Post by Lannie on Nov 19, 2008 17:20:32 GMT -5
I'm SO CONFUSED! My neighbor said right from the beginning I should have two cows, and now I see why. (Well, I DO have two, one is just really little yet. )
I've been trying to track Bandit's heats so I know when to take her to the bull we have arranged. I thought I had it figured out and today she threw a monkey wrench into the works by bleeding. Argh.
It's only been a couple of months since she calved, and Joann says in her book that the first few heat cycles are irregular and might not start up right away, and I guess that's what I'm dealing with. Here's my notes. Can anybody help me figure this out?
9-10 Calving day
9-24 Slight mucous, with a small amount of blood the following day.
10-20 thru 10-22 Hung around at the fence with Joe's bull, refused food (a first!), fussed at milking time, milk amount reduced by about half.
10-23 Slight blood show, but not much. Letdown better, attitude better.
10-30 No change in attitude or milk amount, but I noticed blood on her tail, but it was dry. At the time I assumed it was blood from the week previous that I just hadn't noticed before.
11-10 Found some blood on the snow, but none on Bandit, so I don't know if it was her or someone bit her tongue or something. Maybe a cat cut its paw... But Bandit gave less milk and fussed during milking (nothing bad, just stepping around a lot).
11-11 Fussy again during milking, and peed in the stanchion (something she hasn't done since the first week of milking). Milk amount was normal though.
11-12 Very small (1/2" maybe) string of darkish (bloody?) mucous at evening milking. The light was bad and I couldn't really tell if it was blood or poop stained. Behavior and milk amount was normal.
11-18 Standing around with tail held out. She did this several times that I saw. No peeing or pooping, just holding her tail out.
11-19 (today) Two splotches of blood on the floor in the barn and a long string of bloody mucous still on her. Oh, and yesterday and today there's been no fussing during milking, and the amount has been normal.
Up until today, I'd thought I had it figured that I should take her to the bull the day before Thanksgiving, but now going back over my notes, I wonder if the blood I saw on her tail on 10-30 was NOT old blood, but from that day. That would make this blood show today make sense. I don't know about the symptoms before the 10-30 blood show. Just normal "getting back to regularity?"
I'm really handicapped here because in all the time I've had her, I only was able to witness 3 of her heats before she was bred, and they were 19 days apart. Now it looks like maybe 20. I'm assuming that's probably normal (nobody is THAT regular). But now I think maybe I shouldn't take her to the bull until the weekend of the 6th or 7th of December.
I don't know if I've given enough information to really give a good guess, but what do you all think? Given that information, when would YOU take her to the bull? Joe's cows are gone for the winter so there's no other bovine around here except Cricket (and she couldn't give a flying fig if her mom's in heat - LOL!). Also, Bandit apparently doesn't moo at all when she's in heat, so I don't even have THAT to go by, just have to watch for blood, and it's been erratic. I need to get her bred on her next heat (or at least try) because I don't want a winter calf.
Did any of that make sense?
~Lannie
I've been trying to track Bandit's heats so I know when to take her to the bull we have arranged. I thought I had it figured out and today she threw a monkey wrench into the works by bleeding. Argh.
It's only been a couple of months since she calved, and Joann says in her book that the first few heat cycles are irregular and might not start up right away, and I guess that's what I'm dealing with. Here's my notes. Can anybody help me figure this out?
9-10 Calving day
9-24 Slight mucous, with a small amount of blood the following day.
10-20 thru 10-22 Hung around at the fence with Joe's bull, refused food (a first!), fussed at milking time, milk amount reduced by about half.
10-23 Slight blood show, but not much. Letdown better, attitude better.
10-30 No change in attitude or milk amount, but I noticed blood on her tail, but it was dry. At the time I assumed it was blood from the week previous that I just hadn't noticed before.
11-10 Found some blood on the snow, but none on Bandit, so I don't know if it was her or someone bit her tongue or something. Maybe a cat cut its paw... But Bandit gave less milk and fussed during milking (nothing bad, just stepping around a lot).
11-11 Fussy again during milking, and peed in the stanchion (something she hasn't done since the first week of milking). Milk amount was normal though.
11-12 Very small (1/2" maybe) string of darkish (bloody?) mucous at evening milking. The light was bad and I couldn't really tell if it was blood or poop stained. Behavior and milk amount was normal.
11-18 Standing around with tail held out. She did this several times that I saw. No peeing or pooping, just holding her tail out.
11-19 (today) Two splotches of blood on the floor in the barn and a long string of bloody mucous still on her. Oh, and yesterday and today there's been no fussing during milking, and the amount has been normal.
Up until today, I'd thought I had it figured that I should take her to the bull the day before Thanksgiving, but now going back over my notes, I wonder if the blood I saw on her tail on 10-30 was NOT old blood, but from that day. That would make this blood show today make sense. I don't know about the symptoms before the 10-30 blood show. Just normal "getting back to regularity?"
I'm really handicapped here because in all the time I've had her, I only was able to witness 3 of her heats before she was bred, and they were 19 days apart. Now it looks like maybe 20. I'm assuming that's probably normal (nobody is THAT regular). But now I think maybe I shouldn't take her to the bull until the weekend of the 6th or 7th of December.
I don't know if I've given enough information to really give a good guess, but what do you all think? Given that information, when would YOU take her to the bull? Joe's cows are gone for the winter so there's no other bovine around here except Cricket (and she couldn't give a flying fig if her mom's in heat - LOL!). Also, Bandit apparently doesn't moo at all when she's in heat, so I don't even have THAT to go by, just have to watch for blood, and it's been erratic. I need to get her bred on her next heat (or at least try) because I don't want a winter calf.
Did any of that make sense?
~Lannie