Gestation date question

[oakie]

So I bred a fullblood angus cow to a simmental bull. The cow went 13 days late and usually goes within two days of her due date. I bred another PB angus cow to another simmental bull and she is also late, by 3 days. So my question is this; is their due date based upon the 283 day period that is a basis for angus, or does the duration favor the simmental side? The late calf was very big so I had assumed it just went late but this second one is making me wonder.

 

[sue]

I dont know what to tell. Had a customer synch 28 hd due for Feb 11 and as of thursday he had 12 on the ground and running... some were 7 to 9 days old.  Never hurts to have shorter calving intervals

 

[oakbar]

My neighbor is a life time Simmental breeder who tells me that he generally figures his due dates at 290 days on his cows.  He says that he has several each year that may go 295.  I don't know if that would translate over to Angus cows bred by Simmy bulls or not.  I usually figure 283 on our Shorthorn cows but we've had them go over a week or so fairly frequently.

 

[firesweepranch]

We just had three hit the ground in the last few days, all purebred Simmentals, one went 290 (heifer, 74 pounds- Grandmaster), one went 283 (bull calf, embryo, 76 pounds Triple C Invasion) and one went 280 (first calf heifer, heifer calf, 68 pounds, Movin Forward). Most of mine usually hit around 285 days. Now, we just had our first good snow for the winter (way late for us), falling right now, when my calves are just hours to days old! Go figure they would wait for a storm....

 

[hamburgman]

Calves determine the calving date and weight in cattle more than the cow does.  Simmental being a larger breed makes sense their gestation is longer usually.  Easily see a 3 week grace period on both sides of the calving date when you look at studies.

 

[husker1]

I base our estimated dates off of 285 days....

 

[frostback]

I tried to find one with just cattle but this is the best I found so far.
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/htm/bc/trep01.htm

 

[oakie]

This is driving me nuts. I swear she lost her plug three days ago. She is now 4 days overdue. What sizes are the in dew times?

 

[worthabit]

This is driving me nuts. I swear she lost her plug three days ago. She is now 4 days overdue. What sizes are the in dew times?

If she lost the plug three days ago than you still have 3 days or so in my experience.

 

[leanbeef]

My experience is that most cows will deliver within three days after losing the plug, but I have seen em go longer than that. I think average gestation for Simmental is 286 or 287 days...it's a few days longer than the average for Angus cows. I'm not sure how much has been "proven" but I'm just as convinced there are as many differences between different genetic lines within a breed as there are between different breeds. I've raised Simmental all my life, and I manage a herd of Angus cows now that we're breeding to Simmental bulls...the Angus cows generally don't go as long, but that hasn't been the case with every calf. I see almost every calf come within 10 days early or late...I've rarely seen one earlier or later than that. And it doesn't ALWAYS mean they'll be small if they're early or big if they're late, but if they get in that 10 days over range, I get nervous. Just had a SimAngus heifer calve 17 days early, and the calf looks like a rat...out of one of our breed's leading calving ease sires...Personally, I don't need THAT MUCH calving ease. The heifer wasn't much of a mama and I'm surprised the calf lived. I still don't think she's out of the woods completely yet...

You should be fine with the In Dew Time mating. I haven't used him in our program, but the genetics are pretty proven and should be moderate for birth weight and easy enough getting here. Especially if you used him on a mature Angus cow.

 

[oakie]

My experience is that most cows will deliver within three days after losing the plug, but I have seen em go longer than that. I think average gestation for Simmental is 286 or 287 days...it's a few days longer than the average for Angus cows. I'm not sure how much has been "proven" but I'm just as convinced there are as many differences between different genetic lines within a breed as there are between different breeds. I've raised Simmental all my life, and I manage a herd of Angus cows now that we're breeding to Simmental bulls...the Angus cows generally don't go as long, but that hasn't been the case with every calf. I see almost every calf come within 10 days early or late...I've rarely seen one earlier or later than that. And it doesn't ALWAYS mean they'll be small if they're early or big if they're late, but if they get in that 10 days over range, I get nervous. Just had a SimAngus heifer calve 17 days early, and the calf looks like a rat...out of one of our breed's leading calving ease sires...Personally, I don't need THAT MUCH calving ease. The heifer wasn't much of a mama and I'm surprised the calf lived. I still don't think she's out of the woods completely yet...

You should be fine with the In Dew Time mating. I haven't used him in our program, but the genetics are pretty proven and should be moderate for birth weight and easy enough getting here. Especially if you used him on a mature Angus cow.

Thanks for the input, I was hoping someone else was or has made half bloods. She was off by herself last night, like the last 4 nights, and nothing. In Dew time looks like he should be pretty safe, but this cow is a mile away from the corral so I am thinking we better bring her in closer. Fun fun

 

[leanbeef]

So I bred a fullblood angus cow to a simmental bull. The cow went 13 days late and usually goes within two days of her due date. I bred another PB angus cow to another simmental bull and she is also late, by 3 days. So my question is this; is their due date based upon the 283 day period that is a basis for angus, or does the duration favor the simmental side? The late calf was very big so I had assumed it just went late but this second one is making me wonder.

I'm curious...what are the genetics on the female and sire used of the cow that went 13 days over and had the big calf? How big is "big" to you?

 

[oakie]

The female is a g13 structure x lemmon newsline and the sire is a calving ease simmental sire (I'm not sure of the genetics). The dams last calf weighed 65lbs and was out of bear mountain freight train, and 2 days early. Her late calf weighed 115lbs. her other calf was out of one of our bulls and probably weighed 65-75 and I didn't know her due date to determine if she was over or early. She's had 3 calves so far.  I like mine no bigger than 80lbs, we have alot of cows so we appreciate low bw bulls. The cow that is late is an EXT x a neighbors cow out of a no name bull. Her calves have all been relatively small, and probably no bigger than 80lbs. Still no calf, I brought her in near the barn yesterday to be safe, fingers crossed

 

[ploughshare]

I am with hamburgman on this one.  Placental hormones will dictate parturition.

 

[oakie]

Yay! Calf on the ground, small and a bull. So I am going to assume the calves go with the sires gestation period and not the cows. The calf that was 13 days late was probably 8-9 days late. I'll post photos later, thanks for all the help and putting up with my paranoia