]

In my opinion, this is a non-issue. I breed a lot of heifers each year, and the lowest conception rates are always on the heifers that are in poor condition. The heifer in the picture is probably a bit too fat, but she will breed just fine. I'd far rather have one like her than one that's too thin.

 

[john in wa]

Well i got a nice surprise from my fat cow. she is making bag and her hind end is starting to look loose and floppy. so it looks like she will be having a calf from one of 2 bulls. bull #1 Holstein, bull#2 polled black white face. and as my luck goes i would put money on the Holstein bull. bull #1 was castrated and grain fed and butchered last fall. so every thing from now on will be from the BWF bull. now we just need to play the waiting game till the calf is born. second cow was bred by BWF bull and should be due in mid June. the 3rd cow is bred to a red Angus and should be due in June. this summer BWF bull will get same treatment as #1 bull and slaughtered in October.

 

[jhm47]

Just a warning for you---Holsteins are notorious for calving problems, especially for heifers that are having their first calves. I hope you have a good relationship established with a competent large animal vet, and I also hope that you don't need to use him/her. Best of luck with your heifer.

 

[john in wa]

when i bought her i seen her last calf or was told it was her last calf. I was also told it was her third calf. and yes i have a great vet. He just lives right down the road and has a small dairy with about 150 Holstein cows. so if she would need a C section he would be the one i call. I am really hoping this calf is from the BWF bull but i wont be to surprised if it turns out white with black spots.. all i can do now is keep an eye on her and watch for signs of labor.

 

[amysflock]

Congratulations, John! Obviously she wasn't too fat to breed, which is great. Hopefully she's not still too fat that the condition will add trouble to calving. I agree with JHM...be sure to have the number to a good vet who will make farm calls (especially emergency farm calls), but also make yourself familiar with what to do in a calving emergency. I printed off pages from Colorado State University's website (http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu) and stuck them in a binder that I keep in our calving supply box, just in case.

Looking forward to seeing a photo of your healthy new calf!

 

[john in wa]

the waiting is the hard part. if my math is right and this is just a guess from when i put her in pasture with the bulls. i should have a calf in first part of march. i put her in first week of June so first week of march maybe second week. her bag has more than doubled in size and is looking firm. i will try to get a picture of her tomorrow to show off her bag.. then you can give a guess as to when you think she is due. Maybe we can make a game out of this and who ever guesses the date gets to name the calf.

 

[Sara]

Do you always wait until after your bulls are breeding to castrate them?

 

[john in wa]

Here is a picture of the goods.

if you look at the picture in the first post you can see they have more than doubled in size.