Am I safe to assume she is not bred??

[Jackie]

I am fairly new to this cow thing. I was given two heifers last January and I picked them up from the breeder over the summer when she told me they were bred. She said they were in with the bull for a while and should both be bred. Well they are both supposed to be due the end of March. Well today the older one was sorta bloody on her behind. Does this mean she is in heat? Neither one looks bred to me.

[agmantoo]

What age and weight were the 2 heifers back in January when you picked them up?

[WhistlingWoman]

It doesn't sound good. Usually a heifer or cow exhibits some sign that she's in heat...bawling and pacing, tolerating being ridden by another bovine (male or female) but some are harder to detect than others. The blood shows up a couple of days later. You can't really tell for sure by how they look. I had a heifer that I was sure was pregnant. Nope. Just fat. If you aren't timid about drawing blood, you can send a sample to Biotrack and they'll be able to tell you pretty quickly. Otherwise, the vet or some more experienced cow person can check manually. Be sure to mark the date you saw the blood on the calendar so that you can predict her next cycle if you want to AI her.

[Jackie]

Originally Posted by agmantoo

What age and weight were the 2 heifers back in January when you picked them up?

My man bought them for me in January for my birthday, but they never left the breeders place until I picked them up the end of June. The smaller one turned a year in June. She is registered Dexter. The older one actually had a calf last march at the breeders but it died. She will be three in a few months. She is 1/4 angus - 3/4 dexter. I posted pictures and info and stuff about them before on here but I imagine those posts are long gone.

Weight? I don't know.

[Jackie]

Originally Posted by WhistlingWoman

It doesn't sound good. Usually a heifer or cow exhibits some sign that she's in heat...bawling and pacing, tolerating being ridden by another bovine (male or female) but some are harder to detect than others. The blood shows up a couple of days later. You can't really tell for sure by how they look. I had a heifer that I was sure was pregnant. Nope. Just fat. If you aren't timid about drawing blood, you can send a sample to Biotrack and they'll be able to tell you pretty quickly. Otherwise, the vet or some more experienced cow person can check manually. Be sure to mark the date you saw the blood on the calendar so that you can predict her next cycle if you want to AI her.

I was thinking about getting them preg checked (if I could build a chute of some sort), but they are just dexters and my vet has big arms. The smaller one is barley taller than my waist. I had no idea I could draw blood and tell that way. I have no problem with that if I could do it. I vaccinate my own horses/dogs. Unfortunately, we were supposed to be more set up than we are right now. We just bought a quarter section of land less than a year ago and it's not easy with my man only being home 5 days a month. We have no corrals, no chutes, no cross fences. Nothing. I was actually planning on boarding them out for the last half of winter and spring so that the calves will have a proper shelter and I can catch the heifers if I need to durning calving. I suppose if i could catch them and draw some blood I could tell if I needed to bother moving them or not. I hope I am making some sense...

[Chixarecute]

If you are able to contain them & have a vet manual check (don't worry about size of arm, it can't be bigger than a calf), be sure to ask him about the size of the younger heifer for time of calving. If she was just a year in June, and already bred, she may have a difficult time calving. 14-15 mos is a good age for breeding, they have a little more growth on them. It is also hard nutritionally to do a lot of growing and grow a calf from such a young age.

[matt_man]

The younger one was way too young to be in with a bull between January and June of this year if she did just turn a year in June. I would be hoping that she isn't bred if I were you.

As for the older one, if you saw some bloody discharge on the tail, she probably was in heat 2 days prior.

[Jackie]

Originally Posted by matt_man

The younger one was way too young to be in with a bull between January and June of this year if she did just turn a year in June. I would be hoping that she isn't bred if I were you.

As for the older one, if you saw some bloody discharge on the tail, she probably was in heat 2 days prior.

She was only in with the bull for a couple weeks before I picked her up and the bull was about the same size as her. Breeding them when they turn a year old is normal, is it not? I don't know much about it.

[Jackie]

Originally Posted by Chixarecute

If you are able to contain them & have a vet manual check (don't worry about size of arm, it can't be bigger than a calf), be sure to ask him about the size of the younger heifer for time of calving. If she was just a year in June, and already bred, she may have a difficult time calving. 14-15 mos is a good age for breeding, they have a little more growth on them. It is also hard nutritionally to do a lot of growing and grow a calf from such a young age.

She was probably close to 13 months. She was born the start of June and I picked her up the very end of June if I remember correctly.....actually..come to think of it, I think I picked them up in July....Cause my man broke up with me the very day I got them home and that was actually July. I had a pretty bad summer so everything is all mixed up in my head. I know I picked them up within a couple days of the breeder calling me and telling me that she saw them get bred.

[sammyd]

(don't worry about size of arm, it can't be bigger than a calf)

What does calf size have to do with it, the arm doesn't go there........

13 months..good age to breed sounds like this one isn't though.
mark the calendar and watch for the next cycle.

[Jackie]

Originally Posted by sammyd

What does calf size have to do with it, the arm doesn't go there........

13 months..good age to breed sounds like this one isn't though.
mark the calendar and watch for the next cycle.

It's actually the almost 3 year old that was cycling. When do they do it again?

[Chixarecute]

Can we agree that the rectum (where the arm is inserted for a pg check) stretches as well as the birth canal, and that the vet's arm isn't any bigger than a calf would be at birthing.

Now, on thinking about my previous statement, the BONE structure around the tailhead & rectum could prevent much access. But, if Jackie can get the heifers contained, the vet could do a blood draw, too.

[Madsaw]

I have seen cows have discharge that contains a little amount of blood months before they calf. Just something I never asked the vet about. I am not talking alot just some in mucus that get smeared around with the tail. When a cows goes through a cycle the blood they express is a bright red at first. I would just keep a eye on her in 3 weeks and see if she is behaving like she is in heat. Riding the other heifer mooing excessivly and such.
Bob

[agmantoo]

15 months of age is a more appropriate age for breeding a heifer, that plus weight. Weight should be at breeding about 70 percentage of the expected adult weight.

[Mark T]

I agree that breeding at 12 months is too young. You want them to calve on their second birthday or therebouts. Some dairymen who feed grain to put on size quickly will breed the smaller breeds at 13 months to calve at 22 months - but they only breed if they are 65% of their mature weight.

I'd be concerned about the breeder selling you a cow whose first calf died - it may be innocent, but you want to go for animals that raise a calf a year every year. She is batting zero right now - here's hoping it was a fluke.

[matt_man]

I personally was hoping that the older cow's first calf didn't die because he has the habit of breeding his heifers way before they are actually mature enough. Breeding the animals too early could damage them reproductively for their whole lives.

15 months is the ideal age for a first breeding. Watch the older one in three weeks and see if she acts goofy and if you see any more blood smears on her tail. A little blood mixed in with some thick opaque mucus might still mean a pregnancy but bright red blood smeared on the tail is probably a sign she had been in heat a couple days prior.

[Jackie]

Originally Posted by Mark T

I agree that breeding at 12 months is too young. You want them to calve on their second birthday or therebouts. Some dairymen who feed grain to put on size quickly will breed the smaller breeds at 13 months to calve at 22 months - but they only breed if they are 65% of their mature weight.

I'd be concerned about the breeder selling you a cow whose first calf died - it may be innocent, but you want to go for animals that raise a calf a year every year. She is batting zero right now - here's hoping it was a fluke.

I actually owned her when she calved for the first time but the breeder was calving her out for me. She checked her at 5am, no calf. Checked her again at 6am and she had had the calf in a snowbank and it was froze. No ones fault really. No one was expecting there to be a late march snow storm. When we bought her it was January and she was due to calve in March. Because the calf died she said she would keep both heifers back and try to get them both bred for me.

The breeder DID ask me if I wanted to butcher the older one since she lost her first calf, but I decided she deserved a second chance.