Good news -- both my cows are pregnant!

willow_girl · #1 01/19/05, 01:24 PM

Had Doc out today, and as it turns out, Teeny and Twister both are in the family way!

They were AI'ed in September, so their calves will be due the end of July.

Twist has a history of fertility problems (it was why she was culled from the dairy where I work) and was cystic when I bought her. To get her settled on the first attempt was beyond my wildest expectations!

dosthouhavemilk · #2 01/19/05, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willow_girl

Had Doc out today, and as it turns out, Teeny and Twister both are in the family way!

They were AI'ed in September, so their calves will be due the end of July.

Twist has a history of fertility problems (it was why she was culled from the dairy where I work) and was cystic when I bought her. To get her settled on the first attempt was beyond my wildest expectations!

Many congrats! Wasn't one of these pregnancies a result of your first time AIing?

willow_girl · #3 01/19/05, 03:26 PM

Yes it was!

So kind of you to remember.

I have been on Cloud 9 all day long!

Now the challenge is to get a healthy calf out of Twist. My boss bought her as a first-calf heifer. (She actually came up from Georgia ... he paid $2500 for her. She is registered and he says she has a full brother in the AI program!) But both her calves born on his farm were bulls, and both were stillborn.

I don't know the exact circumstances ... whether they came in the winter and froze, or ??????

I'm glad she will be calving in midsummer. It will at least reduce the risks somewhat ...

Teeny didn't clean right with her first calf, so I could have problems with her, too.

You can bet I will be keeping an eagle eye on them!

Jim in MO · #4 01/19/05, 03:27 PM

Congratulations Willowgirl!! That's great news about Twister. Good save on your part.

willow_girl · #5 01/19/05, 03:55 PM

Well it was a risk, Jim, and we're not out of the water yet, but maybe my big girl will end up earning her keep around here!

She will make 100# a day when she freshens (or at least she did last time!). We're going to be drowning in milk here!

Wanda · #6 01/19/05, 04:02 PM

Willow
I know you give your animals good care but you need to make sure they have a good ''loose'' mineral formulated for your area. With birthing prob. and retained placentas make sure they are getting the proper amount of selinium!!!! Sometimes it is the small things that make a big diferance.
Mr Wanda
Mike

willow_girl · #7 01/19/05, 04:21 PM

Yes I had read about the connection between selenium deficiency and retained placenta, and yes our soil here is deficient!

I have always had a mineral block out for the girls, but I've been thinking of getting them a tub ... Mark has these big washtub-sized ones at the farm and the cows just go NUTS over them! I guess they're $80 a pop, but nothing is too good for my mommas! Ha!

Christina R. · #8 01/19/05, 08:47 PM

What a coincidence, it was just this morning I was thinking of Twister and you and wondering if she was pregnant. It was on my mental list of things to do.... post a note to you to ask. I'm rooting for a great outcome for both of your girls.

Haggis · #9 01/20/05, 01:11 PM

Conrats on the good news!

A young cow and 100# a day? :worship:

My Jersey Lucy, who just freshened, is giving about 6 plus gallons a day, I don't know what we would do with 12 gallons of milk from a single cow.

We're just milking Dorsey once a day now for her 2 to 2 1/2 gallons. Dorsey is due to freshen again in April so we'll be drying her off in a couple of weeks, and she only gave 5 gallons a day last summer at the peak of her production.

One of our Milking Devons, Daisy, is due to freshen with her first calf in June, but I don't expect 100# a day from her; more like 20# if that much.

It is sure great to hear your good news after your sad loss earlier.

dosthouhavemilk · #10 01/20/05, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willow_girl

Now the challenge is to get a healthy calf out of Twist. My boss bought her as a first-calf heifer. (She actually came up from Georgia ... he paid $2500 for her. She is registered and he says she has a full brother in the AI program!) But both her calves born on his farm were bulls, and both were stillborn.

I don't know the exact circumstances ... whether they came in the winter and froze, or ??????

Sandy has had some trouble in the calving department as well. Her first time calving the Angus clean-up bull decided she was old enough (we disagreed but had some trouble keeping them seperated) so she calved a bit younger than two years and had a dead bull calf. Next time around she settled to our half Jersey, half Norwegian Red bull...well this time she had a twisted uterus and by the time the vet was called and came out the bull calf was already dead. We held our breath last year about the time she was due and lo and behold she ahd a live calf and knew exactly what to do with it! Bull calf of course.

She is due again on April 23 so we will hope for a heifer calf this time. We lost her dam and she was one of our favorite cows with Sandy being her only daughter.

Also to help them along with cleaning you know to offer them as much warm water as they will drink after calving right? And milking them shortly after birth..even if it just to garantee that new babe gets their full bottle of colostrum in the first few hours.
The selenium sees to be a big deal as well. We had our first retained placenta in goats in years this year. Couldn't believe it as they usually clean very quickly.

dosthouhavemilk · #11 01/20/05, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haggis

Conrats on the good news!

A young cow and 100# a day? :worship:

My Jersey Lucy, who just freshened, is giving about 6 plus gallons a day, I don't know what we would do with 12 gallons of milk from a single cow.

We're just milking Dorsey once a day now for her 2 to 2 1/2 gallons. Dorsey is due to freshen again in April so we'll be drying her off in a couple of weeks, and she only gave 5 gallons a day last summer at the peak of her production.

One of our Milking Devons, Daisy, is due to freshen with her first calf in June, but I don't expect 100# a day from her; more like 20# if that much.

It is sure great to hear your good news after your sad loss earlier.

Our four year, second lactation half Jersey, half Norwegian Red cow, Slicker was giving 90 pounds of milk a day at her peak. Her half sister on sire's side, Ilse, who is on her third lactation (they are only three days apart in age) is producing around 60 pounds out of her two hind quarters (the front two are blind). OUr crosses are shaping up very nicely. Elisif (3/4 J, 1/4 N.R.) who has been milking since 12/2 and is two and a half gave 30 pounds of milk on test day (that puts her at 60 pounds a day).

I think machine milking them helps to encourage production. If you hand milk an animal you lose those precious minutes when let down is at its peak. But if you are hand milking, you generally don't need a whole lot either.

I am going to be hand milking our goats this year and I can tell that only four of them is going to be a handful.

willow_girl · #12 01/20/05, 07:08 PM

Haggis, if all goes well I'm going to try raising a couple deacon calves on the extra milk!

Plus there is the pig, the cats, the dogs and the neighbors ... ha!

If I can raise an extra 4 calves to weaning here each year, I think these girls will pretty much earn their keep ... Of course that's not the overriding priority, but I try to recoup what I can.

Oddly enough, Twist never milked out well on the machine.

Her teats are very large and 'squishy'. We always had to strip her out afterwards. I don't think the night milker was always conscientious about this (we had a really flaky gal working there for awhile, Mark finally fired her) and Twist had a couple bad bouts with mastitis in one of her front teats. On the plus side, she's super-easy to strip by hand (one of the reasons I bought her, because I thought she'd be real good for hand-milking), if I can just find a way to restrain her! She is too smart to go into a stanchion ... sigh! (Also she is very big, and I can't get the stanchion closed around her neck very easily!) I'm thinking if I can get a halter on her, I'll tie her to the big tree in the pasture when it's milking time.

Twist is so timid and fearful, though ... I thought she might come around to trusting us after awhile here ... she WILL sniff and lick my hand now through the fence, but that's about the extent of it! It makes me sad ... I wouldn't hurt her for the world!

Teeny will go into a stanchion without any problem ... she is not fearful ... belligerent, maybe, but not fearful!

It will be interesting to see if she will stand for milking next time around. (Remember she was culled for being kicky!) I think nursing the steer helped to desensitize her, though ... (that was the plan). She doesn't have a huge udder; if she will take a foster calf in addition to her own I may call it good and just let her be a momma. They're both slated to freshen at the same time, so there should be more than enough milk ...

For those of you who haven't seen this pic before

Twist is the black cow on the left and Teeny is the white one on the right:

Good news -- both my cows are pregnant! - Cattle

dosthouhavemilk · #13 01/20/05, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willow_girl

Haggis, if all goes well I'm going to try raising a couple deacon calves on the extra milk!

Plus there is the pig, the cats, the dogs and the neighbors ... ha!

If I can raise an extra 4 calves to weaning here each year, I think these girls will pretty much earn their keep ... Of course that's not the overriding priority, but I try to recoup what I can.

Oddly enough, Twist never milked out well on the machine.

Her teats are very large and 'squishy'. We always had to strip her out afterwards. I don't think the night milker was always conscientious about this (we had a really flaky gal working there for awhile, Mark finally fired her) and Twist had a couple bad bouts with mastitis in one of her front teats. On the plus side, she's super-easy to strip by hand (one of the reasons I bought her, because I thought she'd be real good for hand-milking), if I can just find a way to restrain her! She is too smart to go into a stanchion ... sigh! (Also she is very big, and I can't get the stanchion closed around her neck very easily!) I'm thinking if I can get a halter on her, I'll tie her to the big tree in the pasture when it's milking time.

Twist is so timid and fearful, though ... I thought she might come around to trusting us after awhile here ... she WILL sniff and lick my hand now through the fence, but that's about the extent of it! It makes me sad ... I wouldn't hurt her for the world!

Teeny will go into a stanchion without any problem ... she is not fearful ... belligerent, maybe, but not fearful!

It will be interesting to see if she will stand for milking next time around. (Remember she was culled for being kicky!) I think nursing the steer helped to desensitize her, though ... (that was the plan). She doesn't have a huge udder; if she will take a foster calf in addition to her own I may call it good and just let her be a momma. They're both slated to freshen at the same time, so there should be more than enough milk ...

For those of you who haven't seen this pic before

Twist is the black cow on the left and Teeny is the white one on the right:

Good news -- both my cows are pregnant! - Cattle

Sounds like she does have good teats for hand milking as opposed to machine. Ollie is like that. She has these huge beautiful teats and was on the cull list because she wouldn't stand for AIing anymore. She is the biggest baby. Moos when you wash her and just a sweety. I found her a new home in MO. She is currently at our place being bred by our bull. I fought long and hard to get her a home and she deserves it. Only seven years old but looks younger and on her sixth lactation. If I needed a hand milker she would have been my first pick. I also have another cow from the school farm that I found a home for. A four year old first lactation animal milking over a year and not settled. She had looong heats and so the AIing wasn't taking. Brought her over here and Jason settled her first heat and he was only 11 months old then (settled his first animal at 9 months).
Being pushy can be a good thing or a bad thing. We have been bringing in a couple of flighty first calf hefiers and keep them in before they are due to freshen just to get them calmed down. We have one, Elisif, who has been in the barn since 11/31/04. We are too scared to let her outside when the weather has been nice enough for most of the otehrs to go out. She is very flighty but has calmed down considerably since being in the barn around us all the time.

I tend to end up breaking show heifers in by tieing them and spending a lot of time during the day with them. It gets them used to the halter and they tend to be more cooperative afterwards. Give me a heifer who ahs been to the fair anyday. They are sooo much easier to catch and move than those that haven't.

edited to add: Another thing about the not milking out with a machine is if her teats were large and squishy it is quite likely they stretched and would block the end of the teat cup, not allowing the milk to come out...which is why dairy cows are bred for such short teats nowadays.

Wanda · #14 01/20/05, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willow_girl

Yes I had read about the connection between selenium deficiency and retained placenta, and yes our soil here is deficient!

I have always had a mineral block out for the girls, but I've been thinking of getting them a tub ... Mark has these big washtub-sized ones at the farm and the cows just go NUTS over them! I guess they're $80 a pop, but nothing is too good for my mommas! Ha!

Willow
A cow can not lick enough mineral from a block to meet there needs. The loose mineral is a dry granual that comes in 50# bags. You need to put them out in a pan or covered feeder, the tubs at the feed store are protien tubs which you do not need with good hay or the cows will be to fat to calve easily.If they are a little thin give them a bit of grain to help them along at make them glad to see you and a bucket

Mr Wanda
Mike