It Really Sucks When.....

[randiliana]

The butcher heifer turns out to be bred. And, not only that, but that she was about a month away from being finished, and, probably about a month away from calving.

Been watching her for a while, trying to decide if she was actually making an udder, or if it was just fat. I was definitely leaning towards bred, and we finally got her in to pregcheck, and while we had her in, I checked her udder, and she is already making milk (albeit not much). Well, she will probably be one of the first ones to calve. She was NOT supposed to be a breeding animal, for numerous reasons.

First she only weighed in at 246 lbs as a weaned calf, so you could say her growth, well, sucked.
Secondly, she isn't sound. Started as a couple week old calf, with a injured front leg, the fetlock is still swollen, even though she is not lame. Then, she stifled her hip somewhere along the line before weaning, she is not terribly lame, but you can tell.

Third, she only weighed around 500 lbs last spring at breeding time(probly less), which is why we weren't worried about her breeding. The bulls were only home for a couple weeks, then they and the rest of the heifers were moved out to pasture. I wish all our heifers were so fertile :cowboy:

Fourth, she only weighed in at 689 at the end of Sept, breeding size, but still light for it.

And fifth, I was starting to dream about the steaks.....

The only good thing about it, is that she is bred to one of the heifer bulls, rather than one of our main herd sires. And, I guess if we need a calf, we will steal hers, and then we can finish, finishing her out.

As far as I know she has to be due between Feb 20 and Mar 5, cause we had no bulls around after that, I don't think.

 

[bigbull338]

sounds like you had a big ohoh.i know you was shocked when she was confirmed bred.

 

[Santas and Duhram Reds]

you may also have problems delivering the calf if she has been on feed. The calf may be more than she can handle plus if she is fat she may be lazy when it comes time to push.

 

[ddg1263]

I have a story somewhat similar to yours. I had a set of young heifers that I kept to put in my stocker program. They all were about 550ish, and that was 4 months ago. As time went on I noticed one of my heifers growing a bit too big in the belly. I had a feeling that she had been bred because I AI's a group of 15 month heifers and my bull was really hard up because he could not get to them. I can only guess he got this young calf. I tried to lut her when we were AI'ing this past Dec, and she did not abort. I have been feeding all stock to her daily along with my other heifers so that she might have the strength to make it through a hard birth. I really think it has helped improve my situation with her. I am sure I will have to pull her either way I go, but maybe I won't loose my heifer in the process. If she passes I will sell her at the barn in the spring as a kill calf. I do think feeding her helps because she can grow not only in strength but in stature to even have a chance to pass the calf. Let's cross our fingers.

 

[randiliana]

you may also have problems delivering the calf if she has been on feed. The calf may be more than she can handle plus if she is fat she may be lazy when it comes time to push.

I am more worried that we will have problems because she is so small, than I am because she is fat. I don't think she would weigh much over 900 lbs right now. She wasn't going to be a large beef that is for sure. But we will see, as soon as we discovered she was bred, we turned her out and she is no longer getting any grain. She has about a month to go, I would expect.

 

[randiliana]

I have a story somewhat similar to yours. I had a set of young heifers that I kept to put in my stocker program. They all were about 550ish, and that was 4 months ago. As time went on I noticed one of my heifers growing a bit too big in the belly. I had a feeling that she had been bred because I AI's a group of 15 month heifers and my bull was really hard up because he could not get to them. I can only guess he got this young calf. I tried to lut her when we were AI'ing this past Dec, and she did not abort. I have been feeding all stock to her daily along with my other heifers so that she might have the strength to make it through a hard birth. I really think it has helped improve my situation with her. I am sure I will have to pull her either way I go, but maybe I won't loose my heifer in the process. If she passes I will sell her at the barn in the spring as a kill calf. I do think feeding her helps because she can grow not only in strength but in stature to even have a chance to pass the calf. Let's cross our fingers.

Stuff happens. You have to feed her well enough to keep her growing, but be careful you don't over feed her in the last trimester, and especially in the last month, that is when the calf is growing the most.

 

[hillsdown]

Randi, if she already has milk be prepared for a calf in a couple of days.
I posted a study last year by the AB dept of agriculture on syrup to milk and how milk in the udder is a definitive sign of when a cow will calve.
BTW, when Mandy finally had milk/colostrum in her teats , two days later she had the twins,,I have used this on dairy cows a lot because they tend to leak and it is probably 99% accurate.

Good luck with her , I'm sure you two pros will have no problems at all.. :tiphat:

 

[randiliana]

Randi, if she already has milk be prepared for a calf in a couple of days.
I posted a study last year by the AB dept of agriculture on syrup to milk and how milk in the udder is a definitive sign of when a cow will calve.
BTW, when Mandy finally had milk/colostrum in her teats , two days later she had the twins,,I have used this on dairy cows a lot because they tend to leak and it is probably 99% accurate.

Good luck with her , I'm sure you two pros will have no problems at all.. :tiphat:

I don't think she is going to calve for a while. I just made one little squirt (and it looked like milk, white and thick, but I didn't study it), and the udder I was talking about really is nothing to speak of. You can see she is developing, but there is not really an udder (if you understand??) And, she was not near a bull until about May 16ish. We will be keeping a pretty close eye on her though, you never know she could drop one early, which would be fine with me, it would probably be smaller.

We'll keep an eye on her and let you know what happens.

Thaks, HD ;-)