Twins?

[cowgirl_up_47]

Does anybody have pictures of cows that were pregnant with twins? I have looked online and here, and can't seem to find what I'm looking for. We have a first calf heifer that is bred, and she's huge. She's pretty big one both sides, not just the left(from behind). We aren't sure how far along she is, but she is bigger than the rest of the cows that she was with when she was bred. Only one of them has calved, so far.

I was hoping for pictures, to compare her to them.



Thanks

 

[Loch Valley Fold]

We've had several sets of twins over the last 12 months, the cows never looked any bigger than when they were just carrying 1. That said we have a Holstein x Brown Swiss cow that is massively round she is a couple of weeks off calving so will see if she is carrying twins or 1 normal size.

 

[dun]

Left from behind is the rumen the calf is oin the right from behind. Or simpler, the cows right side. I;ve never had one look any bigger with twins either.

 

[CKC1586]

My heifer that had the twins last year was HUGE, I can't find any pictures of her late in her pregnancy, I will look again and post if I can find one. When she laid down she looked like a beach ball with appendages.
edit to add picture:
This was taken in January she is the one looking at us and she calved April 6, I don't have her showing the right side but she is pretty heavy with calf here...

 

[KNERSIE]

Here's a first calver who delivered live twins two weeks later, it had to be heifer and a bull off course!

This one looked quite big, but its very seldom that you can see that its probably twins, or to put it this way I have been right only once when I predicted twins and it was with this heifer.

 

[cowgirl_up_47]

I wasn't really thinking it would be twins, she's just really big, and someone said, "maybe she will have twins." After that, I thought it was a possibility, she is quite a bit bigger than the rest.

We do have another cow that gets really big when bred, she has had twins once. This heifer is a first calf heifer, so I don't know if her getting this big will be "normal" for her.



I will try to add pictures later.

 

[cowgirl_up_47]

The first two are of her, the others are a bred cow that was in with the bull with her.

 

[cowgirl_up_47]

Another one of her:

 

[spinandslide]

Here's a first calver who delivered live twins two weeks later, it had to be heifer and a bull off course!

This one looked quite big, but its very seldom that you can see that its probably twins, or to put it this way I have been right only once when I predicted twins and it was with this heifer.

Yikes..looks like my heifer.
Had a nightmare the other night she had twins..hope it doesnt come to pass.

 

[Chris H]

I've had better luck guessing about the prospect of twins by looking at the cows' condition. If she's thinner in comparison to the condition of her herdmates, I watch closer for twins.

 

[CWT Angus]

I've had better luck guessing about the prospect of twins by looking at the cows' condition. If she's thinner in comparison to the condition of her herdmates, I watch closer for twins.

I agree. I have a cow that had twins as a 1st calf heifer (before I owned her). She is a bit of a hard keeper so her condition is always different from her herdmates. Right now she is not carrying a lot of condition but has a HUGE belly! Not the type from food, but from carrying a calf. She is bigger than some of the girls due in February. She isn't due until March 20th. Lately she has started prolapsing her vagina when laying down. All things I would see on a heavy bred cow..which she shouldn't be doing at this date. Will definitely be keeping an extra-close eye on this one.

 

[cypressfarms]

Here's a first calver who delivered live twins two weeks later, it had to be heifer and a bull off course!

Not that is one good looking moma, wouldn't want to start her rolling down a hill though!

 

[JMichal]

Those pictures are what I feel like after too much Beer.

 

[lcc]

What are the odds of a heifer calf born a twin to a bull calf being a free-martin? They were assumed to be from two different sacs?

 

[dun]

What are the odds of a heifer calf born a twin to a bull calf being a free-martin? They were assumed to be from two different sacs?

With opposite sex twins the odds or greater then 90% of the heifer being a freemartin. It doesn;t have anything to do with common placentas, it has to do with the hormones from the bull affecting the heifer.

 

[KNERSIE]

What are the odds of a heifer calf born a twin to a bull calf being a free-martin? They were assumed to be from two different sacs?

With opposite sex twins the odds or greater then 90% of the heifer being a freemartin. It doesn;t have anything to do with common placentas, it has to do with the hormones from the bull affecting the heifer.

Last research I have read stated the chance is 92% of the heifer being a freemartin. The test is simple, you draw blood from both twins and send it in for analysis, where they test whether there was a shared blood supply early on in the pregnancy if I remember correctly.

 

[dun]

What are the odds of a heifer calf born a twin to a bull calf being a free-martin? They were assumed to be from two different sacs?

With opposite sex twins the odds or greater then 90% of the heifer being a freemartin. It doesn;t have anything to do with common placentas, it has to do with the hormones from the bull affecting the heifer.

Last research I have read stated the chance is 92% of the heifer being a freemartin. The test is simple, you draw blood from both twins and send it in for analysis, where they test whether there was a shared blood supply early on in the pregnancy if I remember correctly.

The test we did only required blood from the heifer. They checked it for whatever chromosome that they shouldn;t have. I was never any good with the alphabet so I don;t recall the Xs and Ys of the whole deal

 

[CKC1586]

Yup, only need to test the heifer. GenMark is the lab I used, $35.

 

[Putangitangi]

My twinning cows have actually been narrower than when carrying a single. I presume the calves didn't have room to lie across the cow and had to line up next to each other! The indicator of twins in all cases was a drop in condition in the last month or so of pregnancy and the cows were slow and always last in any line to shift to new paddocks. Mine also calved a couple of weeks earlier than they normally would. I've had three sets here with live calves, fortunately all heifers, one pair survived, of the next one survived, and of the third one was born dead and the other had to be euthanased later for a deformity which may have been related to having insufficient room before birth. I used to think twins were exciting. I don't any more unless they're born alive and their mother raises them properly without my help!

 

[KNERSIE]

Yup, only need to test the heifer. GenMark is the lab I used, $35.

I had a heifer tested in September and they specifically asked for blood of both twins. The cost was R150 which is roughly $10.

dun, the Y is the male chromozome. Normal males have XY and females XX.