# Waiting for calves



## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

So a few months ago I posted about a heifer I wasn't sure was pregnant. It turned out she wasn't but my vet asked me why I was worried?? she was to young at the time to be bred. My vet said it would have been fine to breed her in a few month because she was in good health. So on her fist birthday we put her with Wilbur my Jersey bull so she would have a small calf. At the same time I put her mother with Wilbur to(A few week before). And now I have two calves due march 15th.
Jenny is the mother to Maya(which is the heifer) and she will be the one pictured in this post and Maya will be pictures in the next.

So a little history on Jenny.
We got Jenny around 4-5 years ago she had lost her calf to some dogs and was giving 5 gallons a milking and needed to be milked twice a day so ya 10 gallons a day!!! Anyway she was owned my and older women who couldn't milk her and she needed some way of doing that so the old lady bought a calf for her. But Jenny would have nothing to do with this new baby and the calf started to starve and Jenny had mastitis and splitting udder and teats. So we bought her and the calf but it was to late for the calf she died the same night we got her. However jenny was a wild cow to the point she would run and kick anybody who came near her. So after 5 *Hours* of trying to milk her out we finely had 11 gallons of Bloody chunky "Milk". And for the next 4 month we tamed her down to what you see now.


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

Maya is Jenny's second calf with us her father was a registered short horn milker. Maya's father was 2,200bl at butcher and he was only 2 years old.


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

And this is my bull Wilbur  The cutest bull ever!!!


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

Good luck


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## Goat_Scout (Mar 23, 2017)

Pretty cattle! And wow, 10 gallons a day is crazy! Jenny is so lucky to have you. 

For future reference, I wouldn’t breed any heifer before she is 15 months of age, even if she is already pretty big. Closer to 18 months is even better, to let them fill in a little more.


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

I would have waited but my mother wanted her bred(The vet said it was okay so that's what she wanted) I don't know why she wanted her bred or why we kept her to begin with it's not like we don't have any milk. Come to think of it I think my mother wanted to keep her for me or one of my siblings after we leave the house.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Happy calving.


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

Well I give up on this whole righting down due dates thing . Jenny was with Wilbur for 3 months before Maya was put with Wilbur but after Maya was put with him I saw Jenny get bred the same day Maya was. Well Jenny looks like she's going to calve any day and Maya looks like she still has a month or two to go.


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

Here is Jenny's udder the other day both were taking the same day the first one was taking around 8am and the other one was taking around 8pm. She can now barely walk with how big her udder is.


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## spidy1 (Jan 9, 2014)

wow, and I thought 1 gal from my goat was a lot!


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Nice looking herd! Good luck! Can't imagine what I would do with 10 gallons a day of milk. How much cream do you get from 10 gallons of milk?


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Nice.


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

Um I think we get about 1 gallon of cream maybe 2 if she gets alfalfa.


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

:update:
Maya is holding to her 15th due date. Today her udder started filling and her pins(It is pins right?) are getting soft. So yay for baby cows 

Okay and now for the most exciting news.
Jenny had a heifer at 10pm Friday night. Here are some pictures of Mocha the heifer look at the blue spot in her eye she has one in each eye.


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

And here is Jenny's udder Saturday morning.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

OMG! Just way to precious!


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## Goat_Scout (Mar 23, 2017)

What a beautiful little calf!


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

Very cute


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

So cute. 
Wow that udder.


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

I know everybody is just dieing to see Maya's udder(I know I am the only one but it makes me feel less like weirdo for being excited about her udder :/) so here are some pictures 
The first is from yesterday and the last three are from today(There is a difference trust me)


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

Only 10 more days before her due date and her udder is getting bigger every day. Now a friend wants to bring her cow over to spend some time with Wilbur I can't blame her Mocha was Jenny's first calf that wasn't mostly black and she was born very small for one of Jenny's calves(Jenny's first calf with us was 175bl at birth and Maya was 100bl at birth so a 65bl calf was every small for her).


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

Here are some pictures from today


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

And Maya's udder from today. She has colostrum now to so she might calve sooner then the 15th


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## Old Post Farm (Nov 15, 2017)

yay, babies. my Herford heifer is due in may and already has quite an udder, this is getting me so excited. congrats on the new baby and good luck on the next calving


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

How's she doing?


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

She is holding on to that calf like there is no tomorrow.


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## Old Post Farm (Nov 15, 2017)

anything?


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

Still nothing but here are some pictures of her udder and look she dropped


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## Goat_Scout (Mar 23, 2017)

This is her first time, right? Usually FFs are filled in a lot more by their due dates. I think she still has some time left, but of course may be wrong. She has a nice little udder!


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

I know she's supposed to have a fuller udder before she calves but the wait is killing me. She was with Wilbur until November so it might be awhile.


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## Goat_Scout (Mar 23, 2017)

Hopefully you won’t have to wait that long!


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

Anything new?


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

Her udder started growing some what again :/ But I think she is waiting until April 5th I think that's her next due date :/


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## Old Post Farm (Nov 15, 2017)

did she have the baby?!


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## Ashlynn (Oct 1, 2017)

mariella said:


> Her udder started growing some what again :/ But I think she is waiting until April 5th I think that's her next due date :/


I know that most cows go a bit longer than normal if they are carrying a bull calf. I of course wouldn't wish that upon you though.


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

Still no calf I think I am going to stop watching her now. Her udder hasn't gotten much bigger but it has grown some :/ 
If she's not due this month then that is going to be one big calf. Some days she doesn't even look pregnant but other days she's as big as a house!


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## Ashlynn (Oct 1, 2017)

Ashlynn said:


> I know that most cows go a bit longer than normal if they are carrying a bull calf. I of course wouldn't wish that upon you though.


The reason why sometimes they carry bulls longer is because they take longer to develop in the womb. So even though you may have a cow pregnant for a longer time you may not have a bigger baby. Buttttt you still probably will because Bulls are typically bigger anyway.


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

Still no calf! But her udder is much fuller and her belly dropped a little bit in the past few days. So hopefully she has it on the 26th.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Can't wait to see pics. Good luck!


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

Still no baby but I think she lot her mucous plug. I will get pictures when the rain lets up.


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

Still no baby but I got some pictures of her from today. She is acting off and her udder is getting tighter. Also her vulva is getting saggy and she is holding her tail away from her vulva. You can't tell from the picture but the she dropped.


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## Karen Kuntz (Apr 25, 2018)

Did she have the calf yet?


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

Not yet. She is starting to separate herself from jenny so maybe it will be soon.


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## Karen Kuntz (Apr 25, 2018)

Good luck! Do you know how to check her ligaments? We have found this to be extremely helpful in determining the birth, usually within 12 hours.


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

Yep I know how they are getting softer but haven't gone away yet :/


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## Old Post Farm (Nov 15, 2017)

any thing?


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

Okay so Maya had a bull calf May 28th I will get pictures later


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

And here is Philip. He weighed around 80 pounds at birth and now weighs around 95 pounds.


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## Goat_Scout (Mar 23, 2017)

Cute! 
Both calves that were born here that had blue eyes lost them once they were 3-6 months old. I wish they could have stayed that way!


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Cute!


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## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

mariella said:


> And here is Philip. He weighed around 80 pounds at birth and now weighs around 95 pounds.


Awww so handsome! Love the heart on his forhead.


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