Latest born calf

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novaman

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After reading Knersie's post it made me curious about the latest born calf. I had a Holstein heifer that was bred AI to calve 5/11. The following day I put a Gelbvieh bull with her and the rest of the group to cleanup. Now I know in most cases that is a no no for the sake of sire identification. However, it was my belief that a crossbred calf would easily be identifiable from a Holstein calf. She calved on 5/29 with a heifer that looks mostly Holstein. Her legs have a little funky pattern to her coloration but IMO could be Holstein markings. I'm wondering if it would be possible for a calf to be 18 days late? I've had two others calve since that were with the same bull and both have been solid colored calves(one black and one red).
 
I guess its possible but you would think the cow would've had complications or the calf would have been HUGE. Do you have any pictures? Are the other calves you mentioned Holstein crosses as well?
 
I had an angus 2nd calver ai bred to a highland than 2 days after breeding turned the Jersey bull in with the herd, this young cow calved 1 week late for ai & 2 weeks early for jersey bull. I still don't know what breed the heifer is she looks like she could be highland cross, but than again it could be the angus coming through :?: :?: :?: I'm going to get her dna'ed to find out one way or the other
 
Last calving I had two that I knew were very late - both young cows that had been very sick with FE. I discussed them with the vet at the time and he didn't know what the link might be between their having FE and going two - three weeks overdue.
59 was 16 days overdue when she calved.
There was no question about the dates - I'd done 5 and a half weeks AI and both cows had held to the first cycle, so when they calved it was still three weeks before any of the natural mating calves were expected.
http://cowcalfandvet.blogspot.com/2008/ ... pdate.html

edited to add: I still have all the cows pictured in that post, except 151, in case anyone's wondering. They all look to be in good health.
147 (Trudy) was blood tested recently and turned out to be BVD PI, so she will be culled before the mating season. 41 was also tested and found clear, and I reared that poor wee heifer calf ... she's doing fine.
 
novaman":2dqkeg3f said:
I'm wondering if it would be possible for a calf to be 18 days late?

Anything is possible. What was the weight?

As an aside to coloration, a friend of ours had a solid red cow that was bred to a solid black bull. The calf came out with coloration and markings of (dare I say it) a black Hereford.

I had a good chuckle when telling him he has one of those calves of a new breed.

Katherine
 
I had a bull calf out of a first calver three seasons ago that was born 16 days late for AI due date (or 26 days early for bull due date)
 
LoveMoo11":2ou4yekt said:
I guess its possible but you would think the cow would've had complications or the calf would have been HUGE. Do you have any pictures? Are the other calves you mentioned Holstein crosses as well?
I haven't taken a picture yet. Yes, the other calves are Holstein crosses. I had another one calve since I posted and hers was also solid black. I'm quite certain she was just over and the calf was 18 days late. The thing that puzzles me is she wasn't overly big at birth. I don't weigh them at birth but she was about 80 pounds.
 
When you are talking late, how many days gestation are you talking? Hard to get a feel for what late is when we don't know the gestation days it is based on.

Anyway we have had several cows over the years go 300 days+, but I think the longest was around 305 days. There are definite breed differences and that breed is known for longer gestation, and the calves develop accordingly. These calves at 305 days are usually not that much bigger than my angus calves that would be born at 280-285 days. Don't think I've ever had an Angus calf over 290 days.
 
Holstein heifers have an average gestation of 278 days. She was 18 days overdue which would have put her around 296.
 
Jeanne - Simme Valley":3arrfl92 said:
I don't believe the Gelbvieh breed carries spots. So if the bull was a PB Gv - than the calf couldn't be spotted - takes two spotting genes to be "expressed".


Maybe I am not understanding this post correctly but I have seen Shorthorn cows bred to a GV bull throw maore spots than you can begin to describe , and the same cows a year later produce just as many spotted calves with a RA bull.???????????
 
I was referring to the body spots like on a Holstein or Simmental. Shorthorns don't "follow the rules". They have different color pattern/spotting genes & respond different. I'm not very familiar with how they work.
 
No kidding they don't follow the rules. One year they throw a bunch of wild paints, the next year with the same bull they throw blk baldies and hereford looking animals.

I have noticed that with the RA bull they seem to breed more true to color. Roans from roans, Brockle face from brockle face and solid red from solid red.

Of course the GV was hetero blk and the RA is well , RA.
 

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