Incalf Heifer

adne · 27-01-2010 9:56am #1

Bought an incalf heifer in the back end. Her time is up since the 8th Jan and she has not even started springing yet....
Should I be getting worried???

Ticktactoe · 27-01-2010 10:01am

adne wrote: »

Bought an incalf heifer in the back end. Her time is up since the 8th Jan and she has not even started springing yet....
Should I be getting worried???

Is her time calculated correctly?
Are you sure she is in calf?

adne · 27-01-2010 10:04am

Ticktactoe wrote: »

Is her time calculated correctly?
Are you sure she is in calf?

she was AI'd on April 2nd... Time up in Days on 9th Jan.... She looks to be in calf...

wiggy123 · 27-01-2010 10:04am

was she ai'd...or with a bull...
may get her scanned,,,could she hav been bulled since-like any bulls near her!how many months was she meant to be incalf when purchased..
also what breed of animal is she?she young?
some heifers will have spring up a pooch of an udder before calving..

adne · 27-01-2010 10:06am

wiggy123 wrote: »

was she ai'd...or with a bull...
may get her scanned,,,could she hav been bulled since-like any bulls near her!how many months was she meant to be incalf when purchased..
also what breed of animal is she?she young?
some heifers will have spring up a pooch of an udder before calving..

AI'd... I bought her in late November so 6 weeks before time was up....
Don't know if she was running with a bull after been Ai'd... she is a 3 yr old BBxSH....

wiggy123 · 27-01-2010 10:28am

i'd say she was bulled after that..if no sign!

some animals can go the hold 3 weeks after first conception(AI) that would give you 21+9=30th of this month! has she any udder at all?

whelan1 · 27-01-2010 11:41am

either get her scanned or get vet to handle her , then at least you will know either way - we bought a heifer a few years ago and turned out there was a mummified calf in her that is why she didnt spring up

wiggy123 · 27-01-2010 11:46am

was she meant to have been long incalf whelan1??
would it hav been a dangerous thing that--excuse my ignorance!

whelan1 · 27-01-2010 11:49am

its where the calf dies in the cow and it just sort of dries up in the cow , in our case the cows time was up and nothing was happening so we induced her and the calf was rotten and about the size if a 5 month foetus

wiggy123 · 27-01-2010 11:52am

bit of a mess..what u do then with the heifer--wash her out--bull again..or was it bye bye!

whelan1 · 27-01-2010 12:00pm

wash out and estrumated a few times then went in calf

leg wax · 27-01-2010 8:30pm

mummy calf came to mind staight away

Ticktactoe · 28-01-2010 10:05am

She was lucky she didn't get poisoned by the rotten calf.

OP, it does seem like she broke and maybe is in calf again. Keep an eye on the udder as she could spring overnight. I would keep her in as well so you can observe her better in case there maybe a problem.

If this is her first calf there should be some sign of the udder dropping by now.

whelan1 · 28-01-2010 1:14pm

i remember when i was on placement in england the farmer reckoned hr could tell if a cow was in calf by knocking a stick on her belly:eek: he had a 90% success rate

wiggy123 · 28-01-2010 1:17pm

well cold water,if a pregant mare drinks can tell-get see the baby jump..it go along with a cow?

vanderbadger · 28-01-2010 2:02pm

wiggy, seriously..this new language youve created is getting outta bounds

wiggy123 · 28-01-2010 2:06pm

apoligies...
using cold water,if a pregant mare drinks it supposely u can tell and ur meant to be able to see the baby inside jump,with the cold shock....can the same be said of a cow?

Ticktactoe · 28-01-2010 2:14pm

wiggy123 wrote: »

apoligies...
using cold water,if a pregant mare drinks it supposely u can tell and ur meant to be able to see the baby inside jump,with the cold shock....can the same be said of a cow?

Possibly if she is near due date. I have seen it with horses tho but its easier to tell with mares because you can rub their sides. Heifers tend not to let you near them!

wiggy123 · 28-01-2010 2:15pm

true..but of u look long enough--u will see movement--better to scan though!

Ticktactoe · 28-01-2010 2:23pm

adne wrote: »

AI'd... I bought her in late November so 6 weeks before time was up....
Don't know if she was running with a bull after been Ai'd... she is a 3 yr old BBxSH....

If she is very near calving, she may drop in the hips as the calf is then moving towards the birth canal.

Ticktactoe · 28-01-2010 2:24pm

wiggy123 wrote: »

true..but of u look long enough--u will see movement--better to scan though!

If you look long enough at anything, you will begin to see what you want!

pakalasa · 28-01-2010 2:40pm

If she's very beefy, she may not spring at all. She should be "softening" by now though. As mentioned in the last post, her pins should be down some bit. These are the ligaments left and right of the tail head. Compare with a heifer you know is not in calf and you should feel a big difference. I had a cow go a full 10 calender months last year. I was convinced something was wrong. turned out fine. I use AI , no bull. Likely to be a bull calf aswell when they go over that much.:)

whelan1 · 28-01-2010 2:41pm

get the vet to handle her and if she handles ok induce her as calf might get too big - her being a heifer and all

cavanman001 · 28-01-2010 5:44pm

WAs she guaranteed in calf when you bought her? If you bought her in the mart as incalf then she'l have to be or money back. We bought a charolais heifer last september. On the AI docket, it said calving to a limousin bull (bulled 23rd feb09) so shouldve been due early december, but no sign by then, she started springing shortly after and calved the end december with a grey charolais calf! She was 3 year old when calving so thought she should have made more of an elder. I remember around 5 years ago buying an incalf cow in mart...it took her 3 months after her 'due' date to calve...and at that it was only an aborted foetus!

dar31 · 28-01-2010 8:01pm

get a pair of g;oves on and a bit of lube, and stick your hand in. if the calf bites your hand, then she will calf soon:D
usually you can tell just by looking at the belly on the cow.
think its the right side it should hang a bit lower if she is heavly in calf
sucklers are had to call, they can spring up and calf int the space of 2 -3 days. hope all goes to plan with her

adne · 28-01-2010 10:04pm

whelan1 wrote: »

get the vet to handle her and if she handles ok induce her as calf might get too big - her being a heifer and all

no stir on her pins, she has softened very slightly.... getting the vet on sat and if she in calf will get her induced.... how soon after inducing will she calf

whelan1 · 28-01-2010 10:14pm

there are a few ways to induce , estrumate which i dont like as it doesnt give them a chance to prepare for calving or i think its voren is the other one i cant remember tbh but i think the estrumate is too hard on them if giving voren i think they have to get cortisone with it again i stand corrected on that , sometimes when they are handled it will make them start themselves anyway

PaddyJules · 28-01-2010 11:30pm

Hope you dont mind me jumping in on your posting - but I have a heifer who is 21 days over her due date. Is this Ok or should I be getting worried that something is wrong. Any tips to speed things up abit??

pakalasa · 29-01-2010 9:32am

Adne,
I did a quick calculation, 290 days (normal for Limousin) from 2 April makes her due on 17 january 2010. So she is only over by 12 days today, which isn't a lot.

wiggy123 · 29-01-2010 9:32am

has she an udder up--is it possible that she was bulled again since that date?

adne · 29-01-2010 10:42am

pakalasa wrote: »

Adne,
I did a quick calculation, 290 days (normal for Limousin) from 2 April makes her due on 17 january 2010. So she is only over by 12 days today, which isn't a lot.

Cheers Pakalasa... that makes me feel less worried. I used the chart at the back of the suckler scheme handbook.....
She has no udder up yet

adne · 01-02-2010 10:02am

had the vet out sat morn to blood test a few so got him to hndle the heifer... calf alive and he says the dates should be right..... he did not mention inducing her....

whelan1 · 01-02-2010 1:05pm

sometimes the handling can speed them up a bit:D

Ticktactoe · 02-02-2010 10:54am

They also say to bring her on a long walk and that speeds up the process too.

adne · 02-02-2010 2:05pm

Ticktactoe wrote: »

They also say to bring her on a long walk and that speeds up the process too.

Is that lik going to the shop and asking for some sky hooks

:D

Ticktactoe · 02-02-2010 2:10pm

adne wrote: »

Is that lik going to the shop and asking for some sky hooks :D

LOL!
Sure put a bridal on her and bring her out for a stroll!

If you have a long pathway leading to a shed or around a field, they say it works!

whelan1 · 02-02-2010 2:15pm

bring her for a bumpy ride or give her an extra hot curry:D:D

Ticktactoe · 02-02-2010 2:24pm

whelan1 wrote: »

bring her for a bumpy ride or give her an extra hot curry:D:D

And if shes scrubbing her shed in the middle of the night shes not far away. Plus if she gets hormonal and starts throwing looks she could calve very soon!

pakalasa · 07-02-2010 10:03pm

Well, did she calve?

adne · 10-02-2010 4:00pm

pakalasa wrote: »

Well, did she calve?

Big LM Heifer Calve yesterday...... bit of a pull but all is grand...

Ticktactoe · 10-02-2010 5:13pm

adne wrote: »

Big LM Heifer Calve yesterday...... bit of a pull but all is grand...

Not suprised about the pull, she was well overdue!

pakalasa · 10-02-2010 7:39pm

Thats 313 days, or 23 days over the normal 290. She must have repeated when AI'd. The last guy just didn't bother showing you the repeat docket.

Still dishonest on his part....I guess you can't prove anything though.

adne · 10-02-2010 8:17pm

pakalasa wrote: »

Thats 313 days, or 23 days over the normal 290. She must have repeated when AI'd. The last guy just didn't bother showing you the repeat docket.

Still dishonest on his part....I guess you can't prove anything though.

My thoughts as well, she must have repeated and he either lost the repeat doc or forgot about it

whelan1 · 10-02-2010 8:20pm

at least you have a live calf

wiggy123 · 11-02-2010 11:13am

so had the heifer a gd udder when she calved--plenty of milk for the calf

snowman707 · 11-02-2010 12:39pm

pakalasa wrote: »

Thats 313 days, or 23 days over the normal 290. She must have repeated when AI'd. The last guy just didn't bother showing you the repeat docket.

Still dishonest on his part....I guess you can't prove anything though.

wouldn't go accusing any one of dishonesty, cows carrying to our lm. stock bull always go well over 300 days, hard calver but produces fine cattle

adne · 11-02-2010 2:26pm

whelan1 wrote: »

at least you have a live calf

my thoughts exactly... all is well that ends well

adne · 11-02-2010 2:26pm

wiggy123 wrote: »

so had the heifer a gd udder when she calved--plenty of milk for the calf

She sprang up well in the last day..she doesn't have a whole pile of milk but enough to suffice

wiggy123 · 11-02-2010 2:28pm

she'll do find...keep calf going away,till out to grass

tismesoitis · 12-02-2010 9:48am

pakalasa wrote: »

Thats 313 days, or 23 days over the normal 290. She must have repeated when AI'd. The last guy just didn't bother showing you the repeat docket.

Still dishonest on his part....I guess you can't prove anything though.

in our experience 23 days over is not unusual with limousins! we do all our own ai so we know dates are 100%. on average we find the lims carry about 7-8 days longer than the blues. when u consider that the weanlings put on an average of 1.4 kgs a day just b4 sale and value at 2 euro per kg this means the 7 or 8 day delay costs us around 20 euro per head.....adds up when u have big numbers!! any glad she calved and all ok

Incalf Heifer

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