# Bred Heifer?



## cjc (Jun 1, 2016)

I exposed this heifer to a bull for about 7 months. I am assuming she is bred. She started developing udders about 6 months ago and now I believe they are starting to fill with milk. Her back end also looks "different". What do you guys think? How far away is she?


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## Sumi (Jun 2, 2016)

I'm no cow expert, just giving this thread a bump for you. Hopefully one of the "cow people" here will be able to help you more!


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## WildRoseBeef (Jun 2, 2016)

She certainly has that "bred" look to her, but it's hard to tell how far along she is. She could be anywhere from 4 to 2 months away from calving, with her vulva getting so big and almost lax like it is. Best way to determine if she is pregnant is to get a palpation done on her. Or continue to wait and see.


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## cjc (Jun 2, 2016)

Thanks @WildRoseBeef! She has a clear liquid coming out of her today. We are going to move her to a calving area tonight. I am starting to think she's a late bloomer in the udder department. Her bag has doubled in size over night though


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## Goatgirl47 (Jun 2, 2016)

I agree with @WildRoseBeef, she looks pregnant to me! So this will be her first time?


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## cjc (Jun 2, 2016)

Yes this will be her first calf. Will be interesting to see what comes out of her. She's a little cow. Maybe angus x Hereford maybe with some jersey in her, bred her to a short horn


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## Latestarter (Jun 3, 2016)

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.


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## TAH (Jun 3, 2016)

Latestarter said:


> 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.


I was having the same issue @Latestarter Maybe @WildRoseBeef can help.


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## cjc (Jun 3, 2016)

All of my cows get wide. Wide in the centre. But, I have also have cows that look like this all the time. They look the same way with or without a calf in them. I have a cow that is always big. When she calved last season the only change was big, tight udder and a swollen back end like you see in the pictures. My cows also look like they have umbilical hernias when they start getting big when they are pregnant. To me just shows that the majority of the pressure is on the centre of the abdomen which confirms this wide centre appearance. But at the same time I have a big fat cow that always looks like she has an umbilical hernia.

When I look at her she looks very pregnant. She's as wide as a house with four peg legs. This calf will be small most likely because she is a small cow.

Because she is a heifer it's hard to tell how close she is to calving without being properly checked which is why I asked this question. Last season I had a heifer that calved and her bag filled in the same week. I sent these same pictures to two cattle ranchers I know. One said about 4 weeks would be their guess, another said a week max. He said he expected her bag to fill overnight. And, in the past two days her bag has been rapidly filling, I will try and snap another pic today when I go feed my calf.


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## TAH (Jun 3, 2016)

cjc said:


> All of my cows get wide. Wide in the centre. But, I have also have cows that look like this all the time. They look the same way with or without a calf in them. I have a cow that is always big. When she calved last season the only change was big, tight udder and a swollen back end like you see in the pictures. My cows also look like they have umbilical hernias when they start getting big when they are pregnant. To me just shows that the majority of the pressure is on the centre of the abdomen which confirms this wide centre appearance. But at the same time I have a big fat cow that always looks like she has an umbilical hernia.
> 
> When I look at her she looks very pregnant. She's as wide as a house with four peg legs. This calf will be small most likely because she is a small cow.
> 
> Because she is a heifer it's hard to tell how close she is to calving without being properly checked which is why I asked this question. Last season I had a heifer that calved and her bag filled in the same week. I sent these same pictures to two cattle ranchers I know. One said about 4 weeks would be their guess, another said a week max. He said he expected her bag to fill overnight. And, in the past two days her bag has been rapidly filling, I will try and snap another pic today when I go feed my calf.


Okay. Is it also hard to tell because she is  first timer?


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## cjc (Jun 3, 2016)

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.


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## TAH (Jun 3, 2016)

cjc said:


> 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.


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## cjc (Jun 3, 2016)

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.


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## Sumi (Jun 4, 2016)

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.


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## WildRoseBeef (Jun 5, 2016)

Latestarter said:


> 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.


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## cjc (Jun 13, 2016)

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.


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## TAH (Jun 13, 2016)

cjc said:


> 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.
> 
> ...


Cute name. I am so happy for you.


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## WildRoseBeef (Jun 13, 2016)

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.


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## Latestarter (Jun 13, 2016)

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.


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## cjc (Jun 14, 2016)

@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.


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## Goatgirl47 (Jun 15, 2016)

He is one handsome boy! Congrats!  

Will he be a bottle baby?


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## WildRoseBeef (Jun 15, 2016)

@cjc   See? That's what I figured, he just had that glint in his eye; he was just waiting for the chance to catch his breath before he goes peeling off on his mom with his little tail in the air.


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## cjc (Jun 16, 2016)

@Goatgirl47 I sure hope he wont be a bottle baby! His dam has turned out to be a fantastic mother. He is nursing well and is very spunky. We thought we would likely sell our heifer with her calf as a pair but after seeing her with her calf I think we have changed our mind. She is a funny cow and does most things on her own, is always seen grazing away from the herd and was always spooky. In the past few months she has really come around, she gladly eats grain out of our hands now and she allow us to check on her calf without any aggression towards us, she just watches us.

I bought her from a guy up in the mountains. His cows are always spooky because they don't see people often. I paid $500 for her when she was 14 months old. Just over a year later she has turned out to be a good cow for our small farm.


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