First time heifer expecting - bleeding

[dwbonfire]

I have an angus cross heifer, or not sure what age they are considered a cow, but she was bred last January-February and was confirmed to be pregnant in May. She was a year old when bred, and I had her measured to be sure she was ready. I bred her to a friends Dexter bull to be sure she had a small calf. I know she is either due, or past due and I am stumped she has not started to bag up at all. I honestly thought if she was bred in January she would have her calf by now. A month or so ago I noticed some dried blood on her tail. She seemed fine so I just thought maybe she was close to calving. The other day she had some wet blood on her again. Still acting and eating fine. What could this mean? No one can seem to tell me if this is normal or not so I thought I would ask here.

 

[violetsky888]

I'm curious to hear what happens as I have a bunch of first time heifers and I'm a new cow owner. Hope you get some answers. Is it possible she calved and a predator got her calf or it was stillborn and not noticed in a big field??

 

[WildRoseBeef]

And I'd hate to say that she expelled the plug again. Violet could be on to something, though, as often cows will go find a hiding spot and calve out there without you knowing where and if she even calved.

 

[dwbonfire]

I have looked for a calf or still born, or signs that she calved and nothing. She is not in a very big pasture so theres no where to hide.

One thing I finally found when googling this, is that the ligaments and tissue will stretch soon before calving and can cause some bleeding. Hopefully that's all it is. Time will tell I guess. I am just stumped she hasn't calved yet, where I thought I had marked in my phone I had a bull with her for the month of January. But of course my phone deleted that so I cant go back and look to make sure the dates!

 

[jhm47]

I have an angus cross heifer, or not sure what age they are considered a cow, but she was bred last January-February and was confirmed to be pregnant in May. She was a year old when bred, and I had her measured to be sure she was ready. I bred her to a friends Dexter bull to be sure she had a small calf. I know she is either due, or past due and I am stumped she has not started to bag up at all. I honestly thought if she was bred in January she would have her calf by now. A month or so ago I noticed some dried blood on her tail. She seemed fine so I just thought maybe she was close to calving. The other day she had some wet blood on her again. Still acting and eating fine. What could this mean? No one can seem to tell me if this is normal or not so I thought I would ask here.

It's very likely that the heifer resorbed the fetus and is now coming into heat regularly. The blood is coming from the rupture of the cyst as the egg is released. Many times people mistakenly assume that a cow/heifer is not bred when they see this small amount of blood or mucus, when in fact the cow naturally ovulated and there was a small amount of blood when the egg was produced. If your heifer was going to calve, she would have done it about a month ago if she was indeed bred in January.

 

[dwbonfire]

If im right and she was bred in January, and I had her checked in May and she was confirmed pregnant, could she have resorbed the fetus that far along in her pregnancy?
She has continued to put weight on in her flank area and whatnot, since she was confirmed pregnant. I think maybe I should have her checked again..

 

[dwbonfire]

also, can I breed her back now or is there going to be an issue if she in fact resorbed her fetus? what could have caused her to do that?

 

[jhm47]

also, can I breed her back now or is there going to be an issue if she in fact resorbed her fetus? what could have caused her to do that?

It's unlikely that a 4 month fetus could have been resorbed, but if she expelled it, it would not have been very large, and you may have missed it, or a cat or dog could have easily eaten it or dragged it off. A fetus the size of a small cat would not have had much of a placenta yet either, so it's likely that it was never seen, especially since you weren't expecting it. Also, heifers almost always begin to bag up very early (usually 2-3 months before calving). If she were still bred, she should have been showing months ago. Heifers also don't go a month or more past their due date without major problems.

What factors could have caused it??? Well ---there are many. A genetic disorder in the calf, a change if diet, moldy grain or hay, a physical problem in the heifer, an injury, dozens of things. In my herd, we have one or two each year that "slip" their calves. Also, just palpating to check for pregnancy could have also caused it.

Breeding her back shouldn't be a problem, since she seems to be cycling regularly. I'd give her another cycle to see if she is fairly regular, and then give it another try. Good luck!

EDIT: I'm not well versed on Dexters at all, but I seem to remember that there are certain lethal genes in some bloodlines of them that cause abortions. Perhaps some of the Dexter gurus on this site can comment on this. Of course, these lethal genes are usually recessive, and that would have required your heifer to also carry it, so it's probably unlikely that this is the case.

 

[california cowgirl]

Cattle are pregnant 9 months so if she is that young she may not have bred at all but she could have reabsorbed it or aborted and yes the calf would have been very small. Anyway it you put her with a bull again she might get bred again. If she has NOT been with a bull since January and you had him in there for a month and no calf she is NOT pregnant. You would see her bag up and her vulva get very swollen and floppy or springy. So yes get her with a bull. Animals do what animals do so it happens...yes they cycle once a month or every 21 days or so.