my jersey heifer is 18 mouths old and has yet to come in to heat.ihave had her from a baby she is very sweet. is this normll . she is in with a jersey bull for 3 mouths butt no sizn of heat is there anything I can do thanks
18 mouth old jersey no heat
- Thread starter rayfair
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Debby
Chillin' with the herd
That's late. My heifer was showing very "noisy" heats by eight or nine months. My experience has been that the young ones have more obvious heats. But when they are with a bull, I never saw the cow's heat as much. They were more expressive when there was no one there to give them attention. Is it possible that she has been in heat and bred, but you didn't notice? Or could she be one of a twin to a bull calf and be a freemartin?
- Thread starter
- #3
Debby
Chillin' with the herd
If you have the vet out, he or she can palpate to see if there are any follicles--if she is cycling--or if she is (secretly) bred. The longer she is with the bull, the more likely the vet can palpate a pregnancy. IIRC it is about 30 days that they can be pretty accurate with a pregnancy diagnosis.
Good luck with her.
Good luck with her.
WildRoseBeef
Range nerd & bovine enthusiast
Ray, was she exposed to a bull--any bull--at all?
- Thread starter
- #6
WildRoseBeef
Range nerd & bovine enthusiast
So she could be bred then if, like you say, she's with a bull now since you put her in 3 months ago. I wouldn't be surprised if she is. And, if you haven't seen any estrus activity from her since then (cows go in heat every ~21 days), then it's most likely she's with calf.
Like Debby said, get her preg-checked--or palpated--to confirm.
Like Debby said, get her preg-checked--or palpated--to confirm.
greybeard
Herd Master
Like others above, there is a very good chance she is bred. You need to find out as her maternal state will dictate both feed input and vaccination type. Some vaccines can (reportedly) cause abortion in bred animals.
