When will she calve?

[dun]

Alwasy a hot topic. I find it kind of satisfying in a perverse sort of way that even experienced vets have a hard time predicting when a cow or heifer will finally calve. Our vet has a heifer that he's been watching since her due date 3 Spetember. He only can check on her by flashlight morngin and night. He'll check on her and she'll be bagged tight and the calf looks like it's rotated and he figures he have a calf by the time he checks again. The next check the udder has stretched out and doesn;t look tight and the calf has changed positions again. He had a cow due the same day and calved last monday, he figured from the looks of things when he checked her in the morning that she wasn;t even close, a new calf was waiting for him that night. He figured it had to be the heifer, but NOOOO, it was the cow. I do enjoy kidding him about it.

dun

 

[MikeC]

Heifers have always been harder to predict. Like you say, they will swell up and then shrink back down.

"Udder Edema" has always been more prevalent in heifers than older cows for me also.

I guess they are just reacting to all the hormonal changes going on.

I went to a "Dystocia" clinic one time and the vets putting on the presentation claimed that the calf made the final decision of when to be born.......

How they know that.......I have no idea.

 

[OklaBrangusBreeder]

I live in Tulsa, my folks (and my cows) live about an hour from me....

Anyway, I had one of my Registered Brangus that was due Sept 10th. I moved her from the farm I use to the farm where dads house is a couple weeks ago for him to watch her (it is her first calf).

I talked to dad last night on the phone and he said "just checked your cow like 10 minutes ago. She doesn't even really look close to me, could be another month." Dad has had cows for like 40 years so I figure he knows what he's talking about, right?

This morning I'm getting ready to leave for work, the phone rings. Mom is on the other end telling me my cow had a baby bull calf by side this morning.

So much for "experience" ....

 

[cfpinz]

I bought two nice heifers this spring that were ai'd to calve on Sept 17-20. One dropped on Sept 6, the other on the 12th.

cfpinz

 

[Beefy]

I went to a "Dystocia" clinic one time and the vets putting on the presentation claimed that the calf made the final decision of when to be born.......

How they know that.......I have no idea.

Ive always been told that the calf decides the day but the cow decides the time.

 

[dun]

The vets heifer calved early this morning or during the night sometime after 10 pm

dun

 

[Beefy]

bull calf?

 

[dun]

Don't know. She has it hidden back in the woods.

 

[El_Putzo]

My first AI calf was finally born under similar circumstances, Dun. The heifer was due on Sept. 7th according to my records but didn't have the little bugger until early morning on the 16th. I was starting to get worried about her having a big calf, but it ended up being 78 lbs. I'll post some pics when I get back over to take some. She's at my Dad's place. The heifer is a Boomer 29F daughter and the heifer baby is out of MW LLL Farley 24F.

 

[C HOLLAND]

I bought two nice heifers this spring that were ai'd to calve on Sept 17-20. One dropped on Sept 6, the other on the 12th.

cfpinz

Is this the norm for heifers to be up to 2 weeks early, I thought I read that on here before. Mine should be calving starting Oct-29th through Nov.

 

[Beefy]

not the norm, but common.

 

[Frankie]

I bought two nice heifers this spring that were ai'd to calve on Sept 17-20. One dropped on Sept 6, the other on the 12th.

cfpinz

Is this the norm for heifers to be up to 2 weeks early, I thought I read that on here before. Mine should be calving starting Oct-29th through Nov.

We start watching our heifers two weeks before their due date. It's unusual for them to go 283 days. They'll usually be a week earlier than than. We get our cows up a week before calving and they normally will be a few days eary.

 

[coolpop]

I count 280 days on the calendar and so far all of mine have calved on the very day they were due. Hope my luck continues!

 

[shockmewv]

Have a heifer that I think is overdue...she has bagged up for quite awhile now (at least a week), her udder is looking sore even. She looks miserable because of her size, but still staying with the herd, eating and drinking normal. Even the spot on her underside where the placenta was attached looks large and is protruding more than normal. She was put with the bull the same time as her herdmates and they've all calved. How do you know if she needs to be induced, or should we just stay patient? The last heifer to calve did so 3 days ago and the calf was huge...we're worried the longer this calf is in her it may get too large once she finally goes into labor.

 

[shockmewv]

The heifer calved this morning...with a big yet healthy calf. Both doing fine!