How close to calving??

[Shades of Gray]

This is Mabeline. We bought her in August already bred to a holstein. This is her first calf so I'm worried that the sucker is going to be too big. The guy we got her from couldn't give us a definite calving date, but said he was sure it would come before Christmas.
Well i've noticed especially the last two days that she is definitely starting to bag up, she has had a somewhat large udder ever since we've had her, maybe half the size it is now. So I'm wanting to get every ones opinion on this. Are we thinking days? Weeks?
I've also noticed a small swelling today where her navel would be, just ahead of her udder. Is this Edema? Is this gonna get worse? Or what else do you think it might be? I felt it and it's squishy.
Here are a few pics from today.

http://s770.photobucket.com/albums/x..._picture-3.jpg
http://s770.photobucket.com/albums/x..._picture-1.jpg
http://s770.photobucket.com/albums/x...ms_picture.jpg

[springvalley]

Yep she could have a calf before Christmas, hard to tell with a heifer. She looks normal, nothing unusual, watch for a discharge before she calves. You could check and see if she has any colostrum yet. My guess is a calf within two weeks, is your heifer a jersey or jersey cross? Did the farm you got her from cut off her tail? > Thanks Marc

[Shades of Gray]

She is pure Jersey, when we got her in Aug. the guy said she was almost two. I don't know how long he had her before we got her but she came to him with a butched tail. There are so many around her like that now, hard to find a breedable heifer calf with a tail if it came from a dairy.
We just moved her into the barn yesterday so she would have some time to adjust.

[Shades of Gray]

The lump under her belly was gone tonight.

[springvalley]

yep, get her in the barn and mess with her rub her belly and udder. Kill her with kindness, don`t over feed her now. The lump I`m sure was edema and will probly come back. > Thanks Marc

[Shades of Gray]

I HEARD THE HEART BEAT TONIGHT!! :banana02:
I put my ear to her belly just under her flank, and there it was, loud and strong!!
Just wondering when I do see "goo" how much longer should she have? I need to know when I should be getting up in the middle of the night to check on her. I'm so excited, I'm seriously considering sleeping in the barn and just throwing a sleeping bag on the goat stand until she calves.

[springvalley]

OH My GOODNESS, snow and cold, say it ain`t so, that is a nice looking heifer, make sure she has that baby in the barn. > Thanks Marc

[Shades of Gray]

The wind was really howling today so we have some deep drifts, busted through a couple thigh deep ones while feeding. The rest of the week is just getting worse from here, Wednesday and Thursday is supposed to be a high of 8 and low of -6. Her little outside pen is just three 16ft. cow panels with the barn being the back, so she can go inside when she wants to get out of the wind and snuggle down in the straw.

that is a nice looking heifer,

Thank you for saying so! She is our first milk cow and is really friendly and mellow, she even let my little sister sit on her this summer, we were really lucky to find her.

[Calfkeeper]

Awww...she's lovely. It's great that she's already so tame.

You'd asked about "goo." It's really hard to gauge when she'll calve just going by the mucus plug loss. Sometimes it's several days, sometimes it's hours. In a heifer I'd guess it to be several days. But usually a good sign is she will try to get off by herself. Just keep your eye out, you'll see her in discomfort and be able to guess.

[Tom in TN]

Shades of Gray,

I don't know anything about Jersey cows - I raise black Angus. On my Angus cows (including springing heifers), I look for four things:

1. Release of the mucus plug
2. Swelling of the vulva
3. Filling of the udder
4. Voluntary isolation from the herd

The timing, however, is really hard to predict. Sometimes all four of those conditions exist, and it ends up being days (up to two weeks) before the cow calves. Sometimes they calve before all four conditions exist simultaneously.

When I see one or more of the indications, I move the cow to a small pasture directly behind my barn. I check on the cow frequently. I had one cow mal-present her calf a while back so I moved her into the loading chute (head catch) and assisted the delivery.

Good luck with your cow. Please let us know when she calves.

Tom in TN

[Shades of Gray]

Thanks Tom, her udder is filling, the two front quarters are swelling pretty fast. Her vulva is longer than it used to be, but to me it doesn't look to be swollen. And her edema lump was back again today.
She had what I'm guessing to be a knee or hoof or something pushing out from her side today, and when I pushed on it the little sucker started squirming around in there!
I will definitely let everyone know when she calves, and with lots of pictures! I'm having a rather difficult time not posting a new picture of her on here everyday!

[Shades of Gray]

Well I never saw the mucus plug, but OH WELL! Sometime early this morning, she had a little heifer calf no problem. So I guess that made her 10 days out from when I posted the first pictures.

[matt_man]

Congrats! Cute little heifer.

[cjb]

Ahhhh sooooo lucky that it was a heifer! I love spots.

[BlackWillowFarm]

Just read this thread today and see you have a heifer. Congrats! She's darling.