Post by jsallcreatures on Mar 31, 2010 0:39:31 GMT -5
Hi everyone, just needing some opinions first a little history then my questions!
I have a 7 yr old Jersey cow "Blossom". I got her about a year ago she was supposed to be bred due in Nov but it turned she was not so I bred her to my longhorn bull on June 14th, confirmed bred in Nov. She had been fresh since July 7 of '08 so I did dry her up in Oct partly because she was not producing much anyway.
I have been watching her close for two weeks, the last week she's really bagged up and its firm not tight though ( I raise a lot of goats and sheep and their udders are a pretty realiable factor of how close they are - I have some Scottish Highlanders but they are so shaggy that its hard to keep a good eye on their udders) ok so her vulva has been very puffy and swollen - defineately springing, her ligaments are loose. Tonight when I feed everything was the same well I just went out to check on her (and bottle babies and check on one last doe) and her udder is huge and quite tight, her teats are still wrinkly ( I read somewhere they will lose their wrinkles) her udder is not shinny don't know that it will get shinny its still quite cold here and she's got a lot of hair on that udder. Also her vulva instead of being puffy and swollen it looks deflated, kinda wrinkled.
She does look slab sided but has looked that way for several days.
My question finally LOL do you think she's gonna go tonight (she's not showing any signs of labor, but to me that doesn't mean much, I've had goats act totally normal and an hour later have dry kids). I've been calving and kidding since late Jan and hubby and I are both tired from night watching and I'm fighting a horrible cold which I'm afraid dh is coming down with. It cold and she is under a leanto with straw but I sure don't want nything to so wrong. What would you all do? Thanks!!
I have a 7 yr old Jersey cow "Blossom". I got her about a year ago she was supposed to be bred due in Nov but it turned she was not so I bred her to my longhorn bull on June 14th, confirmed bred in Nov. She had been fresh since July 7 of '08 so I did dry her up in Oct partly because she was not producing much anyway.
I have been watching her close for two weeks, the last week she's really bagged up and its firm not tight though ( I raise a lot of goats and sheep and their udders are a pretty realiable factor of how close they are - I have some Scottish Highlanders but they are so shaggy that its hard to keep a good eye on their udders) ok so her vulva has been very puffy and swollen - defineately springing, her ligaments are loose. Tonight when I feed everything was the same well I just went out to check on her (and bottle babies and check on one last doe) and her udder is huge and quite tight, her teats are still wrinkly ( I read somewhere they will lose their wrinkles) her udder is not shinny don't know that it will get shinny its still quite cold here and she's got a lot of hair on that udder. Also her vulva instead of being puffy and swollen it looks deflated, kinda wrinkled.
She does look slab sided but has looked that way for several days.
My question finally LOL do you think she's gonna go tonight (she's not showing any signs of labor, but to me that doesn't mean much, I've had goats act totally normal and an hour later have dry kids). I've been calving and kidding since late Jan and hubby and I are both tired from night watching and I'm fighting a horrible cold which I'm afraid dh is coming down with. It cold and she is under a leanto with straw but I sure don't want nything to so wrong. What would you all do? Thanks!!