Post by limigal on Apr 30, 2011 11:48:48 GMT -5
I love this board....be it dairy cattle or beef....ya'll rock! Here's what we are dealing with ourselves.....
4/30/11
The last day of April, and both the red girls are still pregnant . It has been a hard winter and and even longer beginning to Spring. Having lost our only calf to be born last year , we have struggled to get our breeding program off the ground.
GG and Goldie both pure blood registered Limousin show heifers are bred to Black Titan, originally from North Dakota. They were bred in early August 2010 and have had uneventful pregnancies.
Goldie, shown for one year was retired in October 2010 and thus has lost her extra show condition put on by feeding throughout he year. She is a healthy 1200 pounds and we expect her calf to be no bigger than 70 pounds at birth.
GG continued to be shown and has traveled the state of Texas with our 10 year old daughter Rebekah caring for her ;D. She peaked at 1750 pounds. She retired the first week of April 2011 and happily has lost a couple hundred pounds which was just show condition. This should help her delivery of what we expect to be a 90 plus pound calf.
Both girls are in their last days/week or two or pregnancy now, however either could go at any time as we enter their 14 day window today...so all eyes are on the pasture numerous times a day.
Most cattle farmers allow nature to take it's course,...I wish I could do that...... but when you are dealing with show heifers it is a little different. We pray Goldie, the smaller of the two, will calve without issue and we plan to assist her here on the farm if need be. GG on the other hand, due to her value and size...will be loaded onto the trailer and rushed to the vet the moment we know she is in active labor.....our vet is on standby.....
So our days right now consist of taking care of the new show steers, and current show heifers, as well as walks out to the 5 acre nursery pasture to see the girls....they don't mind being checked and stared at....good thing because there is a lot of people on the team monitoring them.
I have been ask....so what do you look for??
Well we look for udder development like most folks.....but some udder up weeks before (GG) and others udder up at the moment of delivery...., the bellies dropping or changing shape...which goes on day and night with these two....so who knows.... discharge from the mommas...which they both have moderate amount of....but none of that will tell you when they are really ready...only one thing will let you know for sure that it is time...when you see feet ...and then we sound the horn.
So we wait and watch...and pray a lot......until next time
Sarah Gosnell
Gosnell Limousins
Gunn Cattle Co.
4/30/11
The last day of April, and both the red girls are still pregnant . It has been a hard winter and and even longer beginning to Spring. Having lost our only calf to be born last year , we have struggled to get our breeding program off the ground.
GG and Goldie both pure blood registered Limousin show heifers are bred to Black Titan, originally from North Dakota. They were bred in early August 2010 and have had uneventful pregnancies.
Goldie, shown for one year was retired in October 2010 and thus has lost her extra show condition put on by feeding throughout he year. She is a healthy 1200 pounds and we expect her calf to be no bigger than 70 pounds at birth.
GG continued to be shown and has traveled the state of Texas with our 10 year old daughter Rebekah caring for her ;D. She peaked at 1750 pounds. She retired the first week of April 2011 and happily has lost a couple hundred pounds which was just show condition. This should help her delivery of what we expect to be a 90 plus pound calf.
Both girls are in their last days/week or two or pregnancy now, however either could go at any time as we enter their 14 day window today...so all eyes are on the pasture numerous times a day.
Most cattle farmers allow nature to take it's course,...I wish I could do that...... but when you are dealing with show heifers it is a little different. We pray Goldie, the smaller of the two, will calve without issue and we plan to assist her here on the farm if need be. GG on the other hand, due to her value and size...will be loaded onto the trailer and rushed to the vet the moment we know she is in active labor.....our vet is on standby.....
So our days right now consist of taking care of the new show steers, and current show heifers, as well as walks out to the 5 acre nursery pasture to see the girls....they don't mind being checked and stared at....good thing because there is a lot of people on the team monitoring them.
I have been ask....so what do you look for??
Well we look for udder development like most folks.....but some udder up weeks before (GG) and others udder up at the moment of delivery...., the bellies dropping or changing shape...which goes on day and night with these two....so who knows.... discharge from the mommas...which they both have moderate amount of....but none of that will tell you when they are really ready...only one thing will let you know for sure that it is time...when you see feet ...and then we sound the horn.
So we wait and watch...and pray a lot......until next time
Sarah Gosnell
Gosnell Limousins
Gunn Cattle Co.