so the pair is doing great now. heifer finally decided to mother the baby and hes fat and sassy. a month old today. heifer looks great, never got sick a bit from the c-section. cleaned normally...we planned to let her raise the calf and then butcher her. but now hubby is considering putting her back out with the herd and letting her get bred again. what are the chances she could go on to calve normally next year? we are using a nice angus heifer bull this year so shouldnt have such big calves as we had this year.
need more advice about my c-section girl
- Thread starter robinb
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slick4591
Well-known member
I had a first calf heifer that had one and she bred back just fine. Some people prefer to ship them, but she's still a part of my herd.
Why did she need a csection this time?
I worked somewhere they did csections on a regular basis on first calf heifers (no calving ease bulls), and they swore the heifers rebred with the rest of the herd and they didn't do any csections on second calf heifers. If you like the heifer otherwise, I'd keep her.
I worked somewhere they did csections on a regular basis on first calf heifers (no calving ease bulls), and they swore the heifers rebred with the rest of the herd and they didn't do any csections on second calf heifers. If you like the heifer otherwise, I'd keep her.
slick4591
Well-known member
robinb":2iuyg3f8 said:
Yes, second calf unassisted.
the only reason she had a c-section this time was the calf was too big. we should have not bred her to our hererford bull.. this year we have a heifer bull...im glad to hear the positive experiences here. more discussion with the hubby...
Lucky_P
Well-known member
Can't necessarily disagree with my friend Dr. Milkmaid; with some caveats.
Pelvic bone sutures on most British/Continental heifers fuse at about 27 months... if you can get a calf pushed through the birth canal before those sutures fuse, there's a little bit more 'wiggle room' than if those sutures are fused/ossified... and it seems that things 'spread out' a bit, and never go back to the way they were before... so, if at all possible, I prefer a heifer deliver on her own, or have it delivered by forced extraction - pulling - but sometimes that's not in the best interest of the heifer or the calf.
Every case must be evaluated on its own merits.
If it's an issue of a too big calf... keeping the heifer and breeding her to a calving ease bull the next time (or times) out... may be greeted with success. Or not.
Had a group of wild-@ss SimAngus heifers about 10 years ago that didn't breed up well - and most left as open 2-yr olds... but one... had a really hard pull to get the first calf out(calving ease bull)... damaged the calf, and something about her pelvis just didn't feel right... prominent 'bump' on the floor of the pelvis, and in retrospect, probably too narrow. Didn't get her sold... and the next year... dystocia again, necessitating a C-section. I didn't keep her around for a third try.
Pelvic bone sutures on most British/Continental heifers fuse at about 27 months... if you can get a calf pushed through the birth canal before those sutures fuse, there's a little bit more 'wiggle room' than if those sutures are fused/ossified... and it seems that things 'spread out' a bit, and never go back to the way they were before... so, if at all possible, I prefer a heifer deliver on her own, or have it delivered by forced extraction - pulling - but sometimes that's not in the best interest of the heifer or the calf.
Every case must be evaluated on its own merits.
If it's an issue of a too big calf... keeping the heifer and breeding her to a calving ease bull the next time (or times) out... may be greeted with success. Or not.
Had a group of wild-@ss SimAngus heifers about 10 years ago that didn't breed up well - and most left as open 2-yr olds... but one... had a really hard pull to get the first calf out(calving ease bull)... damaged the calf, and something about her pelvis just didn't feel right... prominent 'bump' on the floor of the pelvis, and in retrospect, probably too narrow. Didn't get her sold... and the next year... dystocia again, necessitating a C-section. I didn't keep her around for a third try.
Lucky_P":3vsu28ob said:
Good advise, as usual. We had an "oops" bred heifer 4 years ago, haaaaard pull by the vet. When he pelvic measured her for her 2nd attempt at a reasonable age he said there was just too much scar tissue. And for what it's worth, the only reason we sold our c-section heifer is because the calf was already dead (not to mention breech), thus the potential for problems breeding back.
randiliana
Well-known member
We've never kept a C-section heifer around for a second go around. BUT, we are breeding to a calving ease bull, they were the only ones that had major issues, and the calves were not super big, or at least not that much bigger than the calve the others heifers were having either by themselves or with some assistance.
We did however keep one cow around for several years that calved with assistance as a heifer and required a C-section as a 3 year old. Breeding her back to our heifer bull, she ALWAYS had one of the larger calves for the year. And finally one year she had to have another C-section. We didn't keep her around to try for a third one.
My thoughts on the heifers (and we do not do pelvic measurements) are
If her calf (bred to a calving ease bull) is that much larger than her "sisters" what is going to happen when we breed her to a "Cow Bull"
If her calf is smaller (say under 80 lbs) and she cannot deliver on her own, again, what is going to happen when we breed her to a "Cow Bull"
And, is it worth taking a chance on her a second time for another ($500 procedure)?
We did however keep one cow around for several years that calved with assistance as a heifer and required a C-section as a 3 year old. Breeding her back to our heifer bull, she ALWAYS had one of the larger calves for the year. And finally one year she had to have another C-section. We didn't keep her around to try for a third one.
My thoughts on the heifers (and we do not do pelvic measurements) are
If her calf (bred to a calving ease bull) is that much larger than her "sisters" what is going to happen when we breed her to a "Cow Bull"
If her calf is smaller (say under 80 lbs) and she cannot deliver on her own, again, what is going to happen when we breed her to a "Cow Bull"
And, is it worth taking a chance on her a second time for another ($500 procedure)?
