Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Pregnant heifers  (Read 2361 times)

Susannah

  • Joined Sep 2012
  • Pencaitland
Pregnant heifers
« on: April 06, 2013, 11:56:21 am »
Any advice for a first timer, both cows and me! They are due to calve mid June and I was wondering if there were things I should be doing, feeding/not feeding, preparing etc. now.

I wish I had been aware of this forum before buying my three calves! I have made soooo many ignorant mistakes that could so easily have been avoided. In a nut shell mistake no. 1 getting three different breeds (because they had been hand raised together and I didn't have the heart to separate them) no.2 not putting them to a bull soon enough (I thought they had to be fully grown, instead of fully grown when they calf) so the consequence of no2 is that I have ended up with three obese cows! I did manage to find three different bulls for them! I believe I am lucky that two have been scanned in calf although there has been bulling and standing between two of them all winter so time will well what's going on there. They have been on restricted grazing over the winter, to the great concern of my neighbour, which seems crazy given the lack of grass and poaching of the land and I have been giving them late cut hay. They have a mineral lick as well.

If any one has advice for feeding and minerals or anything else I should know in the weeks before calving, I would be very grateful if they could let me know.

Thank you
Jacob sheep, Shetland cows, Pygmy goats, Chinese geese, Khaki Campbell ducks.

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Pregnant heifers
« Reply #1 on: April 06, 2013, 02:24:03 pm »
You don't want them to have too much feed in the last 1/3 of pregnancy because it can lead to a big calf and a difficult birth. However, if a cow is in calf to a bull of its own breed, birth problems are less likley because the calf is the right size for the cow - as opposed to say a big Continental breed bull of a small cow.

Mine are also due to calve mid June and at the moment, with no grass, they are getting hay twice a day and access to Crystalyx Standard buckets. Go on the DEFRA site and download the guide to condition scoring for suckler cows. For summer calving, they should be in 2-2.5.

Mine are a bit thin, so I'll be upping the hay this week but once the grass comes in, they'll fill out. I may invest in a Rumenco Lifeline Pre calver bucket this week too and start them on that when I bring them home.

Susannah

  • Joined Sep 2012
  • Pencaitland
Re: Pregnant heifers
« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2013, 08:27:53 am »
Thank you Rosemary. I will try condition scoring but I don't think mt eyes are deceiving me certainly with the Shetland! The lifeline bucket looks good too. Thank you.
Jacob sheep, Shetland cows, Pygmy goats, Chinese geese, Khaki Campbell ducks.

 

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