Due dates and night checks...

[IL Rancher]

I haven't seen to many of The Beerex animals, only a couple and never in late gestation. They have some imports from around 1940 in them if I remember the herd book correctly but it has been a few years since I was working on that little project and my memory is not what it once was... No modern imports in them however.

On the Briar Hill animals that I had at one point they really, realy swelled in the vulva area as well right before calving, for lack of a better descrption it looked like a football was attatched to them. .. Again, I realy doubt you will have any problems with the calving..

 

[Little Cow]

Thanks, again, IL Rancher.

BTW, very nice looking bull you got there.

No more changes since I posted this, so her appearance may just be her way.

Last time I really played cow midwife was in Colorado with a large herd of Angus and Herefords, (with a high dystocia rate so I got lots of practice with repositioning calves :shock: ). I don't remember them being so swollen until right before, but, then again, it's COLD back home in Colorado! Maybe that made a difference. :lol:

Spoke to the vet about some supplies he recommends just in case the calf comes early, but I think this little heifer just spooked me.

Thanks to all for kind, honest answers and tolerance of my 'stupid' questions.

 

[milkmaid]

Little Cow, I think we need your definition of "bagging up a little" -- a picture might be best.

Heifers can start to develop an udder as much as 4 months prior to calving, or like Jerseys, they may have an udder even while they're open. (It was a real surprise to me to discover a Jersey heifer could be open -and never bred- when she had a bag like a 7 month bred Holstein heifer does. LOL.) But then there is a difference between developing a little bit of an udder, and the final stages of swelling and bagging up prior to calving. The latter can happen 30 days before calving, if not more -- or much, much less -- depending on the individual heifer.

So... show us some pictures and we'll give you an educated guess (at 50% accuracy) on how close they are to calving. :lol:

 

[Little Cow]

Milkmaid,

I'll try to get some pictures later. Maybe I'll have to lay on the ground to get good enough pictures of a Dexter udder! :lol:

In the meantime, the heifer in question has an udder that looks about half-filled, based on what I've seen in beef cattle. The other heifers are just filling out a in their teats. The tricky part for me, however, is that Dexters are dual purpose, should they look more like a beef cow or a dairy cow when bagged up? :?:

My understanding of these heifers' breeding is that they were sold by their breeder because they were too much on the dairy side for their breeding program.

I think I may just have to watch them like a hawk, (as I have been), and learn as I go.

 

[Cowdirt]

I'll try to get some pictures later. Maybe I'll have to lay on the ground to get good enough pictures of a Dexter udder! :lol:

Hey Little Cow, is this those ankle biting cows you were speaking of in earlier posts? If so you can bite their ankles while you're laying there taking a photo. That'll showem won't it? :lol:

 

[Little Cow]

Hehehehe!

Cowdirt, you crack me up!

I should get one of those signs for the farm that folks with wiener dogs have:

"Death from the ankles down!"