Interesting Heifer

[Supa Dexta]

I have a heifer here who was bred accidentally at 5months old in 2013 - she calved last June 10th. It was a hard birth, and it set her back and stunted her growth (she's hardly any bigger than the yearling heifers now at 2, she is heavier, but frame wise not much bigger) But she did raise the calf and got rebred - preg checked last fall. I pulled her calf in october, and she's been well fed all winter.

Now I see she's bagging up, and could possibly calve in a weeks time or so.

June 10th means she shouldnt have cycled until july 1st at the earliest, giving her a calving date of april 9th this year. Which is still 4 weeks away.

This is all possible I guess, but it's rather impressive from a young heifer. I'm interested to see what she spits out this time.

 

[jerry27150]

actually she could have got bred a week after having her other calf

 

[Supa Dexta]

Is it? I was assuming it takes a few weeks, but I'm not up on that side of things. She had most things against her according to this:

How long after a cow gives birth can she get pregnant again?

It depends on a number of things:

body condition at calving,
age of dam,
if there was any calving difficulty during the calving process, and
if diet is adequate after calving during lactation so that weight and body condition losses do not occur or are minimal.
Cows that calve in a body condition of less than 4 (scale 1 to 9) have a longer post-partum interval.

First-calf cows have a longer post-partum interval than do mature cows.

Cows that have calving difficulty have longer post-partum intervals.

And, cows that lose weight and body condition after calving have longer post-partum intervals.

So with all that in mind, the postpartum interval, if conditions are ideal, for beef cows is between 50 and 60 days for an average of 55 days. First-calvers will be at least 10 days longer.

 

[Rafter S]

actually she could have got bred a week after having her other calf

Have you ever had one breed back that quick? Back when I left the bulls in year around I never had one calf much sooner than 10-1/2 months after her last calf.

 

[retro]

That great if she bred back that soon , But the odds were sure not in her favor of that happening, If she weaned off a fairly good calf last fall .and does calve when you say she might , I would think about keeping her females as replacements because that is unusual by most standards

 

[Nesikep]

Quick breedback is a good thing, but you're also selecting for coming into heat at 5 months, which may not really be what you want..

 

[hillsdown]

I have a heifer here who was bred accidentally at 5months old in 2013 - she calved last June 10th. It was a hard birth, and it set her back and stunted her growth (she's hardly any bigger than the yearling heifers now at 2, she is heavier, but frame wise not much bigger) But she did raise the calf and got rebred - preg checked last fall. I pulled her calf in october, and she's been well fed all winter.

Now I see she's bagging up, and could possibly calve in a weeks time or so.

June 10th means she shouldnt have cycled until july 1st at the earliest, giving her a calving date of april 9th this year. Which is still 4 weeks away.

This is all possible I guess, but it's rather impressive from a young heifer. I'm interested to see what she spits out this time.

Was it a hard birth meaning a hard pull or a hard pregnancy meaning it pulled her down as far as growing and she put all she had into her calf.
If it is the latter than being a young heifer she would be very fertile and could easily have come into heat shortly after caving and got bred on that heat.
So yes she could be calving in the next few weeks.

 

[hillsdown]

When you preg check in the fall abort all of your heifers you plan on retaining.

 

[Supa Dexta]

That was the first time I've ever had heifers get bred so early so it wasn't even on my radar until she started bagging up, and then 3 of them ended up having calves in them. And really I preg checked the herd right after I weaned them - so they may have been too recently bred to even get caught at that time.

But yes, she hardly grew anymore after calving.

She had a hard pull, and when I did get it out the calf was pretty well dead. No sign of movement at all except a faint heart beat. Gave it CPR for over 5 mins (that'll wear ya out after a hard pull!) And the calf came to.

She didn't have a lot of milk being so young, but she did keep it alive and I pulled it off her around 4.5 months.

 

[3waycross]

When you preg check in the fall abort all of your heifers you plan on retaining.

......and that means using lute AND dex. Otherwise you are rolling the dice for sure.

 

[Nesikep]

I know what you mean about giving a calf CPR after pulling on it for 20 minutes.. You'll be the next that needs CPR!

 

[shortybreeder]

actually she could have got bred a week after having her other calf

Have you ever had one breed back that quick? Back when I left the bulls in year around I never had one calf much sooner than 10-1/2 months after her last calf.

But did you have heifers breed at 5 months?

 

[hillsdown]

When you preg check in the fall abort all of your heifers you plan on retaining.

......and that means using lute AND dex. Otherwise you are rolling the dice for sure.

Absolutely! Especially if you think they are more than 2 months bred and then expect only 93% to abort.

Supa Dexta , if you think they were recently bred wait 7-10 days and then abort them.

Now that you have had 3 bred in one season I think it is safe to say that you have a very fertile group of heifers, which I think is a good thing. I would always implement the aborting at weaning and then make sure they are not around any bulls until you plan to breed them.

Hopefully she was bred to a calving ease bull this time as she hasn't had time to grow in frame and she may have problems again. Hope everything works out well for you and her :tiphat: Keep us informed on what is happening.

 

[Supa Dexta]

She's bred to the same bull, but she's a year older. Last calf was only 75lbs, but she may have only been 750 herself, if that. She's actually a twin and her sister calved as well, but no signs of her bagging up yet. She calved May 28th, so sooner than this one, but doesn't appear to have bred back as soon.

March/april calves generally, bull goes out in June, and he's there til october usually. Calves come off then too. So some heifers could be coming on 7mo, but I don't think that's out of the norm. I know gelbviehs are prone to younger breeding, and there is a chance there's some of that in her back ground.