Our 7 (almost 8) year old Jersey milk cow, Ellie-Mae, is due to calf around August 19th. We witnessed the mating to our neighbors' dairy bull. This is her 6th calf. We had her pregnancy verified by our vet. We're planning to dry her off around the 1st of June.
Her belly is quite large now and we've noticed some softening up and slight swelling of the vulva area already. We see no difference in her udder at all, but then, she's still being milked.
She's eating and drinking well and is normally active. Off and on throughout the pregnancy she has shown some mucus stringing off her vulva. (This is why we had the vet out to preg. check her as we though perhaps she was actually in heat). After the first trimester, the mucus pretty much stopped showing. Now, 2 months out from her due date, we noticed a large bubble of mucus (about the size of a quarter or a little larger) hanging off a 6" string of mucus. It hung on all throughout her milking and fell off onto the floor when we turned her loose from the stantion. It was clear/slightly cloudy mucus. No blood.
My question is, is this type of mucus show 2 months out from the due date normal for some cows? I'd never seen this in any of our other cattle, but perhaps I just wasn't there at the right time to see it in any of them. Ellie is also a bit older and has had more calves than we're used to. She's in excellent condition for her age. What do you all think? Should I be concerned, or just relax?
Here she is last fall around the day of her breeding.
