Babies having babies

[Dega Moo]

We just had a Feb 6, 2013 born heifer calve yesterday. Basically she must have been 5 months old when she cycled and either the clean up bull or one of her herd mates bred her. She was one of about 50 we kept back from last spring. Sure surprised us when she got loose in the back end and started to bag up. Could see she was tuckered out so we gave an assist and hand pulled. Calf hung up on the hips so we cleared the face and wind pipe and got him breathing. She went down so we had to pull him straight out. Got the calf out and moved him to a pen while we worked on getting the heifer to her feet. One of the girls helping us rubbed the calf and got it's head up and it made some noise. Mom got up and went to the calf and went to town mothering her baby.

This morning calf and mom look great. Calf's been nursing very well.

Heifer probably went about 725 and the calf maybe 65. I'm very happy we didn't lose the calf or heifer but know this could have turned out very badly. The heifers out of a good mother and I really want to keep her productive. I'll probably give her extra attention over the summer and move her to a fall breeding schedule.

 

[hillsdown]

I estrumate and dex every heifer at fall work up but it is not 100% effective.

So glad to here the little one and her new baby are doing well.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Congrats! Glad it all went pretty well and you did not loose either one!

 

[Nesikep]

All's well that ends well, good to hear it worked.. She'll need lots of good food to do well.... You should just give her a year off after this calf.. that'll put her back on schedule with her peers.

 

[lithuanian farmer]

Congrats that everything went well.
Our March, 2013 born heifer started cycling at 5 months too and we haven't noticed, so she also started bagging up. Should have a calf in one month, I suppose.

 

[cowgirl8]

We moved our yearling heifers and i saw a UhOh, thats what i call a bred heifer. Have her at the corral. I never leave a calf on a UhOh, so i'll have a bottle calf or if i have a cow to graft on i will. I'm watching my daughters UhOhs. She brought me 2 to watch. Had one go into labor and after 2 hours things didnt seem right. Investigated and calfs head would not come out with feet so off to the vet she went. He had to cut the calf out. I suspect it died sometime earlier before she went into labor so she was working with a limp calf. Saved the heifer though. Had one last year i pulled on my own. Heifer was around 600 pounds, calf around 100...Saved the heifer, calf was dead when i found her. Was one of the hardest pulls i've ever done alone, was very scary...

 

[bigbull338]

ive had 3 or 4 heifers to calve at 20 months or younger unassisted an raise their calves over the years.

 

[cowgirl8]

Our UhOhs are only 13 months at the most. If they came out of a herd who has a big birthweight bull, its never good. I suspect last years was from one of the older cow herds since the calf was around 100 pounds. Not sure about this year, hopefully out of one of the LBW angus..

 

[bward]

I had 2 'teen' pregnancies 5 years ago. One was a tough pull and one was unassisted. I did grain the two of them until they went out to pasture and they raised their calves and are still in the herd. Never missed a beat.

 

[Nesikep]

We had one a while back have a 60 lb calf in august.. this is when we were usually breeding at 2 years old... She got my mother scared about "Tizia" who was just a naturally big bellied girl, and she got extra food and attention, but wasn't bred... She sure liked it though, and went on to make thunderous calves.. her first was a heifer and she weaned it at about 675...

Our Uh OH, never did become a very good cow, and ended up open after her 4th.. she was much smaller than her siblings

 

[cowgirl8]

I've just decided that most times they do struggle to grow. Sometimes they dont breed back the next season and i'd rather them grow and raise a calf when she is bigger than get an bonus calf out of her that isnt going to grow, she's not going to grow..I still get the bonus calf if i bottle feed it or graft it. I guess if you're in control of how much food the heifer gets it would be different. Ours are pasture only so if its not a great grass year, she will show it 10 fold...

 

[Dave]

The last two years I have bought a bunch of sale barn heifers to breed. Both years about 20% turn out to be teen pregnancies. I lute the ones that are short bred enough for that to work. I calf out the others. This year I have 6 that will calf in May and June. Lord knows what they are bred to. Something to really look forward to.

 

[J&D Cattle]

The last two years I have bought a bunch of sale barn heifers to breed. Both years about 20% turn out to be teen pregnancies. I lute the ones that are short bred enough for that to work. I calf out the others. This year I have 6 that will calf in May and June. Lord knows what they are bred to. Something to really look forward to.

How did the 20% turn out last year? My first thought would be to run them back through the ring and cut my losses. If they looked big enough and like they have a good shot at calving unassisted I might change my mind though. Good luck!

 

[cowgirl8]

The last two years I have bought a bunch of sale barn heifers to breed. Both years about 20% turn out to be teen pregnancies. I lute the ones that are short bred enough for that to work. I calf out the others. This year I have 6 that will calf in May and June. Lord knows what they are bred to. Something to really look forward to.

My husband wanted to haul off our UhOh with the cancer eye cow and steer..I just couldnt do that. I'll make sure she gets through it, but there are many who just dump their problems. Thats why i wonder how anyone makes money buying breeding cows at the sale barn...I know people do, but we never ever sell a good breeding animal at the sale. Well, unless she's crazy, then we will..lol

 

[Taurus]

I hate to dealing with teen pregnancies. Most of times, they usually never milk very well and the calf have to be weaned early. Your biggest worries would be get her bred again and she will be late calver of the main herd. Seldom they become a good cow.

But your plan of rolling her into fall calving season sounds great to me! Plenty of time for her to recovering and growing more.

 

[LimoX]

If you know she is out of a good cow and she bred early, it is often times good to keep. We have had these things happen before and if they have the calf, good utters, and were good mamas she will more and likely be an early breeder. Which in the long run will be a more productive cow.

 

[Dave]

The last two years I have bought a bunch of sale barn heifers to breed. Both years about 20% turn out to be teen pregnancies. I lute the ones that are short bred enough for that to work. I calf out the others. This year I have 6 that will calf in May and June. Lord knows what they are bred to. Something to really look forward to.

How did the 20% turn out last year? My first thought would be to run them back through the ring and cut my losses. If they looked big enough and like they have a good shot at calving unassisted I might change my mind though. Good luck!

I about broke even on the bred ones last year. I lost a couple calves and sold those heifers along with the ones that didn't breed. The ones that calved out OK I sold as pairs mid summer. I took a couple of the ones who looked bred to the sale. I ended up bring them back home. It seems that nobody else wants to deal with teen pregnancies either.