Young heifer, small bag, calved today

[longhornlover3498]

ok. we breed back in july so then it all works out i guess. that 17 month old heifer that calved was a six month old when we put the bull in to breed the cows. i wasnt aware they go in to heat that early.

 

[SSGenetics]

ok. we breed back in july so then it all works out i guess. that 17 month old heifer that calved was a six month old when we put the bull in to breed the cows. i wasnt aware they go in to heat that early.

Reread what Valerie is saying. In a controlled breeding season there is little to no chance of a heifer calf conceiving.

If you turn the bulls out in July 1, your calving season is going to start around the second week of April. Pull the bull 60 days later, and your calving season will end around the second week of June. You say you turn the bulls out in July, but this 6 month old heifer that got bred had to of been conceived in April (born in January), so I'm guessing you let the bulls run all year, or she was purchased??? :bs:

If you don't want heifers getting bred too young, I would tell Daddy he needs to tighten up his breeding season... :tiphat:

 

[Taurus]

We had a 15 months old heifer gave birth a calf heifer few years ago. Today both are thriving and doing well. We believe that the calf was sired by a neighbor's bull calf that got in our pasture somehow. Some of our cows have small and tight udders but never had any problems with it.

 

[Nesikep]

we used to breed at a full 2 years, but with a small herd, it was hard to get anywhere building up the herd when you still have to cull hard, so we went to 1 year breeding.

As for your heifferette and calf, LOTS of good food... 3rd cut alfalfa hay or a lush pasture, and sweet feed... I feed my 16 year old cow about 3 lbs of grain a day and it has made a big difference for her. If you have another cow with lots of milk, you might try grafting the calf to her, basically giving her some twins, except the young calf wouldn't entirely depend on the second mother, and if it fails, she still has her own mother. I did that this year with a calf born to a 4 year old cow who has NO milk (she's going to the sale barn next week), I had a cow who had lost her calf, and I worked for a week on grafting the calf, and slowly the second mother gave up on chasing the thief, and by the second week it was hers, though she wasn't going to lick him. After I saw he was accepted, I weaned him from his real mother... he's doing fine now. We also had a heifferette who was bred at 6 or 7 months, and we kept her for 4 years (got 4 calves too) before she didn't breed back... she never did make a biggish calf though... about 400 lbs at 210 days was the best she could do.

Posting pictures - Get a Photobucket.com (or maybe Flickr), and upload your pictures to there, from there it'll give you a link to your picture, which you can put in a post here.

 

[Carnivore]

Hey everyone just an update. Mom and baby doing fine, and as a bonus, my last heifer had her calf today! No drama with this one, (she is just 2 years old and in good shape) and the little heifer calf is perfect in everyway. It is a relief that it is all done for a few months. I sure can't fault this bull and my herd of cows. They manage to do things right, even under less than optimum conditions. Also, I love this board...You guys make it easy to muddle through being a cow daddy.

 

[BridgeViewAngus]

Status update. Went out this morning, and calf was missing. Searched the entire pasture, and eventually found the calf about a hundred yards away from the rest of the herd, (including momma). The rest of the herd was sleeping away from the calf. Wierd.
Anyway, carried the calf back to momma, and they got back together. Then, moved them both to a seperate pasture and put them in a calving pen I made several years ago. Nice to have it. Gave momma some sweet grain and alfalfa along with nice grass in the pen, and the baby worked on the bag all day. Momma looks like she has a little more bag today, and it gets emptied regularly. This evening, last check and calf looked great, was frolicking like only 2 day old calves can do, so it looks like we are gonna make it. Will pour the feed to her for a while, to keep her strength up. Thanks for all the tips everyone. Now, how do I post a picture?

I don't find that weird at all. Calves tend to be hide. Sometimes a cow calves and they hide them so well you can't find them until they come out and show themselves.