Thoughts on my hard to conceive heifer

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NonTypicalCPA

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I've got a heifer on my farm that was born in May 2015. She has yet to have her first calf. She was born on my friend's farm and he brought her to my place last August to breed to my bull. She came into heat within a few weeks and was bred - I witnessed it. She was on my place another few weeks then went back to her home farm. My friend said soon after she got back she was showing some signs of heat, but wasn't sure if it was her or another of his cows. He never witnessed her get bred by his bull. She ended up not calving when she should have if she was bred by my bull, so he figured his bull must have bred her. I ended up buying her this August assuming she was bred. She still hasn't calved but looks pregnant. I have the vet coming out the end of the month to find out for sure. My concern is that she isn't pregnant and just is in good shape. But can a heifer that has has at least one standing heat and been bred end up not coming back into heat again for a period of 12 to 14 months?

I do this mainly because I enjoy the cattle, plus my pencil says I should make a little money on my small herd. This heifer is my favorite and I have no intention of shipping her to the sale as I'm sure some of you would recommend - not at this point anyways. Any thoughts?
 
Lots of things could be wrong lepto, vibrio, cysts etc.
Without a Vet your guessing that cow has almost went past the point of no return for profit.
Cut your loss or have welfare cattle.
 
lol.. ship her!
They can do anything you can think of, looking pregnant doesn't mean much, I'd say glove up yourself of get someone who can preg check her and find out if she really is bred...
 
"This heifer is my favorite and I have no intention of shipping her to the sale as I'm sure some of you would recommend - not at this point anyways. Any thoughts?"

Why ask any questions? You don't want to ship her. No matter what. She's yard art. Don't worry about it. You and the others in her herd will support her.
 
We had a heifer with a cyst before. About 20 years ago. We tried and tried and tried to get her bred. Even the bull would act interested and we would figure that she was bred as he did most of his work at night. But she did not calve at the appointed time, nor look pregnant. Decided to try to have a vet check her out. Vet called it a yellow body. Said it was a cyst growing on the ovaries. He surgically removed it and the cow went on to breed and be a good cow.
 
had a cow that bred, no problem, no sign of heat for like 7 months. She was losing weight so I dried her off> ( Milk cow) and she then started putting weight on like crazy and came back into heat..
She was in a small pasture, and we never saw any expelled calf or anything, and we were in close contact with her every day.
Sold her off at butcher prices, in case she wouldn't breed and settle for the new owner, and I was totally up front about the cow being open, but the person wanted to try her anyways.
Later on after being on the other farm for a fair amount of time, something happened, no one knows what, she came in one morning, moving real slow. She seemed to be improving, and the vet was out anyways and he did a check of her, and was in shock. Her pelvis was broken totally apart and her bones were grinding . Also, her uterus was so scarred, he said she would never have settled.
We have no idea what happened, but wondered if she had caught, and then the calf maybe died inside, and instead of being expelled maybe mummified / re-absorbed.
As for the broken pelvis, that is a real mystery, cause she was totally fine when we had her. We wondered if she gotten knocked down by another cow-bull, and fell on something real hard--tree-metal--who knows what..
One you scratch your head about, but the vet said he had never seen anything like it--the inside scarring and broken pelvis..
I would definitely get a vet check to see if she is bred. I have had fat cows go though the winter--no heat, and come spring--they are just that---FAT- no calf.
Get her checked either by a vet or someone who knows what they are doing..
 
When you saw your bull breed her, did you actually witness him hitting a "home run". I believe the reason many heifers don't breed is that they move off and don't let the bull do the job. When you get her checked, if she is open, try synchronising her with a cidr and getting her inseminated.

Best of luck with her, I have no problem with you wanting to keep a passenger, but would certainly be better if she went in calf. Being a CPA you should know how to add up figures.

Ken
 
I believe the reason many heifers don't breed is that they move off and don't let the bull do the job."........... If she were in full estrus"""standing heat"""" she shouldn't move off....
.
 
Thanks folks. It was definitely a standing heat home run. I didn't say I'd never ship her, but not yet. My neighbor is a large animal vet with a herd of 200 sims. She's on the calendar for later this month to check her.
 
Getting her checked is the most sensible thing. She could be cystic, our old vet used to call them yellow bodies also. Cystic does not mean they will come in heat weekly or often, sometimes they actually stop coming in heat. A dead calf, mummified will stop all cycling and can cause some problems, and sometimes they just sit with this lump in there for a long time. There are also some that will cycle regularly and just never settle. Had a dairy farm that the kids bought a reg hol heifer for show. Their third or fourth to show. She came in heat like clockwork. Bred 4-5 times AI. Used a cidr, did synch breeding with lut etc. NOTHING. So they asked if we would run her with one of our bulls one summer when they went to pasture. Sure, no problem. She came in heat saw him breed her.....comes back in heat, bred again. Comes back in heat, goes across the fence to the neighbors bull.....comes back about 2 months later....in heat again. Then nothing, so we figured....finally. NOPE, they take her home when we moved cattle and caught her up, preg chk and OPEN. Couldn't find one thing wrong physically. Don't know if they ever did any blood testing.... she was a very expensive cull cow. All but one of 30 of our cows wound up preg so we know our bull was good. It happens. Hopefully yours will turn out better.
 
cystic and freemartins can come into full heat and not breed. One is curable, the other is not. your vet will be able to determine if either situation exists.
 
angus9259":2mkyva19 said:
cystic and freemartins can come into full heat and not breed. One is curable, the other is not. your vet will be able to determine if either situation exists.
The later my old mentor referred to as functinally freemartins. Everything was there and worked but not enough hormones to maintain a pregnancy. Typically with a cyst they will short cycle, every wek to 10 days sometimes 2 weeks. A shot of GnRH will cure that.
 
The "yellow body" is the corpus luteum and is normal for a cow that has ovulated.
 
Sell her or eat her.

Why keep anything around that costs - ad might pass it on to the calf.

Use that cash to get another.

Every day you delay is another day wasted.

Cheers.
 
It has begun! Coldest day of the year, go figure. A balmy 4* Fahrenheit. We've got two feet soles down, so a good start. Now for the nose ......


 
Ended up with a successful birth this morning. Healthy bull calf out of a first calf heifer. I'd guess around 65-70 pounds. She even let me pick him up within minutes of giving birth to take him to the barn stall and dry him off. Momma and calf are doing great tonight.










 

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