beef cow, open, 12 yrs old

[classyclass]

Hello,
What would you do? Hereford beef cow, open, 12 yrs old (dob 3/19/1996). This cow has raised a good calf each year with great mothering. Does she have the potential to breed again? She was my husbands first cow, and she seems to young to be done calving. I know it is just business, but I hate making this decision. Thanks

 

[bigbull338]

you got alot of good years out of that cow.now you can keep another 6 months an see if you can get her bred.an have her palphated.an if she is open send her to the sale.if she wont breed in 6 months odds is she wont breed back.

 

[Brandonm22]

IF she is still ~sound you can get her bred again and get another calf; but when a cow has been that good for that long and suddenly she skips I am inclined to believe that her body is telling you something and it may be time for her to go elsewhere. If she is open now but appears sound (if she is not sound get her gone now), I would probably induce estrous and get her bred early this summer then sell her in a special replacement cow sale in Oct. or Nov. to somebody who is more risk tolerant than I am.

 

[Beefy]

if shes all that and a bag of chips and you can afford to keep her, you can just give her a vacation. you can probably squeeze a couple of more calves out of her. if she has a calf on her now she probably wont breed back until a few weeks after her calf is weaned though.

 

[TexasBred]

if shes all that and a bag of chips and you can afford to keep her, you can just give her a vacation. you can probably squeeze a couple of more calves out of her. if she has a calf on her now she probably wont breed back until a few weeks after her calf is weaned though.

Exactly. Don't know how long it's been since she last calved but if she's sound there's no need to be in a hurry to turn her into hamburger. You'll only get about $600 for her at best and at this time of the year it cost very very little to let her graze and maybe breed. By the way...who told you she was open and how reliable is that person?

 

[classyclass]

All but her and one other of our cows have had there calves, the last one was April 28th. The other cow due is showing signs and should be anyday now. Also, the others are riding her, and she is doing the same., she is not showing, and has no big belly.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Sure bets are always the best thing, if there is such a thing in cattle. I'd do my best to improve my odds if I were you. If you are emotionally attached, you could give her another chance as was said above. Palpate her and see if she took. If she didn't, replace her at that time.

We all have our favorites and we have all learned to eventually accept new favorites. Just keep looking ahead. My latest change was to change bulls.

Even cows that never miss calving will drop dead from age related ailments. Its best to get $600 than to dig a hole 5 months from now. Once you have been on that end of it, reasoning and logic are better suited to deal with such situations.

 

[Beefy]

lets take a look at last years calf. was she one of the last ones to calve last year? do you have a controlled breeding season. when was the calf weaned?

it is possible she calved late and didnt come back in heat in time to get bred? or perhaps shes getting short in the teeth and wasnt in good enough condition to breed back? maybe she had a big growthy calf pulling her down and didnt breed back. if she was open the whole time she should have come back into heat a few weeks after her calf was weaned. otherwise she may have been bred and simply lost the calf at some point during the pregnancy.

she will probably readily re-breed if she is able to. but if she didnt get bred b/c of some other reason (hormonal, torn cervix, too fat, etc) then she likely wont this time either.

 

[TheBullLady]

If she's been a good cow, I guess your decision should be based on whether you can afford to keep an open cow. If you're a business as opposed to a "hobby" farm, then it's probably best to ship her, since she hasn't produced a calf this year. If she's a favorite and it's of no consideration her economic value, then she's probably worth keeping to see if she'll bred eventually.

Having said that, I held back a good cow with excellent bloodlines last year when she didn't get bred back with the rest of the herd, and she's fixin' to have a calf in the next 30 days or so. If she has a heifer calf it will have been a good decision, since I can likely get back the cost of holding the cow over ( for breeding stock) but if it's a bull calf, it probably will have cost me money to hold her.

 

[Brandonm22]

Try a shot of Prostaglandin before you breed her.
That will fix SOME problems.

http://www.vetmed.lsu.edu/eiltslotus/Th ... estrus.htm

 

[S&S Farms]

The only thing worse than selling an ol favorite is paying the rendering company to send a truck for them. Been there done that not the best money maker. If you keep her just get her pregged early like August and sell her then if open before the cull market crashes in the fall.

Jeff

 

[milkmaid]

All but her and one other of our cows have had there calves, the last one was April 28th. The other cow due is showing signs and should be anyday now. Also, the others are riding her, and she is doing the same., she is not showing, and has no big belly.

Get her preg checked and find out for sure. It's not totally uncommon for bred cows to mount one another as they get close to calving.

 

[tup]

last year we sold old cow, thirteen, i'm pretty sure. it never is easy, but it just has to be done eventually. you can look at it as an opportunity to strengthen your herd with a little new blood depending on what yer outfit is like and how your set for replacements.