Heifer soon to calf???

[Laurie J]

Hello! This is my first time posting here on the cattle forum (usually I am over on the sheep forum). We have plenty of experience with our herd of sheep, but this is our first cow, and she is supposed to calf soon. She is a 2 year old Hereford, and she first was with the bull September 30th, so it could be any time. She isn't humungously big, but she is bigger on the left side, has a bit of milk, but not a real full udder. Yesterday she had a slimy strand hanging out the backside, and we thought maybe the calf would come during the night. Any idea how long it could be yet? We are getting tired of checking her every two hours, but it seems like she must be getting fairly close! She's also got a "bulge" in the back when she lies down, that slips back in when she stands up. Anyone got any advice for me??? Thanks!

~Laurie

[agmantoo]

Just be patient is the only advice I can suggest. She obviously did not get bred prior to Oct 15 or she would have calved already.

[myersfarm]

i have seen them get so big in the back that as my wife say's the calf could jump out and play at night and jump back in when the sun came up...lol...any day or any month is my saying but i am sure it's getting close..........if you check on her 4 or 5 times a day like i did when i first got cows...THEY NEVER HAVE THEM.. till you skip a trip out to check and then thats when it will happen........john

[Allan Mistler]

My Angus - also two years old - just delivered her first calf after we experienced the same self doubt over whether or not she actually "took" last fall. We put her out in the pasture with the bull and the other girls at the beginning of September and brought her home in late October. This spring she started with the build up and had us fully convinced we were going to have a calf in June.
Anyway, last week of June she started with the "stringies" and I thought we'd have to breed her again since I'd given up hope on her calving, so I was waiting for her next cycle to happen and... voila! Saturday, after just starting to really bag on Friday, produced a beautiful and healthy heifer calf.

It'll happen - ya' just have to keep the faith!

[twstanley]

Watch for the vulva to get swollen so its protruding and floppy, watch for the udder to fill up with colostrum/milk and watch for mucus to start coming from the vulva. Once you have all of those things happening, it is just wait and see time. I think cows can vary from calf to the next on how long each step takes, just like women having children. Some deliveries are quick, some are slow, some come early, some come late.



One of our cows suprised me this year with how fast she progressed, her vulva got swollen but no mucus so I figured I had a few days to move them up to the pasture close to the barn that I use for calving and expectant cows, I checked them at 5 pm when I got home from work, when I went out around 7 pm to feed she had had her calf.

[GoldenWood Farm]

Not sure about cows but in goats they have what is called a mucus plug and they can loose that anywhere from 4 weeks before delivery right up to a hour before delivery. But the norm in my does is they loose it about 1 week before delivering.

So maybe that was your heifer's mucus plug?

MotherClucker