Remember this (is she bred) cow?

[mary,tx]

Stella looked like this in July:



At the time, I thought that if she was bred, she would be due the end of August, first of September, at the latest.

Still, with that time well past, I haven't been able to bring myself to take her into the butcher.

Now she looks like this:



Is this what "springing" looks like, or could she just be fatter yet?
I have not increased her feed ration, and the pastures have not greened up.
I fill a 2 quart pitcher once a day with breeder cubes, and she shares them with two calves, getting maybe a third of that.

She looks to me, for all the world, big and pregnant, but, admittedly, I've thought so for a few months now. If she's not bred, I could use the beef, but I'd hate to take her to the butcher just shy of a calving.

So what do y'all think now? For those of you who thought she was just fat before, does she still just look fat?

thanks for opinions!

mary

[dosthouhavemilk]

She still looks grossly overweight to me.
There are a couple of ways o knowing if she is bred or not. One is to have a vet out to palpate her.
Or for the small cost of $2.25 plus the cost of drawing bloo dna dshipping it, you could send a blood sample off to Biotracking and know in less than a week.

Keep in mind, I don't know beef...I know dairy.

[ozark_jewels]

Well........its never a sure thing just by looking. But if you'll notice her vulva and udder look pretty much the same now as they did three months ago. The bulges on either side of her tail are just fat bulges. Her vulva looks *slightly* fuller possibly but that could easily be due to fat.
I agree with Roseanne, she looks just way fat. But unless you *know* she has gone well past nine months since her last exposure to a bull, I would likely have her preg-checked before I took her to slaughter.
Can you get close enough to "bump" her firmly low down behind the ribs on her right side?? If you can do that, you might be able to feel a calf if she is close. But fat cows are notoriously hard to bump.

[agmantoo]

She appears no more pregnant now than then. Just fatter.

[matt_man]

Just fat, is my opinion. Grossly overweight is more like it. She has absolutely no udder development and I think those are pockets of fat developing around her tail head.

[ksfarmer]

My vote goes for fat, open, dry cow. A vet can stop all the guessing, and tell you for sure.

[francismilker]

By looking at her backside in the "now" picture, I would guess her to be bred until you compare the udder in both pics. Looking closer to the swelling around her vulva, you can notice it in both pics. I'd say not bred and very overweight. She's so fat she might not even breed back. I have been surprised though. Sometimes heifers will make a bag for months before they calve and not spring until the last minute while mature cows will spring for weeks ahead of time and not make a bag until the last minute. I agree with the above posts. Get her preg checked by a vet to know for sure so you can get her exposed to a bull if she isn't ASAP. There's no sense feeding a non producing cow any longer than you have to.

[Lazy J]

Fat, open cow. Ship her!!!

Jim

[ozark_jewels]

An easy solution would be to see if you can line up a butcher appointment and a drop by the vets on the same day. Load her up, stop in at the vets, if she is open take her on to the butcher. If she is pregnant, cancel the butcher and take her home.
The vet should be pretty easy to work with if you bring the cow in, as its only a matter of a couple minutes to preg-check. Our vet charges $5.00 per cow if its just one or a few cows. $2.50 if you have a herd you need checked. Its cheap peace of mind and you can stop feeding an open cow.

[Trisha in WA]

She looks grossly over weight to me, but have her preg checked. It's not worth continuing to feed her if she isn't bred and you don't want to butcher if she is. Just get her checked. Then you won't have to wonder any more.

[milkinpigs]

don't believe she's bred...if she is you should be able to bump her, don't waste money on a vet.

[mary,tx]

Originally Posted by ozark_jewels

An easy solution would be to see if you can line up a butcher appointment and a drop by the vets on the same day. Load her up, stop in at the vets, if she is open take her on to the butcher. If she is pregnant, cancel the butcher and take her home.
The vet should be pretty easy to work with if you bring the cow in, as its only a matter of a couple minutes to preg-check. Our vet charges $5.00 per cow if its just one or a few cows. $2.50 if you have a herd you need checked. Its cheap peace of mind and you can stop feeding an open cow.

That does sound easy, but apart from the fact that the vet and the butcher are a good ways in opposite directions, I don't think the butcher would take kindly to me cancelling at the last minute like that. Last time we called, though, there was about a two month wait, so maybe we should get the appointment lined up while we are waiting to see. I'm just certain her going over the fence was not since my Mom's wreck in February, so another month or so is the very most, I think, that would tell.

I have tried bumping, but aside from the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing, she is not tame enough to stand still for me trying.

Some have mentioned her udder not being developed. It looks perfectly developed to me, though admittedly not full of milk. I've seen the steer check.

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by mary,tx

That does sound easy, but apart from the fact that the vet and the butcher are a good ways in opposite directions, I don't think the butcher would take kindly to me cancelling at the last minute like that.

I guess that depends on your butcher. I have asked mine and he doesn't mind *as long as we call and cancel*. What he does mind is people not calling and just never showing up.

Udder being developed like getting ready to calve, would be fuller, lower, etc. That just looks like a dry cow udder on a cow nowhere near calving. I would expect to see some changes in the udder of a pregnant cow since July.......

[matt_man]

Originally Posted by mary,tx

That does sound easy, but apart from the fact that the vet and the butcher are a good ways in opposite directions, I don't think the butcher would take kindly to me cancelling at the last minute like that. Last time we called, though, there was about a two month wait, so maybe we should get the appointment lined up while we are waiting to see. I'm just certain her going over the fence was not since my Mom's wreck in February, so another month or so is the very most, I think, that would tell.

I have tried bumping, but aside from the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing, she is not tame enough to stand still for me trying.

Some have mentioned her udder not being developed. It looks perfectly developed to me, though admittedly not full of milk. I've seen the steer check.

The udder will begin to deposit fat as well, not just the rest of her. If it doesn't look like an overinflated balloon and full of milk, or getting full, she is nowhere near calving. The udder being full or getting full of milk is what I mean by developed.

She has a saggy, dry cow udder.

[mary,tx]

Well, as it turns out, she is. She is in labor and I have seen hooves. She is not progressing as quickly as I would like, and she doesn't let me get close enough to try to help, so I have come in to leave her be awhile and hope for the best.

If she has this calf alive, I will name it Lucky.

mary

[ozark_jewels]

<whooping with laughter>Just goes to show how wrong just looking at a picture can be!!
I would be concerned about possible problems since she is so fat, I wouldn't let her go too long without checking out the presentation if you don't see progress soon.
Congrats on the preg cow!

[sungirl]

Yes keep a watch on her, all that fat is taking up the room the calf needs to get into the world through.

Now arn't you lucky she kept you guessing long enough to save her from the butcher!
Patty.

[Tiffin]

What a hoot. I can't wait to read the outcome but hope she doesn't have too much trouble. You may have to assist in the birth.

[mary,tx]

Well, he wasn't lucky. I know I should have called the vet sooner (he told me, when he told me he didn't have time to come), but I couldn't imagine that since I couldn't get close enough to her to help that a stranger would be able to.

I'd made the mistake of moving her a pasture away from the barn just a few days ago, but it was surprisingly easy to get her walked up, through two pasture gates, and into the barn.

But even though we saw two front feet and a tongue, she just couldn't get that honking big bull calf out. Finally it took all of my strength and hers combined to get him out past the shoulders. Then she couldn't get the rest of him out. When she tried to stand, his weight pulled her back over. My husband came along and tied a rope around those front legs and pulled them while I pulled below his shoulders while Stella pushed, and she is finally done.

The calf, a beautiful but huge bull calf, was dead. I'm hoping Stella will be okay. She was still laying resting when I came in, so I have to go back and check.

Now, before anyone is tempted to give me any advice about what I did wrong, etc., I will not be putting Stella through this again. She was originally bought as a beef animal, so after she has a few weeks to heal, she will be going to the butcher this time.

Thanks to all for your guesses and advice.

mary

[Lazy J]

Dystocia, a classic symptom of FAT heifers.

Jim