Well ,I hate to say ,I,a novice, was right.... no I don't
SHE HAD TWINS!!!!!
I have talked to women who had twins and they said they were huge and had a hard time walking and stuff. Makes sense!
I checked her 3 am ,she was fine but a little slime and was switching her tail and was clear in the back of the pasture.
So signs of active labor though but I told hubby would not be surprised to have a calf next day.
I was very surprised to have twins though!
Checked again at 7.30 am (since no signs of any active labor and she had beeen switchin and I read the slime can be days before)and Bull calf no.1 was standing already!
As I was waiting for her to pass the afterbirth bull no.2 arrived easily!
I thought it was the afterbirth comming when I noticed little feet and nose and was kinda in shock!
First calves (for me) and they are Twins!WOW!
He was a little weaker though, I helped her out a bit drying him and stuff ,he laid flat on his side at least 1/2 hr. she did lick him some and moo at him but she was still busy with no. 1 (was not nursing yet but trying) and you could tell she was a bit confused but willing to mother both.
I rubbed him more and helped him up but he only tried halfheartedly to suck on her and after 2 hrs. I fed him some bought colostrum I had just in case (glad I was prepared!) No. 1 was nursing now.
Meanwhile my vet called me back and said I did good feeding him some.
I left him with her all day and watched closesly and he never did nurse on her. Fed him more later and then put him in a stall so now he is a bottle calf.
He's 5 days old now and getting stronger . Might try to put him back with her next week, any thoughts on that?
Does that usually work.
By the way they look like their dad ,black angus, not Highland at all,and were about 55 lbs. each which seems a good weight for this x.
Her first duedate was 7/1 this happened 6/27.
I put him on medicated milk replacer as he had a little diarr. day 1.
Also did a lot of praying!
Any thoughts on how long they can be on the medicated stuff?
Also he would drink more then the reccomended amount but they say they can develop scours from too much milk. Just got some starter pellets too.
Also ,any newbies reading this I highly reccomend investing a few bucks in some books on cattle, they have really helped me a lot! And are faster to get to when you need to know something right now then to get online.
Hey,anybody know how the probability of twins in cattle compares to twins in people?
Also, is it something in the genes? I mean can a certain bull or cow have more chances of sets of twins?
Does it come from the dam or sire?
Anyways, Thanks again for all your help,
