Post by frogHOLR on Sept 19, 2010 2:04:12 GMT -5
Boy, I really screwed up today! I'd love to hear your folks opinions once you get through my novel of mishap! Here's what happened . . . .
Today my dh was on shift which means that I have no obligations in the evening. I ALWAYS milk Abbey in the morning if I'm going to, otherwise she's with her calf. So, being a smarty-pants, I separated them this morning around 11am by locking him in the barn and her in the south pasture. Since it was a nice morning, I braved the spiders, nettles, and the brambles to walk the fenceline of her north pasture to make certain that it was OK. She's been on the south pasture since she calved back in May. When I got back to the barn, there she was so I thought, "What better time to move her to the new pasture?!". I opened the gate and she headed through.![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png)
Fast forward to about 4pm. She starts mooing to PawKnee and he starts mooing to her. She's normally very quiet. The north pasture is behind the barn, so they can't see each other, but I figure it's no big deal because when they are separated she walks about a 1/4 mile away to graze at night. This mooing gets more and more frantic as the evening progresses. I think to myself, "Funny, that almost sounds like she's going into heat. Can't be, she's at least one heat past when we bred her and she didn't show any signs on day 21." After about an hour, I go inside the house to check the calendar and low-n-behold, TODAY is day 42 since she was AI'd.
So, now I'm wondering, Is she in heat? Is she just upset because I've separated her from PawKnee during the day which is completely abnormal? Or, Is she upset because she's in a new pasture without him? She never left the side of the barn to go a-mooing; she stayed right there mooing at him through the wall. If she were on a bull-hunt, wouldn't you think she might venture at least 100 feet away in her search?!
OK. Now it's 10pm and I go up to milk. The two are carrying on like they are on fire. I tie PawKnee up and let her in. She runs straight for the stanchion (normal) and gobbles down her grain while at the same time mooing over and over (NOT normal). I finish up, untie PawKnee, and let her out to see what she'll do. She heads for his bucket and cleans up PawKnee's grain while he nurses. She gives him one Momma-moo, and that's it. Not a peep out of either of them since then. I put her back out on the north pasture with a flake of alfalfa about an hour ago, and gave PawKnee and some grass hay and they are silent. She didn't have any mucous of any sort on her rear end - it actually looks kind of dry and pale.
I was planning on BioTracking her tomorrow, but now even if the results come back 'bred' I won't believe them! Anyone want to guess what her results will be? We could keep tabs and see who guesses right! I HOPE she's bred, but after today's little side-show I'm not sure that she's going to be.
I can't BELIEVE that I decided to change her life around THIS much on a day that I should be watching for a return to heat. Why didn't I do it last weekend, or NEXT weekend, for goodness sake?!
<slapping forehead!>
Today my dh was on shift which means that I have no obligations in the evening. I ALWAYS milk Abbey in the morning if I'm going to, otherwise she's with her calf. So, being a smarty-pants, I separated them this morning around 11am by locking him in the barn and her in the south pasture. Since it was a nice morning, I braved the spiders, nettles, and the brambles to walk the fenceline of her north pasture to make certain that it was OK. She's been on the south pasture since she calved back in May. When I got back to the barn, there she was so I thought, "What better time to move her to the new pasture?!". I opened the gate and she headed through.
![:)](http://storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png)
Fast forward to about 4pm. She starts mooing to PawKnee and he starts mooing to her. She's normally very quiet. The north pasture is behind the barn, so they can't see each other, but I figure it's no big deal because when they are separated she walks about a 1/4 mile away to graze at night. This mooing gets more and more frantic as the evening progresses. I think to myself, "Funny, that almost sounds like she's going into heat. Can't be, she's at least one heat past when we bred her and she didn't show any signs on day 21." After about an hour, I go inside the house to check the calendar and low-n-behold, TODAY is day 42 since she was AI'd.
![:-/](http://storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/undecided.png)
So, now I'm wondering, Is she in heat? Is she just upset because I've separated her from PawKnee during the day which is completely abnormal? Or, Is she upset because she's in a new pasture without him? She never left the side of the barn to go a-mooing; she stayed right there mooing at him through the wall. If she were on a bull-hunt, wouldn't you think she might venture at least 100 feet away in her search?!
OK. Now it's 10pm and I go up to milk. The two are carrying on like they are on fire. I tie PawKnee up and let her in. She runs straight for the stanchion (normal) and gobbles down her grain while at the same time mooing over and over (NOT normal). I finish up, untie PawKnee, and let her out to see what she'll do. She heads for his bucket and cleans up PawKnee's grain while he nurses. She gives him one Momma-moo, and that's it. Not a peep out of either of them since then. I put her back out on the north pasture with a flake of alfalfa about an hour ago, and gave PawKnee and some grass hay and they are silent. She didn't have any mucous of any sort on her rear end - it actually looks kind of dry and pale.
I was planning on BioTracking her tomorrow, but now even if the results come back 'bred' I won't believe them! Anyone want to guess what her results will be? We could keep tabs and see who guesses right! I HOPE she's bred, but after today's little side-show I'm not sure that she's going to be.
![:'(](http://storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/cry.png)
![:-[](http://storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/embarrassed.png)