Fertile Myrtle

[Chris H]

Got a young cow that will be 2 this weekend. She was bred 1/1/12. That put her due to calve at 23 months. That's not unusual. What I thought was unusual was she calved early at day 273 and rebred on her expected due date! It's been 4 weeks since then without cycling, so I expect she is bred. I guess we'll move her into the spring calving group over the next couple years.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Good job! that is a "fertile myrtle"!

 

[Chris H]

Bringing this to the top to report on this cow. She had twins yesterday. She's 32 months old and this makes 3 calves for her. She has enough milk for 2 but due to her age we may pull one in a few days. She did a terrific job with her first one.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Cool story Chris.

 

[Putangitangi]

What a great animal! If she's in good condition and you can feed her well, why not leave both calves with her? In my experience they may take a bit of a hit on weaning weight, but if she's a good producer, they may not be any worse than the usual lightest in your calf group.

My twinsets (those which were trouble-free and stayed on their mothers) both weaned at good-enough weights and went on to be good-sized yearlings. Were yours born without assistance?

 

[Chris H]

What a great animal! If she's in good condition and you can feed her well, why not leave both calves with her? In my experience they may take a bit of a hit on weaning weight, but if she's a good producer, they may not be any worse than the usual lightest in your calf group.

My twinsets (those which were trouble-free and stayed on their mothers) both weaned at good-enough weights and went on to be good-sized yearlings. Were yours born without assistance?

She had them on their own. We've had a number of twins over the years and seldom have a cow raise a set successfully. We weaned her first calf at 5 months because it was dragging her condition down during the winter. Of course now we know she was carrying twins at that time. I'm inclined toward 'a bird in hand is worth two in a bush', meaning we could get $100 right away for one. That would increase the odds the cow will gain weight and rebreed quickly. It would also increase the odds the new calf will be healthier. As far as feeding her well, if she can't raise one good calf on the kind of grass we have this year, she doesn't belong on the farm. But I won't expect her to raise two.

 

[glacierridge]

YAY for awesome young cows!!
Sounds a lot like my young cow. Just will turn 3 in 2 days and has 3 calves to her name too.
She had twins at 22 months, I wanted to breed her back for an earlier calf, but my dad made me wait 3 months cause he thought she needed the full time to recover from being young and still growing, while growing 2.
She stuck on the first attempt after her twins and now waiting for her to come into heat so I can bring her calving time back to the springtime like you, for future years.

Hope both our young ladies will pass on these wonderful genes and be around for many years of production

 

[Nesikep]

That is pretty good... I had one this year that had twins (one live), and she was in heat 2 days ago... she's about 9 years old though and has been on the "cull when convenient" list for a while for imminent prolapse... It's too bad because despite being a monstrous cow (2000 lbs) she's really sweet... the twins were both 110 lbs at birth, but one had his hind legs forward and I didn't catch it in time (didn't think she had another one in there after seeing the first). There were no other complications after the birth though. Her full sister had twins 2 years earlier and raised both of them, I think they were 450 lb for the heifer and 550 for the bull calf.