Breeding a cow early

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Nesikep

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Well, Usually I put the bull with the cows on May 25th, which gives me my first calves around Mar 10th or so, but today Mega was in heat, and though "heck, why not", she gets first dibs at the bull, and I get to see what he's made of. Meanwhile, she ought to calf out at the end of Feb. next year, and I can get a fresh batch of colostrum for any trouble patients that come after that... Besides, if she has a heifer, she ought to be something else by the fall. As for the bull, I would have liked him a little more alert about the whole thing, he was standing on top of a hill when I brought Mega down, and he stood there quite some time looking. He came along, sniffed, thought about it, and then made a few not so successful attempts at mounting her. Finally he got her done, but she didn't have 'pump handle tail', so I left them for a while, and he had another few successful mountings. She never did get pump handle tail though. At that point she was tired of him and I led her home (about 1/4 mile). I think once the bull is around more cows he may get a little more "on the ball", besides, as a virgin bull it may take him a couple tries to get the hang of the ropes, so to speak.

Anyone else ever breed a milkable cow early so they have 'supplies' for others?
 
We will try to breed some last calf heifers early every year to have some graft calves available. Doesn't always work out right but is handy when it does.
 
Mega is a good milk donor.. she makes far more milk than a calf can drink for the first month, and she's somewhat tolerant to another calf stealing a little. Her bull calf she has now is over 300 lbs at 50 days. We made several gallons of yogurt from her milk this year too
 
Nesikep":2l4zc4oj said:
...Anyone else ever breed a milkable cow early so they have 'supplies' for others?
Try. Failed completely this year - house cow is the last! Have some frozen colostrum in the freezer from the beginning of this last season though.
 
Hahaha, isn't that always the way it works... Hopefully Mega will take this time, or at least next time, considering I'm not sure the bull knew what to do! She put up with him pretty well though
 
Did you know just by observation Mega was in standing heat? Our bulls generally dog the ladies a day or so before their ready to stand. I watched both bulls yesterday evening taking step for step with Elsie and Sally with a few attempts but the girls weren't quite ready. I'm going to write them down as bred today unless I learn different in 21 days.
 
Mega and another cow were mounting each other. I think the next 2 weeks is going to be a lesbian zoo around here until the bull gets out.

Oh, and my month old bull calf seems to already be taking an interest in this!, though the girls were a little tall
 
Nesikep":1l1f021j said:
Mega and another cow were mounting each other. I think the next 2 weeks is going to be a lesbian zoo around here until the bull gets out.

Oh, and my month old bull calf seems to already be taking an interest in this!, though the girls were a little tall
I needed that laugh today Nesikep. Well put.

Going to add that to my cattle slang dictionary.
Right after "cow porn"
Insert "lesbian zoo" perfect description. Sounds so much better than "cows mounting each other" ...
:tiphat:
 
I call it as I see it! heck with being PC... Way back when I had a thread called "ED help for your bull", (apparently I can't search for it) of a cow with a HUGE udder laying down, and showing it off :p

I had some bulls that would hang around the cows FOREVER, and would annoy the heck out of the cow, the last one we had would maybe graze beside the cow for the day, do his duty, sniff and inspect, then just walk off... wouldn't even care if another bull took a pass at her anymore after that. Strangely enough, he was one of the most effective bulls we've ever had... Always mounted the right end of the cow too, while a couple others never could figure that out.
 
I like those bulls which do the deed and get out of the way. The overly keen ones which harass a cow for 24 hours are a pain in the ... well, if they're doing it right it won't be the usual place. I have one at the moment who's a oncer and his conception rates are great. He's a nasty piece of work around me though, so he's off to some hooks shortly.
 
Haha, and that's my laugh for the day.. The bulls that don't know which end of the cow to mount are a pain in the neck!
 
Nesikep":m4y94f5y said:
And the lesbian zoo has officially opened.... 5 cows in heat in 2 days
Are you going to turn them out or stick to the May 25 date?
 
I'm going to stick to May 25th. Mar 10th is a good time for calves to plop out here, the sun clears the mountain to our west, so we get much longer, warmer days.
 
Well, I know the bull is a pretty sneaky breeder, but I didn't see Mega in heat again.. Maybe I'll have 1 end-of-february calf. It's going to be big by fall with a bit of a head start too... I think I want another heifer from her :) (so I'm going to get 4 bulls in a row now right?)
 
since I do not have any beef cows, but I still breed my milk cow to calve just before or at the beginning of every one calving their beef cows, fresh colostrum is like gold
Suzanne
 

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