Question about Pregnant Heifer?

[mjbrasberger]

I have a question I have a heifer that is due any time now. Should her udders be full yet before she has calfed? We have another heifer and she did not do this before she had her calf. I do not want to loose another animal. If anyone has any insight that would be greatly appriciated. I am planning on calling a vet. Not the one that looked at our bull.

Thanks alot

Janet.

 

[dun]

Some will start to bag well before calving, some just shortly before. If she's within a month she should be developing something down there. May not be big but it should be showing.

dun

 

[jnowack]

Some cows and heifers get a tight bag and drip milk for weeks before they calve. Some bag down right at calving. If you have a breeding date and know that she several days overdue then you might want to call your vet to check things out.

 

[angie1]

We had a limo heifer calf last night. Calf is doing great but we didn't expect it because she hadn;t completely bagged up tight. Well, she is now! As a side note ~ she has gone completely insane and charges when we get near the fence regardless of the fact that i was hand feeding her yesterday morning.

 

[mjbrasberger]

On when the heifer was exposed. I am not sure we took her to the vet at the begining of may and he thought that she had about 6 more weeks. I will watch her and call the vet today. Thanks alot for the info everyone.

Janet Brasberger

 

[eric]

Which vet are you gonna call? I know a couple around here who know what they are doing. (And a few more that dont!)

With your cows being minis, I am not sure how much they would actually be showing (bag wise) before they calve. I always just look at the swollen vulva and how loose and sloppy it is, and that seems to be a more telling sign for me than the bag filling up. But even thats not fool proof, since the last one I had calve (the big red one) really wasnt that swollen when her water broke one afternoon and she popped the calf out less than an hr later.

Good luck.....hopefully all will go well and mama takes care of it like it should and all you guys have to do is sit back and watch it run around all day.

 

[mjbrasberger]

Hey Eric I was going to call the Justin one but she had her calf this morning. I was glad to see that everything is OK. We had some goats here once that her bag fille dup and then she died with the baby. That was way I was worried. All seems to be well here. Baby is doing great. You are correct, we started watching her outsides, and we could tell something wassx going to happen soon. She off to herself yesterday so I knew something must be going on. We had a baby deer as well yesterday.
Thanks Eric

Janet

 

[TXBobcat]

She off to herself yesterday so I knew something must be going on.
Janet

As you have already observed, going off by themselves is a good sign to me that they are real close.

I look for following:
Milk bag developing
Swollen/sloppy vulva
secluding themselves from the rest of the herd

 

[eric]

A calf and a deer huh? Going to be going through some film this weekend I assume? Congrats......hopefully you can sit back and let the mama's take over from here. How big is the mini calf? Or actually, I know how big a newborn deer is, which one is bigger, the fawn or the calf?

 

[mjbrasberger]

Well eric it is a close call they are about the same size maybe the calf just a little bigger. The deer are just so lanky ( taller and skinny at first) and the calf is short and fuller. We have 2 more deer due so hopefully before we go to Africa they will be here we leave June 28th.

 

[andybob]

Pleased that all has turned out well!
Where are you going in Africa? (I'm from Zimbabwe,still have family in Namibia and South Africa).

 

[mjbrasberger]

We are going to South Africa around Pietersburg. We are going on a safari hunt. ( I am tagging along)

 

[andybob]

The Northern bushveld and springbok flats are my old 'stomping grounds', Pietersburg is central to that area. The wife.s uncle owns a safari operation on the Limpopo river near Messina, north of Pietersburg, and we have friends and family streched out as far north as Hammanskraal, about 60 km from Pretoria,(Rens butchery in Hammanskraal has the best biltong (jerky), and droerwors in the north.
Enjoy your trip, that is a great game and cattle ranching area,Texans always feel at home there!I exported a lot of cattle there in the 70's so I spent a lot of time there and always enjoyed the friendly hospitable people, being fluent in Afrikaans helps as well.