Over Due heifer

I have a chimaine heifer bred to an irish whiskey son and this is her first calf. She was AIed at 2 years old on March the 26. I had someone to come and palpate her sometime in June and she was confirmed bred. I had a limousin heifer bred the same week as her and she calved her heifer calf on January 1. On January 3 I had the same person come and get her checked again but he told me he couldn't feel a calf. However, he did tell me that her mammary veins were starting to fill up. As of today she is 15 days over due and I'm starting to worry that she has either aborted the calf or she had a miscarriage. I have been keeping an eye on her every day since December 21 and not one of those days did I see any signs of heat. She has been having some clear discharge for a couple of weeks and she had a yellow looking mucus discharging from her vulva January 2. She has been on nothing but hay and very little feed but she looks very deep and wide for a heifer who has been on mostly hay. Looking at her udders I would say she isn't bagged up but they feel like there is milk in them and her vulva is swollen but to me it doesn't look loose enough for her to calve. Has anyone had a heifer go that long?

My guess is she isn't pregnant. We had a heifer like that last year that we swore was bred but she either slipped the calf or was never pregnant. Sorry better luck next year.

Soundslike she slipped her calf.

Here's a thought...have a veterinarian examine her.

Just based on what you've said, my guess would be that she did lose the calf at some point. Personally, I've never known one to go over more than 10 or 11 days, and I consider that an outlier. If there's no way she was bred to a clean up bull after AI, I don't think she's going to have a live calf for you.

I would have her palpated again by a credible vet. I question somebody who can't find a calf in a cow at 8+ months and says, "but her mammary veins are starting to fill up." She should definitely be bagging up, and she should be showing signs or loosening up behind. Also, as her pelvis begins to relax and open up, you should be able to see a sunken area on either side of her tail head, right above/in front of her pin bones. If she WAS looking like she was going to calve, and then it seems she wasn't going to, my guess is she lost it and you never saw any sign of it.

Hope I'm wrong. Good luck with her.

Lucky_P said:

Here's a thought...have a veterinarian examine her.

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exactly!
at this point in gestation you should be able to palpate a calf even if its lying on the bottom of the uterus. Vet can ultrasound her for minimal fee to check as well.

What gestation calendar did you use? There are some with 5+ days difference. Some things you are describing are open and some are pregnant.

I'm confused? Looking at a cow, it should be fairly obvious whether she is heavy bred or open.

It may seem obvious to you or someone who has been around cows all their life and seem hundreds of pregnant cows, but you know nothing of the poster. He/she may be young and not been around many cows and really need help or advice and not a condescending know it all attitude. If you dont want to help why not just not post. If you cant say anything nice dont say anything is great advice.

For the past 3 days she has been discharging lot. This is a her first calf so I figured she was gonna be one of those heifers where she wasn't going to show heavy signs of calving until she was ready to have her baby. I had an ag teacher come out and look at her and she thinks it could be soon. I used a gestation table that was 283 days. I started to think she did loose her calf some how but watching after her for about a month she has not had a single sign of heat what so ever. Knowing that she hasn't gone into heat is what is keeping me hopeful that she is still pregnant. I have an appointment to take another heifer to the vet to be bred and if she doesnt calve by then I'm probably just gonna go ahead and take her to see whats going on. Thanks for all the positive responses.

I've had them go as far as 17 days over. Kind of hope that, that is not the case for you B/C if she's over that far, it has a better chance of being larger than a person would hope. Good luck with her.

JMO, if she has not been with a bull since AI, then get a reputable vet to have a look, with the possibility of induction!  Then probably dystocia or ceasarean section needed!  Aren't Maines known for high birthweights?

If she's discharging a lot, I think that's a good sign she's gettig ready to do something. I've seen heifers that don't show a lot or bag up very much...that may be an indication that she isn't gonna milk real heavy. And she might come into more milk after she calves...it's hard to predict. Like you, I would expect her to cycle pretty quickly if she had lost it, and I'd expect she might pass a little blood, but I don't think you'd see clear mucous. If she's more than 10 days over, I would keep a close eye on her and be prepared to help her if/when she decides to do something...it's likely to be pretty big.

I went and saw her last night at around 3 in the morning cause I heard the other cows mooing and I thought she was either calving or already calved. Unfortunately she did not have any baby. But again she discharged clear mucus. All the other times the length of the mucus was probably about from half an inch to an inch in length. When I saw went in the middle of the night the mucus was about 3-4  inches. She isn't showing that she's uncomfortable. I still believe she is pregnant because of the discharge she is having and the fact that she is really wide and deep for a heifer that has been on only pasture and hay since June. I read somewhere that chi's have low milk production so I'm starting to think she acquired that trait. Do chi's or Maine's have longer gestation periods because they are a much larger breed of cattle?

frostback said:

It may seem obvious to you or someone who has been around cows all their life and seem hundreds of pregnant cows, but you know nothing of the poster. He/she may be young and not been around many cows and really need help or advice and not a condescending know it all attitude. If you dont want to help why not just not post. If you cant say anything nice dont say anything is great advice.

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Just thought it should be apparent to anyone ready for cattle ownership.  Only saying 'nice' things disconnects yourself from the reality of the situation: This is a living animal that deserves a certain level of responsible ownership.

If in fact she is bred and you feel that she is that far overdue, I'd highly suggest you take her to get induced.

There is some variance between breeds in average length of gestation, and there's even more variance among individuals for whatever reason, whether that's genetics, environment, or a combination of the two. We raise Simmental, and their average gestation is around 286 days...i would guess Chis and Maines both to be longer than 283, but probably not more than a few days longer than that. I've never known one to go more than 12 days over, but I do know people who swear they've had em go longer. Not to scare you, but I would repeat the part about it could be a good sized calf. That's not necessarily guaranteed, though...just more likely. It's easy to get tired of watching em real close, but the farther over she goes, the closer I would try to watch her.

I've only had one experience with inducing. It wasn't my cow, and it did not end well. A lot of people on here seem to recommend that...I would make sure you have somebody qualified close by who's prepared to do a C-section if you decide to go that route.

I hope she is still pregnant and calves soon. The person who checked again in Jan. told me he thinks her uterus has dropped very low in her stomach and thats why he couldn't feel a calf. Like I mentioned before she is really wide and deep for being on nothing but pasture and hay. If nothing happens by January 28 I'm gonna go ahead and take her to the vet when I take my other one to be ready. Fingers crossed that it happens soon. 

We had a cow not a heifer but she went over her due date by 22 days. And it was a very nice 138lbs bull calf that took some pulling to get out. We hang our calfs with in the first 12 hours. I THink i would at the very least have her checked by a vet or someone that does AI in your area.

Probably 20 years ago I had a heifer vet bred and she stuck.  There was no bull on or around that farm.  He was my favorite vet of all time because he would randomly stop on his way by to check on things and he stopped everyday from 14 days over until she calved.  She went 21 days over exactly and had a set of live heifer twins.  We did not write down the wrong month.

I am not a vet but when I preg check and the uterus is too far down feel a calf or too heavy to pick up I do not remember one being open.  As far as I know they don't go over the edge of the pelvic brim unless something is happening.

Did you get your heifer to the vet?

21 days over and had twins???? I've heard it all now (clapping)..take her to the vet jj, 15 plus days over for a heifer is almost as far out as 21 day over twins,......grab a neighbor around six foot tall, have him throw a sleeve on his left hand and go in rectum forward and down, if he can't feel a calf, especially in a heifer, she's open or short bred.

we calve 120-150 every year, not near a professional like most on here, but a long bred heifer should have a calf within arms reach guaranteed.

best of luck...

ps why did you wait until she was two years old  to breed her for the first time? if she's truly turning 3 years old and has never calved I'm sure she does look deep and wide....