Hard Pull Heifer?

[Stocker Steve]

Had a hard pull this week on a 950# heifer who was bred "low birth weight" BA. My back ordered pelvimeter arrived a couple days later...

I am tempted to cull her. Is there any reason to think she won't be a calving problem in the future?

 

[dun]

Too many possibilities to be able to tell over the internet. How big was the calf, what shape was it (long and skinny/short and chunky). Did she go into honest labor and try to calve or just kind of dink around and fake it, had she dilated completely, what kind of accuracy was the low BW bull? There are more things to consider but those will get you a pretty good start on making a decision.

 

[piedmontese]

its hard to tell.last yr i had a heifer have her 1st calf just fine and then this yr we had to pull it and she was bred the same.she would of lost if we had'nt been there.so should i keep her or sale her?

 

[CKC1586]

its hard to tell.last yr i had a heifer have her 1st calf just fine and then this yr we had to pull it and she was bred the same.she would of lost if we had'nt been there.so should i keep her or sale her?

She did okay the first time and this year may have just been one of those things. Stuff happens, I would keep her.

 

[dun]

its hard to tell.last yr i had a heifer have her 1st calf just fine and then this yr we had to pull it and she was bred the same.she would of lost if we had'nt been there.so should i keep her or sale her?

All of the questions to the OP apply.

 

[Angus Cowman]

$hit happens you will never know til next yr

 

[Stocker Steve]

It was a big calf. I will weigh it today.
I read that folks have almost as many problems with second calvers as they do with the first calf heifers.
I culled one second calver last year. Just a monster bull calf this time. She was part Simi, and apparently not the right kind of Simi.

 

[jcarkie]

i haven't had problems pulling calves out of second calvers, it is getting them bred back after a hard pull.

 

[novaman]

i haven't had problems pulling calves out of second calvers, it is getting them bred back after a hard pull.

I agree with this post. Getting the first calf out and conceiving the second are the biggest hurdles in my opinion.

 

[Stocker Steve]

The hard pull was an 87# bull calf and pretty chunky.
Calves are running bigger this year. I weighed in two heifers at 102 and 108. :shock: They were 4 days old.
How much lbs. per day will a decent milking cow put on a new born calf?

 

[Aaron]

87# is within my range of 10% BW of cow weight, so I would keep her and give her another go. Although she will likely calve late next year if at all.

 

[houstoncutter]

Think your bull needs to grow a set of wheels.

 

[Stocker Steve]

i haven't had problems pulling calves out of second calvers, it is getting them bred back after a hard pull.

Is the re breeding difficulty due to infection or damage or something else?

 

[Stocker Steve]

Calves are running bigger now that we are past the average gestation date. Got a 118# bwf bull calf this AM. He is the biggest calf I have raised.

I was worried about 90# Limi cross calves next year but they will be easy after these "low birth weight" Angus calves.

 

[cfpinz]

i haven't had problems pulling calves out of second calvers, it is getting them bred back after a hard pull.

Is the re breeding difficulty due to infection or damage or something else?

I chalk it up to trauma and the healing process.

I look at a cow this way. Her 1st priority is self-sustainment, 2nd is raising the calf by her side, 3rd is breeding back and developing next year's calf. Anytime an out of the ordinary stressor is introduced, she's forced to take nutrients and energy away from her priorities. Kind of a trickle down effect, and the potential fetus is the lowest priority.

 

[Nesikep]

we had a 1100 lb heifer have a really hard time with a 120 lb bull calf, she sustained some internal damage, and if it were up to me, I'd send her off, but my dad insists we keep her another year, and my concern isn't that she would have a hard time with the next calf, it's that she won't have a next calf.

seems like a lot of people are having high BW's and higher than normal gestation times... my average this year is 100 lb (a 120lb heifer and 140 lb steer help that number), and our gestation times are at 290 days now, with the longest being 296

 

[hillsdown]

we had a 1100 lb heifer have a really hard time with a 120 lb bull calf, she sustained some internal damage, and if it were up to me, I'd send her off, but my dad insists we keep her another year, and my concern isn't that she would have a hard time with the next calf, it's that she won't have a next calf.

seems like a lot of people are having high BW's and higher than normal gestation times... my average this year is 100 lb (a 120lb heifer and 140 lb steer help that number), and our gestation times are at 290 days now, with the longest being 296

Having a long winter with record low temps reek havoc on BW EPD's and for some reason more so with heifers.

 

[Nesikep]

makes no sense, you'd think it would do the opposite (cow needing more energy to stay warm and all), but it does seem to hold true

 

[dun]

makes no sense, you'd think it would do the opposite (cow needing more energy to stay warm and all), but it does seem to hold true

It's been studied to death. The blood in extreme cold conditions is routed to the interior rather then the exterior.

 

[Nesikep]

well, that is definitely a logical explanation.. thanks