And what should I do with her????

[Wisteria Farms]

Picked up a couple calves and one is looking more and more "dairy-ish" to me...(mind you, I'm used to looking out my window and seeing all Murray Greys) so my experience in identifying calves of other breeds is very poor! Her body "shape" isn't dairy but she doesn't have an udder at 2 months old either! So, my question is... aside from waiting for her to mature, is there anything that might help identify if she IS dairy? I never saw her dam at the feedlot...but she herself is very leggy!

I'm just thinking to myself...good Lord...what am I going to do with one dairy cow in a herd of beef cattle? Suggestions?
Another consideration... she's two months old and is WIRED to beat heck...I open the stall door to give her some excercise and she tries to head-butt me, bounces off the walls...I'm thinking, "I know why YOUR momma was sent to the danged feedlot!!!"... should I just feed her out and ship her or is there a value to having just one dairy cow? Freshen her and get the colostrum? I'm sure this would mean having to milk her twice/day? I started messing with her teats just in the off-chance we would keep her but if she doesn't CALM DOWN it won't be an option!

Just curious as to your thoughts...

 

[dun]

Ship her NOW!

 

[Wisteria Farms]

Well, I'm thinking her "energy" is due to confinement but I agree that I don't want a nut case out with my calm girls...

 

[dun]

Well, I'm thinking her "energy" is due to confinement but I agree that I don't want a nut case out with my calm girls...

Exactly. One looney can stir up a bunch of cows but a bunch of calm cows can't settle down a looney

 

[Wisteria Farms]

Agreed...I think I'll get her a little bigger and then ship...this one was a losing proposition between milk replacer and her getting sick at the get-go. Win some/lose some...but I decided real quick that taking these calves off the feedlot is NOT for me... I'm sticking to my purebreds! Since I have the ability to keep them seperated I thought, why not, but out of 4 calves I've taken since Memorial Day, and despite my best efforst (good feed/good ventilation) 2 have been seriously sick...NOT WORTH IT!

 

[LauraleesFarm]

I would be concerned also about the lack of udder development.....my 2 month old heifers have teats that dangle, some have a small udder forming. A freemartin heifer will have teats like a steer.....and no udder. She may be freemartin.

 

[Wisteria Farms]

No...no danglies here... just little erasure tips...she MAY be just a really leggy beef heifer...I'll have to look and see if I have a good picture of her...

I know she's not a free-martin as she was born at my buddies feedlot and he would have mentioned if she was a twin...he didn't even know what sex she was....just said, "had another calf...come get it".

 

[Wisteria Farms]

Well, here she is...
She's the calf on the right... not a good picture but she has legs like no-other. She was sick for a time (rumen acidosis) so in the pic she hadn't started picking her weight back up...

 

[bigbull338]

she sure doesnt look like a dairy cross calf to me.unless her momma was a dairy heifer/cow.dun my cows run with a bunch of hairbrains.an i can go out just about anytime with feed an put them in the corral.

 

[Wisteria Farms]

I'll try to get a better picture of her...as I said, she has LEGS and and a small boney rear end...she's very narrow and has a really silky coat.
Since this picture was taken and her condition cleared up she's been putting on weight but to me is just shaped "different"...not deformed...but real slender...

Just curious as to what she might be...sure wish her momma was a little more protective so I could have got a good look at her... but when we went in the pen to this calf, she just laid there and the rest of the cows just scattered so I had no idea which one was mom.

 

[3waycross]

Well, here she is...
She's the calf on the right... not a good picture but she has legs like no-other. She was sick for a time (rumen acidosis) so in the pic she hadn't started picking her weight back up...

Impressive facilities you have there. :tiphat:

 

[Wisteria Farms]

Thanks 3way...
Wish the camera would have shown you more of it... I had let the two little heifers out to stretch their legs and the one came up to sniff the boys so I just took a quick shot of them.
The area beyond the boys is the chute/doctoring area...we were getting ready to run them through for tags/wormer/etc. Makes a HUGE difference over the "facilities" we HAD been using...! The only thing I'm hesitant of is keeping my meds out there... but also hate dragging everything out from the house...need to come up with some kind of a good locking cabinet...have several bottles of "goods" that I don't want to grow legs.

 

[DavisBeefmasters]

need to come up with some kind of a good locking cabinet...have several bottles of "goods" that I don't want to grow legs.

If you come up with something that won't be taken over by spiders or wasps, let us know.

...would love to get the vet supplies and cow meds out of the guest closet and refrigerator in the shop of the barn!

 

[Wisteria Farms]

I agree... I've got cabinets in the barn (can barely see them up against the wall in the pic) and I dare say its just as dusty INSIDE the cabinet as it is outside!
Luckily for me the barn isn't too far from the house so I guess that's why I've kept everything in the house but everytime we do something I feel like I'm moving for all the paper, pens, syringes, bottles, coolie bag (for the cold stuff) etc etc etc.

 

[chippie]

If she was born to a heifer that is being fed at a feedlot, she may have fertility problems if the feedlot uses implants. That could explain her lack of female characteristics.

 

[GMN]

Picked up a couple calves and one is looking more and more "dairy-ish" to me...(mind you, I'm used to looking out my window and seeing all Murray Greys) so my experience in identifying calves of other breeds is very poor! Her body "shape" isn't dairy but she doesn't have an udder at 2 months old either! So, my question is... aside from waiting for her to mature, is there anything that might help identify if she IS dairy? I never saw her dam at the feedlot...but she herself is very leggy!

I'm just thinking to myself...good Lord...what am I going to do with one dairy cow in a herd of beef cattle? Suggestions?
Another consideration... she's two months old and is WIRED to beat heck...I open the stall door to give her some excercise and she tries to head-butt me, bounces off the walls...I'm thinking, "I know why YOUR momma was sent to the danged feedlot!!!"... should I just feed her out and ship her or is there a value to having just one dairy cow? Freshen her and get the colostrum? I'm sure this would mean having to milk her twice/day? I started messing with her teats just in the off-chance we would keep her but if she doesn't CALM DOWN it won't be an option!

Best way to tell dairy is to look at the head and nose, elongated neck, and longer head is a sure sign of dairy.
What does she look like color wise? Body Shape, hair wise-smooth or curly?
If you don't want dairy crosses, you should ship her, as when she ages the dairy heifer buyers will know she isn't full bred dairy.
GMN

 

[francismilker]

If you ship her now you have a chance of "fooling" the market on a 200lb heifer. Otherwise, let her get up to breeding age and she'll be discounted severely by the beef buyer and the dairy buyer won't even be interested in her. Sadly, unless you have someone looking for a potential home milk cow she's of little or no value. If she is crossed with dairy, she might develop some udder problems out in the pasture that you're not able to recognize and deal with in a timely enough matter to save her production.

Ship her is my vote.

 

[Wisteria Farms]

GMN... yeah... hair is silkie... oddly silkie, yes to the long neck (and lots of leg too!!!)...I think what I'll do is raise her up to about 600lbs then send her BACK to the feedlot from where she came...maybe mixed in with a "group" she won't be as noticable...It would normally be hard for me to part with her after hand-feeding her like I have but good Lord she is wired 24/7... I won't miss this one.

 

[Katpau]

The picture makes her look like a "fawn calf". It is a genetic defect in Angus cattle known as Contractural Arachnodactyly.
You can see photos at http://www.angus.org/Pub/reporting_FCS.pdf