Pregnant heifer? Need some help

[j&lfarms]

Alright...well I'm 17 and just starting out with owning my own cattle. My girlfriend and I bought 4 angus heifers in October. Starting in about February I started noticing they were coming in heat (riding each other discharge ect....) They are all around 15 months give or take a month of two. They are all growing well and have went from probably 650 to around 900 pounds just off of hay and the ocasional feed. Here's where my problem comes in. I have one heifer who looks like she swallowed a 50 gallon drum. She is wide on both sides, just recently I noticed her udder is just slightly larger than the other four and her teets look swollen (I could be playing tricks on my mind), and just in the last week or two has had kind of a swollen vuvla that looks like it is kind of oozing. Could she be pregnant? If she is, just based on those symptoms, when do you think she could calve. 9 months from when I bought her would be late June or early July? When I bought them they were just being weaned. They were late weaners because they guy I got them from had been sick. We almost suspected that the guy had waited so long that they had self weaned themselves.

 

[dun]

She could be. If you watch her right side you can sometimes see some movement as the calf wallows around. The swollen vulva is usaully a pretty good sing. The discharge, unless it's just a heat related deal can happen anywhere form a month to an hour beofre they calve. Just keep an eye on her.

 

[j&lfarms]

Oh btw I forgot to mention none of them should be coming back in heat becasue I just took a bull off of them. They were exposed for 45 days. March 9-April 20. I'm kind of nervous but atleast theres a posibility of making money sooner.

 

[Taurus]

Or losing the money...there's a chance that you can lost both heifer and calf.

 

[j&lfarms]

That's crossed my mind too, I'm just trying to stay positive lol

 

[Black and Good]

Alright...well I'm 17 and just starting out with owning my own cattle. My girlfriend and I bought 4 angus heifers in October. Starting in about February I started noticing they were coming in heat (riding each other discharge ect....) They are all around 15 months give or take a month of two. They are all growing well and have went from probably 650 to around 900 pounds just off of hay and the ocasional feed. Here's where my problem comes in. I have one heifer who looks like she swallowed a 50 gallon drum. She is wide on both sides, just recently I noticed her udder is just slightly larger than the other four and her teets look swollen (I could be playing tricks on my mind), and just in the last week or two has had kind of a swollen vuvla that looks like it is kind of oozing. Could she be pregnant? If she is, just based on those symptoms, when do you think she could calve. 9 months from when I bought her would be late June or early July? When I bought them they were just being weaned. They were late weaners because they guy I got them from had been sick. We almost suspected that the guy had waited so long that they had self weaned themselves.

If you bought at the sale barn I would be watching her like a hawk. If you bought her off a farm or you know where they came from. I would get with them to get an ideal how big a calf she might be carrying,it's worth a try just to ease your mind. If she is 900# she's big enough to pull it off. Opps, I said"pull it". LOL ;-)

 

[j&lfarms]

I'm not familiar with that p word you speak of. That's a dirty word. I hope she is big enough she should be but we will see. Her teets are somewhat filled out today. I'm expecting her to calve anytime now lol

 

[Black and Good]

I'm not familiar with that p word you speak of. That's a dirty word. I hope she is big enough she should be but we will see. Her teets are somewhat filled out today. I'm expecting her to calve anytime now lol

Good luck to you. :tiphat:

 

[George]

Make sure you talk to a neighbor that has lots of experience calving cows,and ask them if you can put them on speed dial for when that calf has a calf.If you can't find someone with lots of experience,make sure you have the vets # written down and close to the phone,that calf could becoming out the side of that calf.Maybe you will be lucky and go and check her and there will be a 50 pound calf laying beside her,and hopefully you are.Just in case you aren't though,you want someone with a lot of experience taking care of the situation for you!Also what do you have for cattle handling facilities?Do you have a squeeze chute,how do you plan on catching this heifer and holding her still in case it is a c-section or calf needs to be pulled?

 

[j&lfarms]

I've got a chute set up on the backside of the barn. Once I notice her teets filling out or the slime starting to ooze I'm going to put her in the barn. I've got them in an 8 acre lot right now so I can keep them close to the house and near the barn. I've got 2 neighbors and a Dad that I can call anytime.

 

[George]

With all the experience you have able to assist you,you will be fine!!! Good luck and hope everything goes well for you .

 

[Double R Ranch]

We had this happen once. Before I learned preg checking and PG etc. She was WAY to young to be bred and we did end up pulling the calf. We ended up with a live stunted cow and healthy but slightly stunted (IMO) calf unfortunately she wouldn't breed back AI so she grew wheels. :-( I learned quite a few lessons from the experience so it wasn't a lost and I broke even selling them at weaning.
Be careful waiting for milk to let down or slime to come out before you put her up. This one fooled us and we almost slept threw her delivery! Her milk didn't let down until the calf hit the ground.
Looking forward to a great outcome to this story! Will be keeping an eye on this post for sure

 

[Dave]

I had one that I bought out in the country in December. She was a March calf from last year. She had a calf May 5th. So she was 14 months old at best. She calfed unassisted although the calf didn't survive and she was sure wobbly for a day or two. Keep a close eye on her. If the guy you bought them from was sick and not managing things he probably didn't pull his bull.

 

[j&lfarms]

Well, no calf yet, however her udder is filling out pretty good. Maybe she will calve in the next week or two. She is springing now but still hasn't started oozing anything yet. I will update those of you who are still interested in the outcome. Thanks for all of your advice and your time on the subject.

 

[dun]

Like the old saw that a watched pot never boils it seems the same applies to heifers

 

[j&lfarms]

I watched her quite a bit checking her twice a day for about a week then I decided that she will calve when she's ready and that there was no way I would be able to guess when. I just wish she would hurry up lol

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

How about some pics? You tell a good story but I'm a visual kind of guy and I need photos.

Best of luck young fella. I can't wait to see a healthy calf.

 

[j&lfarms]

If I can get the photo site to upload the pics I have a few from about two weeks ago but she's changed a lot since then. I may take the camera out tomorrow and take a few.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I have had 2 15 to 18 month old heifers calve in the last month and are doing fine, it's not the way to do it and can be bad. but don't think it can't be ok.

 

[Chris H]

We had one calve at 15 months, and it worked out fine.

I was just sorting yearlings last weekend and one looks like she's developing a bag. She's a March yearling and I weaned all heifers at 6 months last year. I'll know for certain in about 6 weeks. The fast growing calves hit puberty earlier.