# Are we getting close?...



## mommy_2_parks (Jan 16, 2010)

So, we have a Scottish Highland cow who last month was supposedley full term (or nearly full term) last month still hasn't given birth. Today she has been acting normal; grazing, etc. Well, she was laying down and then rolled over to her side, rolled back over, stood up and lifted her tail. She bent down a little and pushed with all her might. No poop, no pee, no nothing. Looking at her backside, there is no blood or mucous or anything like that. She then proceeded to sniff the ground everywhere (tail still raised with nothing coming out) but didn't eat anything. Then walked over to the hay bale and has been eating normally and put her tail back down. What could she have been doing? Are we getting close to having a calf? The suspense is maddening! Thanks for any and all input! Oh by the way, she looks huge and about to explode!


----------



## chickygirl55 (Jan 17, 2010)

Yup getting close thats what each of our cows that birthed recently did. It was our first calves so we had no idea lol. They definitely roll around on and off during labor. Does she have milk? Both our milk cows got bumps hanging down on their stomachs right in front of the udders one to two days before birth. Good luck hope she births easily like ours did.


----------



## Nicki (Jan 17, 2010)

Sounds like you are close hopefully you have a dry warm night ahead highland calves do have a lot of hair and can take a while to dry off.


----------



## jhm47 (Jan 17, 2010)

There is one thing that I know for sure when predicting when a cow is going to calve.  This is a time proven fact that everyone should know, and it is truly foolproof.  It has been handed down from generation to generation of ranchers, and even college professors have endorsed it, so it must be true.

I will admit that when I first heard it, it made so much sense that I wondered why I hadn't thought of it myself.  

Here it is:  Every single day that goes by that the cow has not calved is another day closer to the day that she will calve.  However, if there is rain, snow, sleet, or other weather disturbance on the way, she will not calve until the worst of the storm strikes.  And then, she will invariably go to the far end of the pen/pasture where the wind blows the hardest, and the snow piles up the deepest to deliver her calf.  If there are coyotes in the area, she will be sure to calve in plain sight of where they like to patrol.  After calving, she will immediately rejoin the herd, out of the wind and snow, and do her best to convince you that she has not calved yet.  If by some miracle, the calf has survived, the cow will only return to nurse it during nighttime hours, and she will make you believe that the calf has not nursed.  You will immediately confine the cow and calf and do your best to make the calf nurse.  The cow will kick you numerous times, the calf will refuse to suck, and you will finally give up and drag your battered and brusied body back to somewhere warm.  When you return with a bottle of warm milk, the calf will be standing by the cow nursing peacefully as nothing ever happened.  

Such is the life of a cowman.  Fun ain't it?  I wouldn't trade it for any other life.


----------



## SDGsoap&dairy (Jan 18, 2010)




----------



## amysflock (Jan 18, 2010)

Amen to that, LOL!!! That's pretty much my experience, too, especially this time. I, too, have a Scottish Highland cow I'm waiting on. She's not overdue, actually won't be overdue until 10 days past Feb. 8th (remember, cows "terms" are +/- 10 days), but I swear she could go any time. Clearly she's not ready yet, though.

Also, truly, unless you used AI and not a bull, it's very difficult to know exact due dates. Our window on Sheila this time was Nov. 16-Feb. 8 due to the length of time the bull was here. Our other cow's much shorter (in late April/early May) because the second bull was here a much shorter amount of time.

Oh, and one other thing...if you had her palpated (pregnancy checked), it's very possible the vet miscalculated. Highland calves are a lot smaller than "normal" calves, so even the most experienced vet can be off. Last year ours thought Sheila was 4 months along (not possible) and Bridgit 7...turns out Sheila was actually 6 and Bridgit 5!!


----------



## mommy_2_parks (Jan 18, 2010)

LOL!!! Thanks for the input. Still nothing as of yet. Her bags aren't even close to full and are even hard to see under her winter coat. She looks huge but is acting quite normal. So, we will see. I'm fairly new to this site and appreciate your input! It's good to connect with people who have the same intrests.


----------



## Sara (Feb 1, 2010)

Did you have a vet check her to verify that she is pregnant?  You can also do a simple blood test (my preferred method).  If she is a month past due, and no udder, I'd question if she is bred, or bred when you thought.


----------



## mommy_2_parks (Feb 1, 2010)

Sara said:
			
		

> Did you have a vet check her to verify that she is pregnant?  You can also do a simple blood test (my preferred method).  If she is a month past due, and no udder, I'd question if she is bred, or bred when you thought.


Sara,

We bought her in November of last year and the woman that we bought her from hadn't been watching her (much less taking care of her properly) and said that she had been running with an Angus bull. We brought her hom where she could gain some weight, as she was extremely skinny. In mid-December, we took her to the vet to have her preg checked and he said she was full-term or nearly full-term. Her bags are showing, but far from full and there is no bloody or mucousy show that I have seen. she hasn't seemed to loose any weight. And we've been keeping an eye on her.


----------



## Sara (Feb 1, 2010)

Ok, wasn't sure if you had her checked.  Sounds like she probably wasn't as far along.  Hope you get a nice healthy calf soon


----------



## Imissmygirls (Feb 2, 2010)

If she was vet-checked in December as nearly full term and hasn't calved yet, I would start to be concerned. Is the calf still live?  Bump the belly above and in front of the udder and feel for a kick back. If you feel life, relax, stop worrying and wait some more time. 
If you don't get a response, (and you can bump fairly vigorously then lay your palm on her to feel the movement) I'd have the vet check her again.
bump on both sides in case the legs are on the other side.  You should be able to discern some movement of the fetus at this stage. Sounds like the cow was in rough shape when you got her and anything can happen. There are metabolic disorders that happen that require an induction, too.
 There is a stage in mid-pregnancy where the calf is hard to detect because it falls too far down in the belly for its size.  If the vet knows what s/he is doing, s/he shoudl be fairly accurate in dating the pregnancy. You might ask the vet again if you should be concerned.


----------



## mommy_2_parks (Feb 2, 2010)

Thanks for the advice, Imissmygirls. I will have my husband do that to check. We are planning on taking several heifers over to the vet this week for preg checks, so we may load her up if we don't get a response. She is well taken care of here and we are starting to get worried. Like I said before, she has sloughed a calf before from what her previous owner has said. She has a twin sister and I was starting to think I got their due dates mixed up, but I looked at the vet paper work and I wasn't mixed up. So I guess we will see... 

Sara, how do you go about getting that blood work done? Is that to measure how far along they are in their pregnancy and can my vet just do that instead?


----------



## Sara (Feb 3, 2010)

I do the blood testing myself.  You pull 3cc of blood from under the tail and send it off to a lab.  

If you think she is as far past as you say, I agree you should have a vet look at her.


----------



## mommy_2_parks (Feb 5, 2010)

My husband went ahead and tried the "bumping" thing but had no response. He said though, she was fidgety and wasn't standing still for him. He also said he didn't know where to bump for sure. But he said that her bags were starting to fill up quite a bit. Should we still have a vet come check her?


----------



## jhm47 (Feb 5, 2010)

I would say that she will calve when it's time.  It's always hard to wait, but I believe that letting nature take it's course is always best.  The suspense is very difficult, but she will have her calf when the time is right for her.  Good luck, and don't be biting your fingernails!  LOL!


----------



## amysflock (Feb 13, 2010)

Do you have a calf yet? Our Sheila is now 5 days overdue...I *hate* the waiting!!

FYI, I've never had luck bumping. I believe I heard that by nearly full term the calf is too big to do much kicking that you could feel, though. I think it's easier to feel when they're around 7 months gestation.

Fingers crossed you (and I!) will have a healthy calf soon!


----------



## mommy_2_parks (Feb 13, 2010)

Hope you have a healthy calf soon, amysflock! Chloe (we call her "Crooked Horn") must have not been as far along as our vet thought she was. We are just keeping an eye on her. She is becoming very slow compared to the rest of the herd but her bags haven't even filled up and she is acting pretty normally. So we are just keeping her fingers crossed that everything is ok and we will have a calf soon!


----------

