Pelvic measuring ?'s

[Dee]

I never pelvic measured my replacement heifers I bought 2 years ago....so I was wondering about measuring my replacements that I kept. Does everyone do it? How old do they have to be before you can measure them? Can I do it myself? How? Does a vet do it? For how much? Thanks!

 

[dun]

There is a device that's inserted in the rectum and is used to measure the lepvis, don't have any idea sa to cost. I have a fairly average sized hand, when I AI them at 14-15 months, if I can extend my hand and fingers spread in the pelvic opening I consider that adequate. But that's just an old hillbilly method. If you are going to have a pelvix measurment done, you might want to also consider a reproductive tract exam at the same time. It will at a minimum provide you with information on the conditions of the ovarys and uterus. We used to ahve it done as a yearling, but now we just generally skip it unless we have some concerns about a specific heifer.

dun

dun

 

[joe]

Is pelvic measuring needed for all first calvers, or just if you are questioning their breeding age/size? I recall Dee saying her 1 year old heifer weighed over !000 pounds. Would it still be wise to measure then, or unneccesary?

 

[docgraybull]

Does everyone do it?

No.

 

[dun]

Is pelvic measuring needed for all first calvers, or just if you are questioning their breeding age/size? I recall Dee saying her 1 year old heifer weighed over !000 pounds. Would it still be wise to measure then, or unneccesary?

Unless I suspected there might be a problem, i.e. narrow rear, out of a hard calving cow or by a bull that has daughters that are hard calvers, etc., I woouldn't worry about it. If it can be done as part of a normal procedure it just gives you one more piece of data. There is a table somewhere that gives a formula for calculating what size calf can usually be expected to be born easily through what size pelvis.

dun

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Pelvic measuring is a "hot" stat used on bull tests. But, if you pick cattle for large pelvic measurements, you are slowing increasing the size of your herd, because, naturally, larger cattle have larger measurements. The best use of PM is for the outlying animals - exceptionally big for their size - or too small (causing calving difficulties).
We do not check out cattle. Like Dun, my husband can pretty much tell at breeding time if they are potential problems. But, in all our years of calving, I think we only had one female with a (too) small pelvic area.

 

[dun]

Pelvic measuring is a "hot" stat used on bull tests. But, if you pick cattle for large pelvic measurements, you are slowing increasing the size of your herd, because, naturally, larger cattle have larger measurements. The best use of PM is for the outlying animals - exceptionally big for their size - or too small (causing calving difficulties).
We do not check out cattle. Like Dun, my husband can pretty much tell at breeding time if they are potential problems. But, in all our years of calving, I think we only had one female with a (too) small pelvic area.

And pelvic measurements aren't foolproof either. A neigbors herd of Braunvieh were all mesaured for pelvic as yearlings and had plenty adequate measurments for yearlings. They ended up having to pull every calf from a group of heifers sired by one particular bull. There pelvic measurments as two year olds were only slightly larger then they had been as yearlings. That was a real head scratcher. Couldn't happen/shouldn't happen, but with cattle all of the should ofs and could ofs don;t amount to much when it comes to actuallitys

dun

 

[jerry27150]

i've had a lot more trouble with big heifers freshing than the small ones

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

A lot of times the "big" heifers calving, were heavier birth weight calves at birth. I think their own birth weight reflects the birth of their calf, more than the sire's birth weight. Generally, bigger birth calves are growthier yearlings/mature cattle.
We just had a heifer I've been worrying about because she was born 10 days late and was 112#. Now, she was out of a big cow who just spit her out, but, now she was 5 days late & we had to pull her huge bull calf last night. Haven't weighed it - but he's big - will be a steer.
We've assisted heifers before, just because they were taking too long and were easy assists. But this was an actual pull. Don't think she would have had him alive on her own. He's going strong now.