Pregnancy issue with a heifer

[j&lfarms]

I bought 4 heifers in October. They were around 8 months then so now they are around 14 months old. Latly while I've been feeding I've been noticing that her stomach, on her left side(if you was to be walking beind her) is always pooched out and swollen looking. I had my girlfriends grandpa out there with me while feeding them he told me to look at her and see if I noticed anything and you could start to see her sack. I looked at the rest of them and the sacks wasn't even visible on them. Could this heifer be pregnant at such a young age? If she was bred in October by the bull that was in the pasture with her then she would calve close to July. What should I do? Just keep watching her close?

I put a bull with them in March because they are big enough to breed, however they are not big enough to calve out.

 

[dun]

For peace of mind I would preg check her. Either palpation or blood test, your choice

 

[j&lfarms]

Are you familiar with blood testing? The only problem I have with blood testing is it won't tell me how far along she is just if she is pregnant or not and since there's been a bull with her for about 30 days I wouldn't know if she just got bred or if it's from her already being bred.

Have you ever had anything calve this young?

 

[BC]

I had a 16 month old heifer calve. I was fixing to start watching for heat to be able to AI when I found her calving. Lost both heifer and calf.

 

[Caustic Burno]

What breed as the English are known for coming in early.
Seen 6 month old's come in.

 

[dun]

Are you familiar with blood testing? The only problem I have with blood testing is it won't tell me how far along she is just if she is pregnant or not and since there's been a bull with her for about 30 days I wouldn't know if she just got bred or if it's from her already being bred.

Have you ever had anything calve this young?

That's the problem with the blood test, I prefer palpation from someone that really knows what they're doing.

 

[shadyhollownj]

The rate of hormones in the blood I believe would tell you if she was just bred or not. I know the rate or whatever the number stands for is always on the low side compared to a cow that was bred for say two months instead of a month. Had two I purchased calve at 16 months old. Both lived but were shipped after weaning.

 

[Anonymous]

The blood test will not tell you stage of pregnancy.

 

[shadyhollownj]

He said a bull was in for the past 30 days. You could tell that. I wasnt talking about the stage if she was bred previously.

 

[j&lfarms]

They are angus heifers weighing anywhere from 700- 900. The one I think is pregnant is about 800 maybe a little less.

 

[hillsdown]

If she is pregnant you know that she will be a minimum of 6 months along . I would glove up ,go in rectally and you should be able to feel if there is a calf .

This late in term you have a crap shoot to let her calve or abort her . If she were mine I would abort her especially since you do not know what bulls she was exposed to .

Good luck.

 

[j&lfarms]

I'm going to try and go to the vet on saturday and have her checked. If she is pregnant I will decide on weather or not to abort based on size and how far along she is.

 

[backhoeboogie]

My #32 calved at 17 1/2 months of age. I'd have to go back and check records to affirm this. She was extremely young on her first. No problem with her or the calf.

 

[aprille218]

We've had 3 calve way young before. One would have got pregnant at 5 months. All have calved out fine. 2 raised their calves fine, the youngest heifer's calf we bottle fed. All of these are angus cross heifers, fathers either angus or angus cross. The youngest one calved full term in spite of getting Lutalyse.

 

[muleskinner]

My Repro Guy recommends if giving Lutalyse to abort, you should give one dose and then 12 hours later give another. The success rate of doing it that way is a lot higher.

 

[j&lfarms]

I should have took them all to the vet and gave them a lutalyse shot the day I got them but I just assumed they were too young to be cycling. But anyways I checked them today and really get a close look. Her sack is indeed larger than the rest. Her sack is low enough now that I can crouch down and see her teets hanging. Her teets however has not started to fill up. The rest I have to wait until they move their tale, start walking, or scratching to see their's. Unfortunatly my girlfriends grandfather thinks that the guy had a charolais bull in the pasture with him. I might take her to the vet saturday and have her checked to let me know 100% if she's pregnant. If she is far enough along that she is sacking up (if she doesn't calve by Saturday) is there anything I can do? If I abort it the calf still has to come out reguardless.

 

[j&lfarms]

Btw I called my vet to see how much it would be to get her checked and it will be $18 for the entire visit. It was going to be $8 for the palpation and $10 for what they called a "shute fee". Is this resonable.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Btw I called my vet to see how much it would be to get her checked and it will be $18 for the entire visit. It was going to be $8 for the palpation and $10 for what they called a "shute fee". Is this resonable.

No way! That's $1 too much! :lol:

 

[skeeter swatter]

Pooched out on her left side sounds more like bloat.

 

[j&lfarms]

Hey call me cheap but dollars add up! Lol :2cents: and if it's bloat it doesn't explain the sac though does it?