Help! Calf Down!

[cjc]

I am not exactly sure when they are due it's a serious guessing game for me right now. They were exposed to a bull for 7 months and I think they all took. My heifer now has very developed teats so I think she will be within a month or two.

I pray for twins but haven't been lucky yet! That would be a great plan I sure hope that happens!

I was thinking of putting the word out to a few local ranchers that if they have a cow that has lost a calf I would be willing to buy her. After seeing him just rush to the udders I don't think it would take much if I had an established mama cow.

It's just sad for me, isolating him. He desires so much to be with the cows.

 

[jhm47]

It's perfectly natural for cows to reject calves that are not their own. This is protection for their own offspring's milk. If cows allowed any "strange" calf to suck, their own calf would be short-changed in the grocery department. This is instinctual in nearly all species, and ensures that their genetics will survive into the next generations.

I wouldn't worry about letting the calf in with the bigger cattle. The others will soon teach him his boundaries, and things will settle down quickly. While this may seem cruel, it's nature, and it will help him to become socialized as he grows older.

FYI: Not all cows are able to provide enough milk to raise twins. I have had a few that are able to do it, but they often don't breed back on time, and it takes a lot out of them as they age. I had one cow that had 7 sets of twins in her lifetime. NONE of them was a breedable heifer, and I so badly wanted one.

 

[Bossroo]

Too, any female calf that is a twin to a bull calf is a Free Martin and cannot become pregnant. Instant hamburger !

 

[cjc]

Wow I had no idea!

Question for everyone on one of my heifers. Her milk hasn't come in yet but her teats are more obvious. Her vagina area also just looks different, almost bigger. She's wide as ever and I am only assuming she is bred. I exposed her to a bull for 7 months.

Would her teats be obvious if she wasn't bred? Is that just her maturing?

 

[jhm47]

I'd palpate her and see if she's bred. Not a big thing at all. You can also get some idea of delivery date by the size of the feet and legs of the calf. Another method is to gauge the size of the large artery on the right side of the pelvic girdle. Just don't be too aggressive when you feel the calf, as you could possibly dislodge or separate the placenta from the wall of the uterus. Oh---you might want to use a glove when palpating. It's really not necessary, but---well, some are a bit squeamish about a little excrement on their arms. Believe me, it does wash off!!! I know from experience! LOL And, it doesn't taste as bad as it smells (also from experience)!LOL X 2

 

[cjc]

The problem with trying any of that with this heifer is she will not let me touch her. The only way would be to get her in the squeeze and she has never been in it. I have had mixed comments as to if it's safe for me to even put her in the squeeze if she is as far along as I think she is. I would also have to move her to the other pasture to get her in the squeeze haha, all these things that have me in the situation I am in now. Just hoping and praying she's bred

 

[jhm47]

If she's a heifer she would be showing a huge udder development at least a month prior to calving. The squeeze chute won't hurt her provided that you don't squeeze her body too tight. We put them in up to a few days before calving to give shots etc., and no problems.

 

[cjc]

Ok great. Well she has developed more obvious teats, before I couldn't even see them now I can. Her whole back end just looks different now, bigger. Like her vagina area, its larger for sure. Would she get these teats even if she wasn't bred? I have had a heifer that was just a beef cow that I never noticed teats on but it was also a different breed.

 

[jhm47]

It's always been my experience (55 years or so) that heifers will "bag up" waaaaay earlier than cows. I notice the udder enlargement up to 2 full months ahead of calving. And the size of the teats isn't always an indicator of whether she's bred or not. Some heifers will show udder/teat development because of fat deposits. Feedlot heifers that are really fat will often have large udders, and they are not bred.

 

[cjc]

It's always been my experience (55 years or so) that heifers will "bag up" waaaaay earlier than cows. I notice the udder enlargement up to 2 full months ahead of calving. And the size of the teats isn't always an indicator of whether she's bred or not. Some heifers will show udder/teat development because of fat deposits. Feedlot heifers that are really fat will often have large udders, and they are not bred.

@jhm47 my experience thus far has been quiet the opposite. But...I have only bred two heifers so my experience is not really relevant.

But that being said that heifer calved, see my post Bred Heifer?. She had the tiniest bag before she had her calf. Her back end looked like she was going to calf but her bag was saying something quiet different.

She literally bagged overnight and had her calf an hour later. She had her calf last Monday and over the weekend she bagged up even more. Calf is feeding well and she is producing more than enough milk for her new calf. I had multiple people look at her and most people were telling me it was a few months away. A few local cattle guys were telling me to move her as she was going to calf any day, and they were right. In their opinion most heifers bag up over night and this did happen in this case as well as with our heifer last year, same thing.