cow puzzler

[gwithrow]

we have 4 cows, one heifer.....the others are cows,the oldest of which is 5..all have had successful calves....they are in good condition and all eating and happy...they had calves last fall, in Oct...raised them and were exposed to a bull in late Dec, ....Jan Feb and into Mar...til the 10th....the heifer had her calf on Oct 10th...nice bull calf, now a steer....she was probably bred right after the bull arrived here.....after the bull left, I have not observed any 'heat' behavior.....so where are the calves?????.....not a sign of any, no enlarged udders.....one is filled out looking, the other two just look like they are well fed, and shiney...they were wormed in Oct. they are large cows, simmental/angus.....I talk to these cows twice a day, I feel pretty certain I would not have missed a miscarriage.....we had two other cows that looked pregnant, but were sold earlier this fall, so I have no knowledge of the outcomes there.....I don't want to get the vet to preg check at this point, but how long should I wait before I get concerned......could something have happened to this bull after he bred the heifer?????....as far as I know he had a great track record, and like I said the one calf we have is very nice....any thoughts here? should I have a vet look at them before bringing another bull here..?????

[ksfarmer]

A bull can go bad at any time, due to injury or other causes. If you don't have the bull anymore, you can't test him. Any cows he bred should have calved by now or , at the latest, should be very close and showing signs. I would have a vet palpitate the cows and find out for sure what's going on. No reason not to have a vet preg check.

[agmantoo]

gwithrow
Can you post a straight on rear pic of the cows?

[gwithrow]

yes, son will go over shortly and take one...but what we see is regular, non preg udder.....slightly wrinkled and slightly swollen under tail area....very slightly...I am still holding out hope that at least two of the three will come thru...but if the bull failed, then I want to rule out other issues and rebreed...stay tuned for pic....

[gwithrow]

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[gwithrow]

this is a pic of the older cow, bad pic as she was getting ready to poop....but there is a small string of mucus...

[gwithrow]

this is a pic of the cow that looks biggest and most like she might drop one..

[gwithrow]

deleted

[agmantoo]

The cow with the mucus plug will calve within 30 days, probably sooner. Here is a straight on rear pic of a cow that will calve shortly. Notice the bulge on her right side and the way the hips are starting to drop on the top side.

This cow calved recently and the bulge is obviously gone and the hips are nearly back in shape

[gwithrow]

well mucus cow bulges for sure, will look this AM for the others....I guess son thought you wanted a little closer view than just the overall...I just hope they can pick a time when we are not getting so much rain...have you lost calves that got too cold and wet?

[agmantoo]

I lost 2 calves somewhat indirectly to the rain but more directly to the negligence of the dairy farmer neighbor. His lagoon is adjacent to a spring that flows from his place to mine. His lagoon was leaking into the stream and the bacteria filled water was being consumed by the calves. The main herd was drinking above the contamination. When I found the calves, both the same age, they were down and were still downstream near the water source. Neither appeared strong enough to recover and I put them down, then moved the herd to the far side of the farm. The calves born since then are surviving the weather just fine. The neighbor was contacted and he has supposedly remedied the situation. The water now coming onto my place is clear again but I will monitor the situation more closely in the future.
PS....possibly the bull sires small birth weight calves and it is just not obvious. Most of my cows breed back within two months after calving but not always. If you have not seen the cows riding each other I would think that they will calve.

[gwithrow]

update, great vet came out today...as we suspected one more will calve...sometime....forget the calendar....and the other two are open....a good reasonable vet is worth his weight in gold....we will bring a bull out in the spring so all can be on the same program....we have a heifer than needs to wait a couple of months before breeding...this time we will try for a younger more 'able' bull....

[genebo]

There is a blood test for pregnancy that is very cheap. It costs the vet about $2.50. He may charge you $6.00. It isn't invasive like palpitating, is more accurate and can be done earlier. No need to wait 45 days.

Genebo
Paradise Farm