Young heifer calving

[Moonvalleyfarms]

We just had a heifer that was just a year old last week 4/9/2010 She calved today 4/26/2011. Has anyone heard of this? She had to of been bred when she was only 10 wks old. I have searched the internet to see how this is possible but can't seen to find any answers. Has anyone else ever had a 12 1/2 month old heifer ever calve and both mom and baby are doing fine. Just looking to find what the youngest aged calf can be bred? We don't breed till our heifers are at least 18mths to 2 yrs old depending on their size and weight.

 

[Caustic Burno]

We just had a heifer that was just a year old last week 4/9/2010 She calved today 4/26/2011. Has anyone heard of this? She had to of been bred when she was only 10 wks old. I have searched the internet to see how this is possible but can't seen to find any answers. Has anyone else ever had a 12 1/2 month old heifer ever calve and both mom and baby are doing fine. Just looking to find what the youngest aged calf can be bred? We don't breed till our heifers are at least 18mths to 2 yrs old depending on their size and weight.

I am having a little trouble biting on this one, I have seen many an English come in at 5 or 6 months.
You might want to rethink ya'll don't breed your heifers till 18 to 24 months with the conception rate of your cattle your losing a calf.

 

[houstoncutter]

I had a Black Gelbvieh that calved at 14 months....but that is the youngest I have ever run across...That was one hot cow.... she never was very big because of this,,,,,but she was always first in line to get at the bull...

 

[Jovid]

My guess is the heifer was not a year old on 4/9/2011

Did you raise the heifer? Did you actually see her born on 4/9/2010? Did you buy her from someone that told you she was born 4/9/2010?

 

[3waycross]

We just had a heifer that was just a year old last week 4/9/2010 She calved today 4/26/2011. Has anyone heard of this? She had to of been bred when she was only 10 wks old. I have searched the internet to see how this is possible but can't seen to find any answers. Has anyone else ever had a 12 1/2 month old heifer ever calve and both mom and baby are doing fine. Just looking to find what the youngest aged calf can be bred? We don't breed till our heifers are at least 18mths to 2 yrs old depending on their size and weight.

hhhhoooorrrrsssseeeeesssshhhhiiiiittt...or........ :bs: :bs: :bs: :bs: :bs: :bs: :bs: ........take your pick!

 

[hillsdown]

The calf could have been born 2-3 weeks early so that would make the heifer at 12-13 weeks old, if 14 weeks is possible I guess 13 could be as well. I suggest you give your heifers a shot of prostiglandin and dexamethasone at weening to prevent this in the future. Next time you may not be so lucky and your heifer will always be stunted in growth.

What breed is she ?

 

[Caustic Burno]

We just had a heifer that was just a year old last week 4/9/2010 She calved today 4/26/2011. Has anyone heard of this? She had to of been bred when she was only 10 wks old. I have searched the internet to see how this is possible but can't seen to find any answers. Has anyone else ever had a 12 1/2 month old heifer ever calve and both mom and baby are doing fine. Just looking to find what the youngest aged calf can be bred? We don't breed till our heifers are at least 18mths to 2 yrs old depending on their size and weight.

hhhhoooorrrrsssseeeeesssshhhhiiiiittt...or........ :bs: :bs: :bs: :bs: :bs: :bs: :bs: ........take your pick!

You have got to stop this 3way I hate cleaning skoal off the computer screen.

 

[houstoncutter]

Yea it really doesnt pass the smell test!!!!

 

[Moonvalleyfarms]

To all of you folks who think we are full of BS I'm sorry for you. We saw this hiefer born on our farm on 4/9/10. We know when she was born. We document all of our calves when born. The heifer is a black angus.

 

[Moonvalleyfarms]

ok for all you haters. I called Washington State University today and talked to one of the vets today and yes it is possible. Yes we saw the heifer that calved be born last year in April 9th 2010. And yes WSU stated it doesn't happen often. They are considering using her as a case study. We do not have a large herd 17 head so we know when and where our calves are born. They are tagged and banded and given their shots when born all is documented. We know when and where this heifer was born. As for all you BS'ers our proof is in the barn alive and doing well. We just wanted answers not BS. The first thing WSU asked was if the calf was early. We honestly couldn't answer that question since we didn't know she was bred. They then asked if she had her teeth and yes she does so they said she was term. Wish I could send pics of them both and then you would see her size. Thanks to those who responded with good answers.

 

[hillsdown]

ok for all you haters. I called Washington State University today and talked to one of the vets today and yes it is possible. Yes we saw the heifer that calved be born last year in April 9th 2010. And yes WSU stated it doesn't happen often. They are considering using her as a case study. We do not have a large herd 17 head so we know when and where our calves are born. They are tagged and banded and given their shots when born all is documented. We know when and where this heifer was born. As for all you BS'ers our proof is in the barn alive and doing well. We just wanted answers not BS. The first thing WSU asked was if the calf was early. We honestly couldn't answer that question since we didn't know she was bred. They then asked if she had her teeth and yes she does so they said she was term. Wish I could send pics of them both and then you would see her size. Thanks to those who responded with good answers.

Actually, having teeth does not mean full term. I had a heifer calve (21 months old) this year 3 weeks early to the date and I know for a fact as she was not exposed before that and her calves teeth were in tact. You can still give us a weight on her, mine was almost 80lbs and I raise purebred Gelbvieh which are extremely fertile.

Best of luck with both and I suggest you take my free advice and knowledge and give you weanling's the appropriate shots to abort in the future .

 

[3waycross]

Speaking for the haters the real problem here is not your heifers calving date being :bs: but your math being :bs: If your heifer was born on 4/9/2010 and the calf was born on 4/26/2011 and assuming a gestation of a standard 283 days which it probably wasn't( wanna bet he was "Full Term) then the earliest she could have been bred would have been at 105 days which is 15 weeks. My guess is that as Hillsdown said the calf was not full term and she might have been bred closer to 16 or 17 weeks. There have been university studies that would validate the possibility of that happening. However in order for you to be right that she was bred at 10 weeks then she would have been bred on June 18th at the ripe old age of 70days of age and assuming a full term birth she would have calved on March the 27 2011. The reason the university would have told you it was possible was they took her birthdate and her calving date and did the math correctly.

The next time you decide to call anyone a hater Get the math right :cowboy:

BTW Welcome to Cattle Today from Sunny Southern Colorado. :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: ;-)

 

[dun]

The teeth erupt at day 110 of gestation, so just because it had teeth doesn;t say anything about about how early it may have been.

 

[3waycross]

ok for all you haters. I called Washington State University today and talked to one of the vets today and yes it is possible. Yes we saw the heifer that calved be born last year in April 9th 2010. And yes WSU stated it doesn't happen often. They are considering using her as a case study. We do not have a large herd 17 head so we know when and where our calves are born. They are tagged and banded and given their shots when born all is documented. We know when and where this heifer was born. As for all you BS'ers our proof is in the barn alive and doing well. We just wanted answers not BS. The first thing WSU asked was if the calf was early. We honestly couldn't answer that question since we didn't know she was bred. They then asked if she had her teeth and yes she does so they said she was term. Wish I could send pics of them both and then you would see her size. Thanks to those who responded with good answers.

Here are two very helpful sites

http://www.cattletoday.com/gestation.shtml
and
http://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html

 

[double v]

My question after reading the post is if you only have 17 head how dose this happen? She had no signs or didn't enlarge in the stomach just wondering. It's possible she was bred but in my experience if the bull can't mount her most time they will be safe not to be bred but things happen. How big is your bull or was it another calf in the herd? Ponder that it could just be your management of your cattle....... :cboy:

 

[Caustic Burno]

My question after reading the post is if you only have 17 head how dose this happen? She had no signs or didn't enlarge in the stomach just wondering. It's possible she was bred but in my experience if the bull can't mount her most time they will be safe not to be bred but things happen. How big is your bull or was it another calf in the herd? Ponder that it could just be your management of your cattle....... :cboy:

I have thought the same thing about management from the start, I have had problems with a "bull" covering a 3 month old heifer. I have been to a county fair, goat roping and a rat killin and this story takes the blue ribbon.

 

[double v]

Bruno, How true boggles the mind....

 

[hillsdown]

My question after reading the post is if you only have 17 head how dose this happen? She had no signs or didn't enlarge in the stomach just wondering. It's possible she was bred but in my experience if the bull can't mount her most time they will be safe not to be bred but things happen. How big is your bull or was it another calf in the herd? Ponder that it could just be your management of your cattle....... :cboy:

Not to defend VV, but my calves that get bred early are done by bull calves that I have kept in tact . My Big boys are busy with the of age girls or I have pulled them already. In a perfect world I would love to run heifer calves and bull calves in different pastures, one can only dare to dream . If beef prices keep escalating perhaps it can be possible .

Obviously this is someone "K"new to cattle ,so lets give her the benefit of the doubt. :wave:

Ya ya I know I usually am the biggest beotch to respond; but I have seen things this past year that I never want to see again and I thought I was well prepared. :cry2:

 

[Angus Cowman]

Ya ya I know I usually am the biggest beotch to respond; quote]
Don't let it bother you HD, being a beotch just makes you fit in with us grouchy ol ba$tards :lol: :lol:

 

[cattleman99]

Been there done that. Earliest I've had is a heifer born Feb 23 that calved first week in April the following year. Lost em both that time. She was bred to the herdsire. My fault I was hauling the kids around to something or other and wasn't there. I usually run around 5% in calf to the herdbull as we calf Jan 15-April 1 and then again June 1-July 31. Throw the old bulls back out with everything for the 2nd run. This has cut opens down to few and far between. Years ago I decided to run all bull calves seperate from the heifer calves. There is usually one small pasture of mixed but for the most part it makes management easier.

I got one for you though. Had a cow calve July 21 last year that calved April 10 this year. She was 9 days over from when the bull was pulled. I'm not mixing up cows either as I only have 3 reds left and she is the only baldy. The other 2 calve in Jan/Feb. I know it's off the herdbull as their are no other cattle near that pasture, there were only the June/July calvers and some yearling heifers. No older calves to breed her. The calf is horned too and the herd bull that was in their is hetro polled and so is she. I did the math and it's not possible. If i hadn't seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't believe it myself. The calf was 95 lbs too so it wasn't early.