Is this considered swollen?

[michelle43]

Hello,
My angus cow is due sometime between May 30th and June 22nd I believe. Bred in the pasture late summer, early fall last year. She has bagged up, and appears swollen, but since I am a newbie, I can't tell how far off she is. Any pointers?
http://youtu.be/jv03XjD_OPw

[hooknline]

Id say she's got a ways to go yet. Her udder hasn't filled up much at all and isn't tight.
Best guess is at the end of your time table. But she may bag up overnight too

[michelle43]

thanks...just practicing figuring out how to post a picture.

[img][img]http://ranchers.net/photopost/data/501/thumbs/IMG_2027.JPG[/img][/img]

[3waycross]

You already did the hard part uploading the picture. After it is on Ranchers the first thing to do is highlight the one you want to post(otherwise it will come out too small). Then right click on the picture and left click on properties. Then go the the properties line and highlight it. Hit control C then go to the message you have created( alittle tip here i usually open another window and work on two windows at once here) click on img and then with the cursor inside of the img hit control V.

BTW like Hook said she is at least a few days away. Not knowing your cow I would say 5 to 7 days at least.

[slick4591]

Michelle43~ hit the quote button and see how I have the tags. It should look like that. I think you have the thumbnail version of the pic.

thanks...just practicing figuring out how to post a picture.

[Kathie in Thorp]

Michelle, this link on the board has good pics/information about calving, and what things look like as your cow gets close. I'm one of those people who needs to "see" and not just read a description!

http://www.cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=72398

[michelle43]

Thanks everyone. I think I am having difficulty because I am using my mac.....I am not mac saavy. I am definitely a PC lover. I can't seem to 'right-click' to get to properties. I am sure it's somewhere. I'll keep looking. I'll try to post pictures as Big Mama progresses. This is very exciting for me. It will be my first calf born on the farm.

[michelle43]

Okay, I switched to my pc. Much better. Here is the picture of the vulva...not too swollen, but definitely bigger and looser than normal.

[dun]

Even from the looseness she doesn;t look all that close to me. We have cows that go so loose and slopppy your tempted to just drive the truck in to look at the calf.

[michelle43]

Even from the looseness she doesn;t look all that close to me. We have cows that go so loose and slopppy your tempted to just drive the truck in to look at the calf.

funny one Dun. yep, from what I've read and seen on this forum, I'm inclined to agree with everyone. Looks like late June is more of a possibility.

[tom4018]

As far as the udder goes we have some that will not get real tight until the last minute. On the looseness we have some that will be calving when they look like yours and others like Dun's.

It varies from cow to cow, we keep records and know when they are exposed and watch close then.

[michelle43]

It varies from cow to cow, we keep records and know when they are exposed and watch close then.

I know that her first standing heat was August 24th, but the bull didn't go home for another 5 weeks, so that is the reason I am unsure.

On another note, I just ate my first rib-eye steak from an Angus x Highland cross steer of mine for dinner tonight. This was the very first beef animal that I raised and 'processed'. It was amazing. I think I would like to do that cross again. My mouth is watering again as I type this. My doctor will not be happy with me.