Nice surprise today...

[texanstraders]

well, had the vet check the girls in november. Called 1 to calve in March, she calved last wednesday. Called my oldest open...shes fat and I had been trying to get some weight off her to get her bred. WELL, he was wrong. Looked out at the hay bale this am and saw something white laying there...Closer inspection revealed...

guessing she was born last night...YEP its a SHE- first one in 2 years!
I am completely thrilled with bull calf from wednesday. He is a strong one. Here's and updated pic on him...

Coldest day of the year..Figures.

 

[pdfangus]

NEED NEW VET

 

[bigbull338]

those are some cute calves.

 

[texanstraders]

NEED NEW VET

Well. I will be talking with him today. He graduated last year and is in the practice with his dad. I think he's just a little green. You couldn't find a better veterinarian practice. They are always available and will come over at the drop of the hat. ...just glad I got 2 healthy ones on the ground. I am a little worried about the heifer he called "short bred".. I penned her up by the barn. She's small and I expect she might have problems...I'm gonna ask dad to re-check her when I have them out to check the other girls I PE'd to the bull in October...

 

[TexasBred]

NEED NEW VET

Well. I will be talking with him today. He graduated last year and is in the practice with his dad. I think he's just a little green. You couldn't find a better veterinarian practice. They are always available and will come over at the drop of the hat. ...just glad I got 2 healthy ones on the ground. I am a little worried about the heifer he called "short bred".. I penned her up by the barn. She's small and I expect she might have problems...I'm gonna ask dad to re-check her when I have them out to check the other girls I PE'd to the bull in October...

Available is one thing....being competent is something else. Use him if you need him but get someone else to do your preg. checking. It's very important and needs to be much more accurate than what you're getting especially if you paid him to do it. You were lucky this time.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

shes fat and I had been trying to get some weight off her to get her bred.

Well, I imagine she's not so fat now. :lol:

Nice looking calves.

My thinking is similar to TexasBred

Katherine

 

[dun]

With time he'll get better at it. Even exeirienced vets make mistakes. Palpating is as much voodo and art as it is science

 

[bandit80]

I don't get too worked up when a vet or someone misses the expected due date of a cow by a month or so, provided the animal was at least 5 1/2 months bred at the time of preg check.

But when the cow is 6+ months bred and he calls her open, he needs to retake the preg checking class. I took a one semester course in preg checking while in college. I preg my own cows, my brother's, and normally do so when they are 90-160 days bred. I right down how far along I think they are, and can normally get within 10 days or so. Once the cow gets past 160 days however, so much has to do with genetics of the calf and environmental factors that guessing the expected due date is very difficult. A 90lb calf will feel very different than a 60lb calf when they are both at 7 1/2 months gestation.

Bottome line, if the young vet isn't competent or isn't going to be, find a new vet. What if you had culled your "open" cow???

I'm with TB and dun both. Preg checking isn't exact science, but anything that is over 45 days bred should be able to be determined pregnant by a competent vet, or amateur like myself.

 

[jcarkie]

we used a new vet last time,10/15 at the other farm an hour away. one cow he called 8 months(no way no bull with her) she calved 1/10, one 5 1/2 months i had a date on her, she was first to calve 1/2/09. one he called open and when i took her to sell she was in the first period? it is hard to give a due date but as long as bred is bred and open is open i can live with it. i have a real good vet here by my house that can call them close, his helpers are pretty good but it takes lots of practice. they need to work a few sale barns checking. i cull opens no excuses so if he is wrong i would be aggravated,

 

[TexasBred]

With time he'll get better at it. Even exeirienced vets make mistakes. Palpating is as much voodo and art as it is science

He needs to work with someone that knows what they're doing and can show him....he won't ever learn anything until he find out what to really look for. But yes...in time he should get better anyway.

 

[brandonm_13]

With time he'll get better at it. Even exeirienced vets make mistakes. Palpating is as much voodo and art as it is science

He needs to work with someone that knows what they're doing and can show him....he won't ever learn anything until he find out what to really look for. But yes...in time he should get better anyway.

If he's in practice with his Dad, he should be fine with time. You can't come out of school knowing everything. I had an experienced large animal vet pull a kid out of one of my goats(it was just a little far beyond my skil at the time). Afterwards he went back in, almost up to his elbow(remember it's a goat) and said that's all she had in her. We went back home and a few hours later I thought I was seeing things because there were two kids out beside mom. Sometimes it just happens.

 

[TexasBred]

Hope he only charged you for the one. ;-)

 

[kenny thomas]

I only check my own cows as i am still learning but even I could have found a calf in November if it was born in January. Hope he gets better with experience at your expense.

 

[Keren]

Brandon, I have been in a goat up to my shoulder and still not reached the front of the uterus. Some of those big ol deep girls have so much room its incredible.

 

[brandonm_13]

Tell me about it. This one was on the small side. You wouldn't think there is that much room just by looking at them from the outside.

 

[Australian]

Vets never really know how close a cow is to calving. Just use them to at least tell you whether they are in calf or not. You can easily do that yourself. Saves money. had the vet check one of my Brahmans once,said she was about 5 months in calf, calved three days later,full term calf.

 

[MO_cows]

Wonder if some cows have small differences in their anatomy that can cause mistakes?? We have 1 cow that has been preg-checked via ultrasound once and palpation twice by 2 different vets. They all called her open....but she has calved every time. We didn't ship her the 1st time because there was some drama (and comedy!) getting her AI'd for her first calf and if she wasn't bred it wouldn't have been her fault. Good thing, or we'd have culled a very good cow.