When do bags start?

[mamahen]

My heifer that may be pregnant (gonna try for that blood test), now has a very small bag. It's big enough that you can now see her teats when she is standing. Her teats have also elongated and she feels "full". She should be 4 months along.

Too early to start this? She's just a beef cross (hereford & ?). I can take & load pics tomorrow afternoon.

I've also posted about my doe (goat) is actually making milk. And she's NOT pregnant, not possible. Some thing feed related (new, fresh cut hay and fresh pasture with red clover & lots of other weeds with some regular grass).

What do you think?

[ksfarmer]

I cant tell you a thing about goats. But, your heiffer could be growing bag depending on how old she is. She shouldn't actually be filling yet tho at 4 mo along. Hereford heiffers typically don't make much bag till shortly before calving. I'm watching one that is 8 months along and she still doesn't show much bag.

[Up North]

Two possibles:
A. She is developing fat and hence shows an udder due to lush green early season grazing.
B. Is it at all possible she is in the third trimester of pregnancy?

[mamahen]

No chance she is further along, we had her AI'd. Not sure about the grass. She'll be 3 this year, this is the first time this has happened.

[ksfarmer]

If she is a coming 3 yr old, my bet is she is just fat which is giving you that "full" feel to her bag.

[Kipper]

our cows didn't bag up until just before they calved. Some of them it would be a few weeks, some only days. Also when she's ready to calve, most likely her backside will become quite swollen.

Sounds like what ksfarmer said, she's just fat n happy

[Jennifer L.]

I'd say she's bred. You aren't talking about "bagging up", you're talking about normal udder development. First time calvers have to build the infrastructure of the bag up from scratch, so to speak, and you can see that starting at four or five months. If they are growing well it does look fatty, but you say the length of the teats are starting to be noticeable, too. So I think she's bred.

Jennifer