Post by amysflock on Dec 4, 2010 13:16:32 GMT -5
Hi all,
Is there a reason why, if a cow with regular cycles did not breed back, her cycles could have suddenly become irregular? Can she bred and still show some heat signs?
Background: My lead cow, Sheila, had regular 21 day cycles starting about 60 days after her 2010 calf was born. (She also had regular 21 day cycles after her last calf, born in 2008.) I marked them on the calendar (she was cycling the same day as our younger cow) and watched for the tell tale behaviors every month starting a few days before the expected heat.
This summer we had her in with a leased bull for 2+ cycles. They slipped out of sight one weekend morning, and showed up again a few minutes later, with her holding her tail out and her rear hair looking ruffled. We assumed she was bred. The bull went home a few weeks later (with one day to spare to try breeding her again - he didn't seem interested).
Fast forward to the last two months. She's in a paddock with our younger cow, an older cow (who cycles at 24 days, usually 2 weeks behind) and 2 steer calves. We've now seen Sheila stand to be mounted by our younger cow - but it's like every 12-15 days or so. My calendar is marked for heat on the 12/15, and yet this morning she's in that cow standoff with the younger cow (side by side, each one's nose by the other's butt). Sheila isn't standing for her, and moves off every time Bridgit tries to get her chin up on her back (so they keep spinning in circles, but staying together). Worse, we thought we saw a mucus string on her back thigh a couple of nights ago.
What gives? Our sacrifice paddock is a muddy disaster right now and DH is going to scrape it, after which we're considering putting her in the v-squeeze and trying biotracking the first time. I'm starting to wonder if she's just a difficult breeder, which would be very sad to me (she's my favorite), as I know it's not logical to keep an unproductive beef cow.
Thanks for any input you have.
Is there a reason why, if a cow with regular cycles did not breed back, her cycles could have suddenly become irregular? Can she bred and still show some heat signs?
Background: My lead cow, Sheila, had regular 21 day cycles starting about 60 days after her 2010 calf was born. (She also had regular 21 day cycles after her last calf, born in 2008.) I marked them on the calendar (she was cycling the same day as our younger cow) and watched for the tell tale behaviors every month starting a few days before the expected heat.
This summer we had her in with a leased bull for 2+ cycles. They slipped out of sight one weekend morning, and showed up again a few minutes later, with her holding her tail out and her rear hair looking ruffled. We assumed she was bred. The bull went home a few weeks later (with one day to spare to try breeding her again - he didn't seem interested).
Fast forward to the last two months. She's in a paddock with our younger cow, an older cow (who cycles at 24 days, usually 2 weeks behind) and 2 steer calves. We've now seen Sheila stand to be mounted by our younger cow - but it's like every 12-15 days or so. My calendar is marked for heat on the 12/15, and yet this morning she's in that cow standoff with the younger cow (side by side, each one's nose by the other's butt). Sheila isn't standing for her, and moves off every time Bridgit tries to get her chin up on her back (so they keep spinning in circles, but staying together). Worse, we thought we saw a mucus string on her back thigh a couple of nights ago.
What gives? Our sacrifice paddock is a muddy disaster right now and DH is going to scrape it, after which we're considering putting her in the v-squeeze and trying biotracking the first time. I'm starting to wonder if she's just a difficult breeder, which would be very sad to me (she's my favorite), as I know it's not logical to keep an unproductive beef cow.
Thanks for any input you have.