Heifer not bagging up on the front

[Nite Hawk]

Howdy
I have a dexter heifer that should be calving any day now. She was given a needle to make her cycle and put in with a young inexperienced bull calf. She was left for what would be 2 cycles in cased the bull couldn't figure it out the first time around, so we are not exactly sure when she is due, but she is definitely P.G. and due any day. She was Vet checked to boot so she was bred.
She is so very loose in the back end it looks like if she would cough the calf should fly out, and she is bagging in the rear quarters, but for some reason the front doesn't seem to be bagging up properly.. I have seen on dairy farms were there was an injury and one quarter is "dead", but not where both front quarters have very little bagging and the back is doing fairly well..
Depending on the exact breeding date she could go to the beginning of July, but was expecting her to "pop" sooner due to the date when she was given a needle to bring her in heat..
Any thoughts??
thanks

 

[Nesikep]

Might just be genetics for udder structure, etc, or it might come once she has the calf

I had one first timer this year that hardly bagged up at all, had to bottle the calf for a day, thought she had no milk.. 3 months later he's one of the biggest calves.

 

[Putangitangi]

Some cattle don't milk! What was her mother like and her sire's mother? If they weren't good milkers, or even if they were and she's genetically unlucky, it might just be the way she is. Got pictures? Let us know how she is when she calves.

 

[Nite Hawk]

From what I have been told she comes from milking dexter lines.. However the people I got her from had inbred terribly, I never discovered that till later on --don't know if they just didn't look at the papers or what.. I am doing my best to breed her to that best bull that is available locally, and breed quality in.
I spoke to some neighbors last night , and they said they had the same problem with the back bagging up but not the front till later on with most of their heifers too this year --( their cows are no relation not even the same breed) so am wondering if it is just that she is a heifer or what...

 

[bird dog]

One of my best cows was like that as a heifer. The front never fully developed until her second calf. She was expensive to me so I kept her around after the first calf when some folks wold have culled her.

She was big enough and old enough and raised a decent calf with the bag she had. That was 8 years ago. She is still in the herd and I have kept a couple heifers from her that didn't show the same problem. Some are just slow developing.

 

[Son of Butch]

Howdy
I have a dexter heifer that should be calving ..... she is definitely P.G. and due any day.
she is bagging in the rear quarters, but for some reason the front doesn't seem to be bagging up properly
she could go to the beginning of July, but was expecting her to "pop" sooner...
Any thoughts?
thanks

My thought is you worry too much.

She's bagging in the rear and could still be 2 weeks from calving. But preparation relieves anxiety.
IF it makes you feel better go buy a feeding of calf colostrum for it's first feeding, heifers are notorious for low quality
colostrum. But I'd put my money on the heifer to produce when the time comes.

Newborn calf colostrum 1 feeding $14... mix in 1.5 qts of warm water and feed within 18 hrs of birth, ASAP is best!
https://www.leedstone.com/first-colostrum.html

 

[Silver]

What part of BC are you in Nite Hawk?

 

[Nite Hawk]

I have some frozen colostrum I think --have to double check- unless someone 'chucked" it out..
We live in the Cariboo-east of Williams Lake..
what area are you from?

 

[Silver]

I have some frozen colostrum I think --have to double check- unless someone 'chucked" it out..
We live in the Cariboo-east of Williams Lake..
what area are you from?

Peace River country, between Hudson's Hope and Fort St. John