The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Cattle => Topic started by: trish.farm on February 11, 2015, 09:02:46 am
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Before I start, no, I didn't get my girls PD'd, will do next year!!
3 girls AI last year, boiling hot day and AI man very negative that they would take.
3 weeks later 2 are bulling, AI man back, checked all 3, reckoned the one not bulling had taken the 1st time and AI'd the other 2 again, but said that Daisy (who had calves at foot) was quite tight (???).
Delilah obviously does not take AI'ing and either needs a real man or will never take.
Agnes (heifer) he thinks took on the 1st AI and is due on April 18th. She has showed no signs of bulling since AI'ing. Fingers crossed she is in calf but no signs of bagging up and looks the same shape as last year!!
Daisy has showed signs of bulling since both AI visits. She was weaned from babies in Nov. Assumed she was not in calf but she looks decidedly pregnant and her bag (which has only just gone totally floppy from weaning) is starting to bag up again!! if she took on the first AI she would be due 18 april or 9 may from 2nd AI.
If she was caught on the 1st AI, surely the 2nd AI would have buggered that up??
I suppose its just a wait and see!!!!
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It's probably not ideal timing but can't your vet scan them? Or your sheep scanner (ours does sheep and cattle).
Our Bonnie calved on Monday unexpectedly - she didn't look pregnant and didn't bag up until in labour - so you don't always get much notice :)
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Firstly, no, subsequent AIs will not mess up any previous AI which held - unless you are using hormonal interventions, in which case I don't know.
Secondly, these are Jerseys, I think? Two of my Jerseys are due 16th March and 22nd March, and neither are really bagging up yet. Just about to start, I think.
I think Jerseys start to bag up a lot sooner when they're heifers - as a calving heifer, Hillie had us on the watch over 4 weeks (we didn't have a confirmed date, just a 'not before'), and had had a bit of a bag for nearly 3 months before she calved!
Our suckler cows often show little bag - we've one at the moment, she's a British Blue cross, 1/4 dairy and 1/4 Angus. She has no bag to speak of, but she's clearly giving plenty of milk. Mostly the half-dairy ones do show a bag (sometimes too large for one calf so we have to get set-ons to use up the excess milk) but often the 1/4 and 1/8 dairies appear to have little bag - but they all rear fine calves.
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Don't really want to go to the expense of scanning. It is why I didn't get them PD'd. My vet is so expensive for visits that I will do anything to avoid one!!
Yep Sally they are Jerseys :cow: :love:. Will keep my fingers and toes crossed that they both pop something out in April. Daisy started bagging up 2 months before calving last year, it was her first calf, which was why I expected to see some movement from Agnes around now as this will be her first. Agnes is very fat though, daisy has pointy hip bones and Agnes has round fat ones!! Daisy never picked up much after weaning last year, looking ok now but nothing like the other two. Bit worried that Agnes is going to struggle calving as she is so fat!!
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What about a sheep scanner then? Ours does both and she's not expensive. At least you would know what to expect.
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Or presumeably someone who knows what they're doing with a stethoscope? Wouldn't there be two heartbeats?
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ooh, got a good friend who is a doctor, maybe she can try out her stethoscope skills on the girls?!!! She is gonna love me!!! :roflanim:
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ooh, got a good friend who is a doctor, maybe she can try out her stethoscope skills on the girls?!!! She is gonna love me!!! :roflanim:
That's what being friends with a smallholder is all about - tell her it's CPD about developing transferable skills ;D
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If you can hear two heartbeats you are very skilled indeed vs. the skill required to feel a calf of that size with your arm...
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I'm not aware of it being possible to hear a calf heartbeat with a stethoscope, it's certainly not in my lectures!
I'd advise either taking a wait and see approach or get them PD'd by someone who knows what they're doing :)
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Or presumeably someone who knows what they're doing with a stethoscope? Wouldn't there be two heartbeats?
Sally, there's no way anyone could hear heartbeats in a cow's belly with the ruckus the rumen and guts make!! :roflanim:
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Spoke to a friend of mine who is a GP about it. She looked slighty concerned and asked me if the pressure of my work was getting to me and was I drinking too much vodka!!!! :roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim: