More fun!!! Heifers calving two months early!!!!

JD Seller · Jan 25, 2014

I bought a group of replacement heifers from a Ranch in the sand hills of Nebraska. I had the local vet at that end palpate them to verify that they where bred. The ranch stated they where bred to calve in March/April. The Vet agreed.

The heifers are on another farm. The youngest son has been taking care of them so I had not seen them since maybe Christmas. HE told me last weekend that the heifers looked too far along. So I did the chores over there this week. I noticed that some of the heifers where looking like they where bagging up.

So we moved things around and got them to the home place. Just in time too!!! Got two that calved over night and three others that look like they will drop today. Fifteen more.

We had to make a warm up box as I never calve this time of year.

So now we have ONE more thing to worry about in the cold weather that we have coming. JUST GREAT!!!

I also called the ranch. These heifers are supposed to be registered. The heifers can't be bred to the bull they say as they did not expose the heifers to him early enought for these calves to be from him. These calves are full size. Just one more fun thing to worry about. WHO IS the sire????? WHAT did I pay for???

Allan in NE · Jan 25, 2014

Just like humans.

Normally takes 9 months, but that first one can come any old time. :>D

Allan

Anonymous-0 · Jan 25, 2014

You usually know whether the second one is yours, too.

Tx Jim · Jan 25, 2014

Ask the ranch to pay for DNA test to determine the sire.

farmerwithmutt · Jan 25, 2014

neighbors girl first baby at 6 months and 9 lbs i think the bull got out early.
the hard part is with hfrs they dont have good instincts like old cows . if i remember you feed late in the day they will calve in the day i think i feed around sundown it seems to work

john in la · Jan 25, 2014

The sire is most likely the neighbors bull.

Anonymous-0 · Jan 25, 2014

Should have known enough to preg check with ultra sound to determine the number of days of gestation.

LAA · Jan 25, 2014

Probably the right bull, there could be at least a 60 day window even if they were synchronized, which it sounds like they were. If MGA was used to prevent bulling prior to AI or before turning out with the bull of choice and prostglandin injections were started immediately then it is not uncommon for heifers to breed immediately, mature cows are less likely to breed before 18-21 days after suppression.

Pair-a-dice farm · Jan 25, 2014

(quoted from post at 10:40:05 01/25/14) Just like humans.

Normally takes 9 months, but that first one can come any old time. :>D

Allan

That's what the old local Doc used to tell all the newlyweds. Sometimes it wasn't but a few days if a shotgun was at the weddin' :lol:

bison · Jan 25, 2014

(quoted from post at 07:34:13 01/25/14) I bought a group of replacement heifers from a Ranch in the sand hills of Nebraska. I had the local vet at that end palpate them to verify that they where bred. The ranch stated they where bred to calve in March/April. The Vet agreed.

The heifers are on another farm. The youngest son has been taking care of them so I had not seen them since maybe Christmas. HE told me last weekend that the heifers looked too far along. So I did the chores over there this week. I noticed that some of the heifers where looking like they where bagging up.

So we moved things around and got them to the home place. Just in time too!!! Got two that calved over night and three others that look like they will drop today. Fifteen more.

We had to make a warm up box as I never calve this time of year.

So now we have ONE more thing to worry about in the cold weather that we have coming. JUST GREAT!!!

I also called the ranch. These heifers are supposed to be registered. The heifers can't be bred to the bull they say as they did not expose the heifers to him early enought for these calves to be from him. These calves are full size. Just one more fun thing to worry about.[b:63e4f95a13] WHO IS the sire[/b:63e4f95a13]????? WHAT did I pay for???

Well at least they seem to calve on their own.
It could be worse.
Guy i worked for in the seventy's had bought a 100 preg heifers.
Very few calved on their own, most were hard pulls and C-sections

4010 puller · Jan 25, 2014

What is the weather/temperature where you are? I just had a calf 3 days ago. Seems to be doing ok considering the weather. This bull I bought isn"t doing real well. It seems his breeding is 3-6 month intervals. Cows are not calving at all like they should have.

Traditional Farmer · Jan 25, 2014

Sounds like an expensive deal for someone.

JD Seller · Jan 25, 2014

4010 Puller: We are going to be 10-20 below zero with high winds Mon-Wed. So the wind chills are going to be 30-40 below. Not calving time for me.

JD Seller · Jan 25, 2014

Bison: I am glad they are calving on their own. The first three calves are all nice big calves. I just would like to be able to keep the heifer calves for future replacements. The ranch is going to pay for DNA testing to see if they can identify the bull. The bull that they where supposed to be bred to was not turned in with them in time for them to be calving now.

The ranch thinks that a hired hand turned the wrong bull into the wrong pen at the wrong time. LOL Lot of WRONG there.

As far as costing me anything. That is a long chance for several reasons. The biggest is that this ranch sells a lot of registered cattle. If it would become widely known that they had a screw up like this happen then the value of their livestock would drop like a rock. Also I have dealt with them for close to 30 years, they already offered a sizable refund if I keep the heifers or even a total refund if I did not want to keep them.

We will just wait and see how it all goes. It is just more work right now when we really don't need anymore.n

donjr · Jan 25, 2014

JD, at any rate, it would seem there's a gentleman of questionable persuasion roaming the wood lot.....

tomstractorsandtoys · Jan 25, 2014

We sold the dairy herd in Nov. but still have a few dry cows and heifers to sell.Last Sat. when going to bed up we found two fresh cows.We had wrote the dates wrong.We have already removed the pipe line in the barn so what do we do with 2 fresh cows?We milked them out by hand sat night and put the calves with them,on Sunday morn both me and wife woke up with the stomach flu.My oldest son works for a big dairy so I called him and said to tell the boss I would make a great deal on two cows and calves.LOL Thankfully he decided he could use them.The joys of farming.

More fun!!! Heifers calving two months early!!!!

JD Seller

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Allan in NE

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Anonymous-0

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Tx Jim

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farmerwithmutt

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john in la

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Anonymous-0

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LAA

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Pair-a-dice farm

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bison

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4010 puller

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Traditional Farmer

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JD Seller

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JD Seller

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donjr

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tomstractorsandtoys

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