OT young heifer, whoops, real close, young

Dave from MN · Feb 26, 2011

I believe she will only be 20 or 21 months old. By the looks of it she is bagging up, would say she would calve within 2 weeks may be sooner. She is a Normande/Angus cross, got bred by a shorthorn. What are my options, is it worth calling a vet when time comes and hope for the best. Every one is saying they are getting huge calves so far this winter has me worried, thought she would be fine but seems like she quit growing, except the belly. Sure hope I am not looking at losing a heifer and calf. C-section? any advice what to expect?

rrlund · Feb 26, 2011

Just hope you have better luck than I had today. The bulls got out a couple of times last year before I wanted them out. I put them right back,but didn't know if they bred anything. This morning,I had a cow off by herself out in the snow,tail up,turning circles. She had some bag on her,so I figured OK,she got bred when the bulls were out. Well,she threw a dead premie. Thought at first it might be a twin,so I left her alone to clean it off and see if there was another one. BUT....it WAS early. By at least a month-six weeks I'd say.

On yours,boy,breeding a heifer to a shorthorn? This is where I say "what the heck were you thinking?". I really don't know what to tell you. I never did anything like that. With Angus bulls,I don't give heifers a whole lot of extra attention. Seldom have a problem with them to be honest. Might wanna at least have the vet on speed dial and have the heifer near a chute.

Matt in TN · Feb 26, 2011

I bought three heifer calves a few years ago that averaged 545 lbs. A few months later, two of 'em dropped calves. One calf lived, the other was dead and had to be pulled. Neither heifer showed any warning signs. The one calf that lived wasn't much bigger than a house cat.

rrlund · Feb 26, 2011

The vet warned me about that several years ago. Told me if my heifer calves had been out on pasture with my service bulls for any length of time,to give them a shot of lutalyce when we worked them in the fall so they would cycle. He said he had just pulled a calf out of a 13 month old heifer. He said he wouldn't have believed it was that young,but it was registered and the woman went and got the papers and showed him the DOB. There's been just one time that one has tossed a calf after we did it,but that calf was about the size of a rat from a 550 7 month old pound heifer.
My cousin bought some hereford feeder heifers one time and had it happen too.

M Nut · Feb 26, 2011

Call the vet, have her checked, and they'll schedule a C-section if they don't think she can have it on her own. Better to get things checked now than wait until she is in labor. I know Milaca will do this, as we were going to have this done, but the day before the vet was supposed to do the c-section, the heifer went into labor on her own. Little lady vet showed up and I thought oh crap, this is going to be interesting. She got in with that heifer and naturally delivered a 60lb calf out of that heifer with no trouble at all. Saved them both, and the cost was only around $130.

LAA · Feb 26, 2011

If you have been feeding her grain and or alfalfa hay stop now and give only grass hay, many times on a heifer when they look like they stopped growing its because their growing a calf. A surprising amount of the size of a calf is grown in the last month or so of gestation. You could get her palpated, which is cheap most places and get the vets opinion on the calfs head size. A calf pulling rig is cheap insurance.

Erik Ks farmer · Feb 26, 2011

Had one that could't have been more than 18-19 months calve unassisted last spring, the calf is almost as big as she is now, but was the smallest calf I've ever seen. Keeping our fingers crossed that all goes well.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 26, 2011

AMEN ,,.hit the brakes on grain and hi performance feed NOW ,,. it just makes a bigger calf , AND YOU WILL LOOSE BOTH !,.. feed ample hay AND NOT THE VERY BEST.. you want the young mooma to need all nourishment with little left over to make a bigger calf ... you may get lucky , and if you are a praying rightous man , also have mercy from the man above

kyhayman · Feb 27, 2011

Watch her close, look for a normal presentation. If she needs help, try a hand pull. Anything more than what I can do with my two hands and feet I feel like warrants a vet.

Pair-a-dice farm · Feb 27, 2011

Ditto on cutting the grain and alfalfa. As for breeding her to a Shorthorn, that"s what I breed ALL of my black heifers to. I get smaller calves out of a Shorthorn than Angus. Keep an eye on her. I have a cow that is 6 years old and she just had her 5th calf. She got bred to a Shorthorn bull when she was 9 months old. I never had trouble.

OT young heifer, whoops, real close, young

Dave from MN

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rrlund

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Matt in TN

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rrlund

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M Nut

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LAA

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Erik Ks farmer

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Anonymous-0

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kyhayman

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Pair-a-dice farm

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