Calf udders???

[Nesikep]

This goes along the lines of the topic "Strange this year" by Dun.. I've noticed number of my heifer calves have udders... and they're only 3 months old. A pair of them already seem to have a half gallon worth of udder there... enough that it's pretty striking, and I didn't notice it on their full blooded sisters from last year.. I had taken some pictures to post but being absent minded today, my camera is still hanging from the handlebars of my bike.. hope it doesn't rain.

Do you notice a strong correlation from the udder formation as a calf to when it's a mature cow? Can I expect these calves to have bigger bags than their sisters from last year? (I'll see how they turn out in 8 months)

[bigbull338]

This goes along the lines of the topic "Strange this year" by Dun.. I've noticed number of my heifer calves have udders... and they're only 3 months old. A pair of them already seem to have a half gallon worth of udder there... enough that it's pretty striking, and I didn't notice it on their full blooded sisters from last year.. I had taken some pictures to post but being absent minded today, my camera is still hanging from the handlebars of my bike.. hope it doesn't rain.

Do you notice a strong correlation from the udder formation as a calf to when it's a mature cow? Can I expect these calves to have bigger bags than their sisters from last year? (I'll see how they turn out in 8 months)

relax an dont panic the heifer calves just have fluid in their baggs.that should go down in time.unless they have swollen teat then it could be mastitis.ve seen prolly 100s of heifers with fluid in their baggs.

[alisonb]

Could be deposits of 'fatty tissue' if they are overweight?

[regolith]

It would be good to see pictures if you can get them here Nesi.

I'm confused - but Alison is right, heifers grown excessively fast do lay down some fat in the udder area and it's linked to *reduced* production as an adult... I've never seen it in dairy heifers, I suppose because it's been known for years that growing too fast can have negative consequences and it takes a huge amount of feed to do it. It might be easier to overfeed beef heifers in that manner (easy keepers) but I just can't see it being an issue in a three month old calf.

I've heard talk of young calves producing milk being affected by the hormones from their mother or the environment, again I've never seen it.

[KNERSIE]

It would be good to see pictures if you can get them here Nesi.

I'm confused - but Alison is right, heifers grown excessively fast do lay down some fat in the udder area and it's linked to *reduced* production as an adult... I've never seen it in dairy heifers, I suppose because it's been known for years that growing too fast can have negative consequences and it takes a huge amount of feed to do it. It might be easier to overfeed beef heifers in that manner (easy keepers) but I just can't see it being an issue in a three month old calf.

I've heard talk of young calves producing milk being affected by the hormones from their mother or the environment, again I've never seen it.

Its not so much growing too fast as its a diet with higher energy levels than the heifers can use up with their genetic growth potential. The excess energy is saved as fatty deposits and the udder is usually the first place where this happens. Fat cells will then take the place where milk glands would have developed.

[Nesikep]

From what it sounds like, Bigbull understands that these are yearling heifers, they aren't, they're 3 month old calves. as for overfeeding, I kinda doubt it, they're well fed certainly, but I noticed this while they were still on hay, and they don't have any grain, etc supplements... so for the picture



which is this calf


and here is another calf's udder

[bigbull338]

i knew what you was talking about.an i knew they wasnt yearling calves.your pics confirms my saying that they had fluid in their bags.

[Nesikep]

Wonder why it's striking me this year... If anything, the mother's diets have been lighter in energy, as I typically feed 2nd cut ~75% alfalfa hay during milking, and this year all I had was about a 30% alfalfa 70% grass and first cut at that. I did feed them as much as they'd clean up, which was about 40 lb/cow per day. Calves were fed some of the same hay separately from the cows.

I guess they do have fluid in their bags, though the teats are completely empty. I've never heard of calves getting mastitis though. Thanks for the info

[Kingfisher]

From what it sounds like, Bigbull understands that these are yearling heifers, they aren't, they're 3 month old calves. as for overfeeding, I kinda doubt it, they're well fed certainly, but I noticed this while they were still on hay, and they don't have any grain, etc supplements... so for the picture



which is this calf


and here is another calf's udder

I just bought some 4.5 month old baldies and noticed one looks like yours. Did not or do no know what to think
about that. I will try to post some pics soon. I did not know if it was normal or not. She is a little older than the other two I purchased. When should they start to develop?

[Nesikep]

well, usually they start to develop a month or three before calving

[regolith]

I had a 2 year old that failed to get bred as a yearling, drop an udder last year. Not much different to the pics, but low enough to swing. Vet trotted out the red clover theory - well now it's all flowered and done I know there's very little of the red variety on farm. Anyway she's due to calve in two and a half months and that udder's never changed - been vetted in calf to that date, but I would have expected to see *some* increase in udder development by now.

About 3 - 4 months bred is the earliest I see them drop, though some heifers will be later than that. My boss last year had two autumn born heifers with his spring borns and I knew they were pregnant first time I set eyes on them in mid-June, they calved end of Oct at 18 months old.

[Nesikep]

and then you have cows like the one I just dropped off at the sale barn, 3rd calf and still no udder (or milk). Lady at the sale barn thought she was a really pretty cow, I though she was an eyesore, but then again, she sees a LOT of miserable stock... makes me feel good knowing that one of my worst isn't that bad looking.

[bigbull338]

oh oh some1 just threw the false bagg up in the mix.that happens with bred heifers that are usually bred 4 to 6 months.an that bagg usually goes down as well.

[regolith]

oh oh some1 just threw the false bagg up in the mix.that happens with bred heifers that are usually bred 4 to 6 months.an that bagg usually goes down as well.

Unless you're talking about something different bb they don't go down, just get gradually bigger like a watched pot going to boil sumtime.
Here's a pic of one halfway through pregancy. She's due about the 24th of next month and a lot bigger now though still not fully developed.

[bigbull338]

most of the false baggs ive seen look like full blown baggs.an those do go down.your pic looks normal to me.once again id call that fluid in the bagg.