Oh NO - TWINS???

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

It's that time of year, when I pull in our closest cattle due to calve, to have up front, by the house so I can watch them. We will pull cows/hfrs each week from now on; like to have them close at least 2 weeks prior to due date.
Well, we had 4 out of our 2-yr/3-yr old group to pull. We brought the whole group up & I like to give all of them an extra close look before putting the main group back into their winter lot. I had spotted one that looked "way closer" than expected & was pretty sure it wasn't one of the "keepers" as they were moving in front of us on the trek to the barn area. Sure enough, it was a 2 yr old that is not due until Feb 4. Very loose vulva & pretty good developed udder.
I have 16 in this "group" and had not noticed her condition on my walk-thrus daily.
I had been a bit dissapointed in this heifer all fall & early winter, thinking she wasn't filling out, maybe a bit "leaner" than she should be.
Now, she may just be a real early developer - but - I "suspect" twins, so will be keeping an extra close eye on her. Let's keep our fingers crossed it's not twins - or too early calving!

 

[Caustic Burno]

I hate twins there is not one cow in fifty that wll except both of them, then you find one half starved.
Now you get to raise a pot bellied bottle calf.

 

[dun]

Better you then me

 

[Keren]

well, stick an airmail stamp on them and send them to me - I LOVE twins.

They have never worked out badly for me so far - one of three situations. a) the cow raises both, and does a good job on both of em. b) cow does a good job on one, and I bottle feed and do a good job on the other or c) the cow calves with one dead calf and one live calf. Problem solved.

The only thing I hate about twins is the freemartin problem.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Keren - yeah - I can just see the postoffice :banana:
Your 3 scenero's are great - but, that's not the problem.
It's the "too early" calving - weren't prepared - it's the tangled up calves that don't come out unassisted - it's the two dead calves - it's the poor body condition - it's the most likely retained placenta - it's the potential late cycling - blah blah blah - I HATE TWINS - as most of the regulars on here know!
Yeah yeah - I've had a few cows lay down & spit out live healthy twins and do a great job raising both and bred back right on time, and I made a lot of $$ on some (sold the best of 1 pair as open heifer for $2500, kept the sister. Sold best of another pair as a c/c pair for $6000 - still have both sets of sisters in herd - yahoo! money makers! - VERY RARE!!! Much more BAD cases than good. I'll take a single LIVE calf anyday.
Luckily, have hubby that is awesome at untangling & getting calves out - had one set - both were backwards & upside down, coming together - saved! --- but, not always the outcome. Lots of times they are dead before going into labor.

 

[dun]

One ofthe things 9among many) that I don;t understand is how a cow can tangle up twins so badly when a doe can lay down and spit out trips and quads and even the occasioanl quints with out any of the fuss and bother. Maybe it's because of the gestation length so the calves have more time to get tangled up

 

[Alice]

I dreaded twins...yet the inevitable happened and one of our big herefords had twins. God must've smiled that day 'cause she accepted both and both were heifers. One is a little smaller than the other, but they both have thrived and are really pretty.

I don't wanna go thru that again, tho...the worry and stress and constant checking on them exhausted me and irritated the honk outta mama cow...

Alice

 

[3waycross]

One ofthe things 9among many) that I don;t understand is how a cow can tangle up twins so badly when a doe can lay down and spit out trips and quads and even the occasioanl quints with out any of the fuss and bother. Maybe it's because of the gestation length so the calves have more time to get tangled up

Unless they are contained in the same placenta. I have observed quads in a doe inside the uterus they were all in separate placentas.

 

[randiliana]

Don't panic yet ;-). We've had the odd heifer start to show literally months before she calved, loosened up, bagged up quite a bit. Pulled her in January, which was quite a show, fences didn't slow her down. And she never calved til March. Have had a few others, but most didn't show quite as much as this one.

My biggest problem isn't the ones that show and get pulled in to watch closer, its the ones you didn't think were that close and calved out in a snowbank on a cold, cold morning. Lost our 1st calf last year that way.

 

[Jogeephus]

Don't know why but I have quite a few twins in a group of cows and I have found benign neglect is a pretty successful management tool when dealing with them. The train wrecks always seemed to occur when I tried to interfere and help. Now I just let them be and am more often than not impressed by the motherly instinct of a cow.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Jogee - I'm not worried about the heifer "doing her thing" - but more times than not, she CAN'T. I have had many cows lay down & spit out each calf unassisted, but that is not the norm - not here anyway, and listening to most other cattlemen/women, they have the same experience. I rarely have a cow neglect one or both. And I don't mess with them or interfere if everything is going well. We invested in $120 set of cameras, so I watch from bed!
Like Randi said tho, it's the ones that don't show signs early, and they sneak one out in the snowbank on usually the coldest, windiest night. There have been many times thru the years, that I will see that "lone cow" by herself, and when you go to investigate, there's a set of dead twins and the cow hasn't even really bagged up. At least this one is up front & will be watched closely. And Randi, you are right, she may be the one that is just an early "preparer". That's fine if she is. Better for her & ME!.

 

[hillsdown]

I agree with Randi do not panic YET.. Out of all the twins we had born last year I had to assist two cows. Both were the second twins, one was still way back and back feet first and the other was the second whose little back legs were crossed when she came out and she got hung up on moms hip bone. Both cows raised their own calves and did a heck of a job ;but that usually is not the norm. As far as pot belly calves I have never had one when I have bottle fed them.

The worst ones are the ones that bag up the day they calve. Two years ago I had a cow that I thought would be later, I had`t closed off the far pasture yet and one morning I looked out the kitchen window and there was the cow with a little blk thing standing by her at the top of a hill on the far end of the home quarter. I had to haul the calf home half a mile in a sleigh through 3-4 feet of snow while mom walked behind us. :help: Now that is the first thing I due before calving even gets close. Close the pastures off to them..

Good luck and keep us posted. Now I am off to check on my moms to be and it is brrrr... out there today.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Like Randi said tho, it's the ones that don't show signs early, and they sneak one out in the snowbank on usually the coldest, windiest night.

:nod: :nod: Don't you just hate that? #47 did that on Saturday/wee hours of Sunday a.m. By my calculations she had about another 3 weeks-----I guess I calculated wrong . She didn't even look close. But all is well. Pretty black/brockle faced heifer calf.

Good luck Jeanne, maybe this gal is just psyching you out, and she's not carrying twins at all.

Katherine

 

[randiliana]

As far as twins go, more often than not the cows have them by themselves. We had 3 sets last year, 2 live and one dead (for unknown reasons) and they were all born outside on the bedding pack. Just went out there to check and there they were. Mamas were quite willing to take them. Actually, as far as I can remember, we've never had a cow that rejected one of them. Rarely leave both of them on the cow though, usually we end up needing a xtra calf for some cow that lost her baby.

But, I really hate it when heifers have twins. They just have too much going on as it is to have to support 2 calves for any amount of time.

 

[Jogeephus]

I hope everything goes well. For what its worth I've never been able to successfully predict which cow was going to have twins. Often thought I "knew" but never been that lucky a guesser but the surprises keep things interesting. Keep us informed and good luck.

 

[Keren]

One ofthe things 9among many) that I don;t understand is how a cow can tangle up twins so badly when a doe can lay down and spit out trips and quads and even the occasioanl quints with out any of the fuss and bother. Maybe it's because of the gestation length so the calves have more time to get tangled up

although some of the does make a pretty good mess of things as well! lol

 

[cfpinz]

We've got this old guernsey cross (?) cow that looked a bit thin all fall and going into winter. Wife and I both bet she was having twins. Wife found her with a small calf a couple hours before the big snow here on the 18th, wound up getting 2' that night. Over a week later when the snow started melting I found the other calf under a drift completely on the other side of that pasture, about 60 acres. She was the last in that group to pop and the calf looked just like hers. She milks more than enough for two calves, plus we had a couple other cows that had just lost calves. Crap happens.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Many people talk about cows "look like they're carrying twins" because they have a big bellie. I go by condition compared to contemporaries. Of course, they're COWS - they always try to make a liar out of you!
This heifer is far from being "thin", just not carrying the bloom the others have - and getting ready so early really puts my "radar" on high notice. I don't worry about the fact that a cow might have twins - I just want to be alert in case she has trouble having those twins - since twins are a high incidence of dystocia on my farm & across the nation.
I hear you - "I've had lots of twins & I just go out and they're there". Well, I've had lots of twins to, and yes, I've just gone out and "they're there" - but I have also had many so tangled up, it took a while to figure out what belong to what. If this is the case, we want to know as quickly as possible, because you can save them if alerted early.
BTW - thanks for all the good wishes. She's right outside the window so I can see her throughout the day. I have not started putting her in the barn as yet (can watch with our cameras). Vulva looks like she could sneeze & push one out, but the udder isn't quite ready yet, and I don't see any loosening around tailhead.

 

[Dixieangus]

so you said she is showing sighns early so when they show sighns early it could be twins

 

[randiliana]

Yes, because twins are notorious for coming early. I think they average a week earlier than single calves. And in a small animal such as a heifer, there is even less room, so they might come even earlier than that.

But just because an animal starts to show earlier than you expect she should doesn't mean that she will calve earlier either. Have seen lots that show lots, and you expect them to drop at any moment, meanwhile, any number of the other ones that don't look half as close drop their calves, and 2 weeks later the 'early' one finally calves.