Big teats

[Dusty Britches]

I just finished reading Bez's post on an old cow and it got me to thinking about a cow I have.

She is a big black baldie, about 5 years old. Every 11 months she calves a 75 pound heifer. She is very docile and nothing gets her excited. I mean nothing except dogs, but then calling that excited is a reach. All of her calves have the same traits. She has huge hips and her heifers do too. They grow fairly well, although she just calved last week from my super bull for the first time. (The last bull was pure junk.)

Any hoo, here's my delimna. Her front 2 teats are huge. You can't even get your hands around them. Last year it was just one quarter. This year it is 2. I'm sure the new calf will nurse the smaller of the 2 swollen ones in the next few days.

But, the vet and my spouse say sell the cow and calf at weaning. Most experienced cow hands say, as long as she has one good teat and raises a nice calf, keep her. I've decided to not keep any calf off of her, but I would like to keep her until she can't raise a calf.

Keep her or sell her?

 

[bwranch]

Why keep a problem waiting to happen? I won't keep anything that can't raise a good quality replacement, but that's just me. Prices are GOOD right now. You might think about selling the pair.

Lee

 

[flaboy]

I will keep them with the loss of one quarter but not two.

 

[NewCowboy]

My parents have several cows with large teats. Usually they bring them up to the barn or front pasture when they think they are getting close to calving and make sure that the baby can get started. If not, they help out until the calf is strong enough and can keep them sucked down. This year has been the hardest on them for that. They did sell one that absolutely could not suckle a calf (calf sucked another abundantly endowed cow with lots of milk along with her baby and had no problems) and now are considering selling a few others. These cows have dairy genes in them and always produce lots of milk and raise good calves. They are getting old though and it is probably time to let go of a few. If you don't have time for that though, I would have to say sell. Interesting question. Is this a common problem for older cows??? Does anyone know?

 

[sidney411]

We have some older hereford/holstein cows that their bags and teats get worse every year. When it gets to the point that I have to pen the cow and hald milk her down enought that the babay can nurse it's too much of a problem to me and she goes to town with her calf. There are 2 right now that have a 1-way fare already paid for. There is 1 more that is nursing off the front 2 teats only, the back quarters are hard as rocks. She might go this year too.

 

[flaboy]

Hey NewCowboy. What are you trying to show us with the picture? Do we need to guess the breed, color, weight, sex? :lol: :lol:

 

[NewCowboy]

flayboy wrote:Hey NewCowboy. What are you trying to show us with the picture? Do we need to guess the breed, color, weight, sex?


Actually still playing with putting photos on posts. I think I have it memorized now. I am a photo fanatic. Sorry.

He is my favorite calf right now. Just had a new photo from the other day and was playing around. He was born June 29th, what do you think his weight might be?[/quote]

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Sorry busy typeing when should have been reading

 

[flaboy]

No problem, I was just pulling your chain. I figured you were proud of your calf.

Hard to say on the weight as I can't get a good perspective of it's size without something else in the picture like yourself. I will give a guess though and say 250-260.

 

[NewCowboy]

No offense taken. We like him. We might not have show quality cows, but they bring in a pretty little penny when we sell them. Thanks for the comment.

NewCowboy's mom

 

[flaboy]

Dang and the picture went by by just as I guessed. It appears that little guy might have some Red Angus in his back ground to me.

 

[NewCowboy]

No problem, I was just pulling your chain. I figured you were proud of your calf.

Yes, and my kids, and I like this message board. It is fun for green horns like us. :heart: Hey, never worry about jerking my chain, makes life interesting.

 

[NewCowboy]

Dang and the picture went by by just as I guessed. It appears that little guy might have some Red Angus in his back ground to me.

I think the mom has some Simmental in her. She is red too with a wrinkly forehead. Black angus dad. I like him because he is so muscular. Our other calves are just fat or furry. He is slick and muscular. I don't even know if that is good for when you sell, but we will find out in a few months.

 

[flaboy]

Dang and the picture went by by just as I guessed. It appears that little guy might have some Red Angus in his back ground to me.

I think the mom has some Simmental in her. She is red too with a wrinkly forehead. Black angus dad. I like him because he is so muscular. Our other calves are just fat or furry. He is slick and muscular. I don't even know if that is good for when you sell, but we will find out in a few months.

Well, I guess I was right on both counts. Red-Simi, Angus-Black. I nailed it. :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Dusty Britches]

Ok, would someone point out the difference between Bez's cow and mine? Bez's cow is old, butt ugly, has 2 bad quarters. My cow is young, good looking, has 2 bad quarters. Both cows raise calves every year. He has to help the calf with first nursing, I don't. Nearly everyone said for him to keep the cow. Nearly everyone here said for me to sell the cow.

I don't keep replacement heifers. Every calf gets sold at weaning. I'm confused. Why the different advice? What did I miss?

 

[redfornow]

You didnt tell as sad a story.

Sorry we are like M&M's hard on the outside and soft and mushy on the inside. A sucker for a good tell.

Cull, its hard but thats the right way to go...

MD

 

[Susie David]

Still waiting for a pic of Bez's ugly cow....
Anyway, we have an old baldie with one big teat...all four work just that the calves need to be two months old to use the big one. Raised big healthy calves (her 03/04 clalf was in the fall processing on Sunday 1310#) and this years heifer will be weaned on the 29th...like the almanac suggests (thought that we'd give it a try and see)
With two quarters down I'd worry...you don't have any info on her daughters?
DMc

 

[sidney411]

We have some older hereford/holstein cows that their bags and teats get worse every year. When it gets to the point that I have to pen the cow and hand milk her down enought that the babay can nurse it's too much of a problem to me and she goes to town with her calf. There are 2 right now that have a 1-way fare already paid for. There is 1 more that is nursing off the front 2 teats only, the back quarters are hard as rocks. She might go this year too.

added: If it's not too much of a trouble to you then I would keep her, when it becomes a problem for you is when she should go. At least that's how I figure it.

 

[bigbull338]

i said sale b/c if all her teats are big.them she cant raise a calf to weaning.but if she only has 2 big teats.id keep her till the other 2 blew out.scott

 

[flaboy]

I think I was one that said that I wouldn't get rid of her if she raised a good calf. I have one with two bad quarters that I have kept because she raises a good calf but having reflected on my thought processes I think I will ship her. If she looses another I will end up maybe with a bottle baby or a poor calf or both. My money/time may be better spent with a full functioning cow. :lol:

I suspect that a cow with one or two bad quarters will wean a lower weight calf even though it may be a decent calf. I will go out on a limb here and say I will cull mine next trip and will in future cull cows with bad quarters in the future. I will not keep a replacement off of that cow in case it is hereditary. I think this is good commercial herd practice. If you only have a few and maybe feed from a bag, you are really attached to the cow for some reason, then you might risk it.

You see even this old boy can learn new ways of better herd management. ;-)