![]() Udder development is one of the earliest signs of impending parturition, but it is not reliable to predict actually timing of calving. Impending parturition has several indicators. Cows is active labor should be observed every hour. Never leave a cow that has started labor to go to bed or work. Count cows at feeding time and check for missing cows.ħ. Train your spouse, children and neighbors, if necessary, to look for signs of labor. Keep all calving equipment in a clean plastic container with a cover, that can be easily moved to a truck or calving area.ĥ. Have some area available that is a special calving assistance pen or barn.Ĥ. Fence cows out of woods and timber, but leave windbreaks.ģ. All that highland hair is a liability to the newborn calf until it is dry.Ģ. If the calf thrashes around in slick mud, it makes that much more work for the cow in cleaning off the calf. Slippery, muddy conditions may prevent the calf from getting to its feet and delay colostrum consumption. The pasture should be easily seen from a road, lane or house, and should provide good footing for a newborn calf. Move cows due to calve to a special calving pasture. Helping yourself find the cow that is due to calve:ġ. If you are unlucky enough to have one of these calves, it will be a problem and assistance must be given to the cow in order to save her and hopefully the calf as well. Measurements of pelvic area can be used to make culling decisions, but only when compared between similar aged animals.Ĭalf position at birth needs to be normal and about 5% of calves will be in an abnormal position. Pelvic area also varies by individual, so there will be members of a breed that in fact do have smaller pelvic areas than the average. This pelvic area will increase as the cow ages, and difficulty calving as a heifer does not necessarily indicate a lifetime of calving problems. ![]() Calving difficulty is more likely to be seen in 2 and 3 year cows with a smaller pelvic area. First calf heifers are generally smaller in size than mature cows, and their pelvic area increases in size as the cow approaches maturity. ![]() The cow herself can contribute to calving problems not only through her contribution to calf size, but to her maturity. (Large shoulders or hips may be two critical areas, and help explain why even normal lighter weights in bull calves may still be associated with dystocia. Sometimes the shape of the calf may have an effect on calving problems. Birth weights are affected by the breed of the sire, individual bull within a breed, sex of the calf (bull calves tend to gestate for a longer period,) the age of the cow (calf size increases with the age of the cow) and nutrition of the cow. Large calves do not, in and of themselves, cause any problems unless they are too large for their dam, however heavy birth weights do account for most of the problems related to calving difficulty caused by calf effects. Thus, some bulls will routinely produce larger calves than the norm in many of the cows to which they are bred, while others will produce smaller calves because of a shorter gestation length. The bull also can contribute genetics for either shorter or longer gestation lengths. The cow is not the only contributing factor to gestation length. Carried to the extreme, this can lead to oversized calves for the cow. Calves add 1 to 2 pounds of weight per day during the last 2 weeks of pregnancy, so that longer gestation periods result in larger calves. The bigger risk will be in those cows that carry their calves for the longer time period. Known gestation lengths of 270 to 292 days have been reported on the same farm. Bear in mind that some individuals will carry their calves for considerable shorter, or considerably longer periods of time, and still be healthy and normal. If you are lucky enough to catch the cow in heat and see her bred, that date should be recorded, as it can aid in predicting when the cow will actually calve. Gestation in the Highland is going to usually run about 280-285 days from the breeding date. Normal calving in the Highland cow is simple and easy, but despite the reputation of the breed for ease in calving, small calves, and excellent mothering, problems can, and do arise.
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