Bull Just Bred 9mo Old Hiefer. Now What?

[arlen]

We just had a major blizzard, and the snow drifted above my 5 foot fence. My 9 month old heifer walked across, and got in with the bull (who happens to be her father). I got them separated and got the fence dug out, but the damage is done I'm afraid. Is there a way to terminate the pregnancy? Or, is it better to just let nature take it's course? Would she have a good chance of delivering without too many complications at 18 months old?

[otf]

Contact your vet and ask for a shot of Lutalyse; it should be given at least 8 days after exposure. It will cause the heifer to abort, if pregnant, and come into heat about 3 days or so after injection. Your vet should be able to advise you how, when, and where to give the injection. It's probably much safer to do this than to have her calve at 18 months of age.

[arlen]

Thanks, I will talk to the vet next week. What's the latest that the shot can be given in order to be effective?

[otf]

I think the latest is about 60 days, but don't quote me on that...it's a prescription med, so your vet will advise you when to give it. I forgot to post the link to the drug for you; here it is:

online.zoetis.com/us/en/products/pages/lutalyse.aspx

[otf]

arlen, donlindexters may have experienced something different when using Lutalyse on her dogs. My post is based on the advice of my cattle vets.

You can always contact Zoetis directly and get their advice, then speak with your vet because you will only be able to obtain this drug through your vet. I would also suggest that you pay attention to all the warnings about pregnant women, etc., handling this drug.

To contact the manufacturer:
online.zoetis.com/us/en/contact/pages/contactus.aspx

[carragheendexters]

Hi Arlen,
18months is bit too young for calving, but those who have had it happen find that they do come through it OK. The youngest heifer I have ever heard of calving was 12 months old, needed a Caesar, but came through ok.
Personally I would needle her. You do need to wait at least 8 days, and it can be done anytime after that. Obviously the sooner the better, you don't want to wait till she is 5 months pregnant before aborting her, that can cause issues in itself (a 5mth stage pregnancy abortion can lead to some problems)

We have needled cows from unwanteds pregnancies, (wrong bull, neighbours bulls etc) and usually wait till after they should have cycled on their own, to confirm that they were pregnant. Not much point in needling if they aren't even in calf.

So in a nutshell, we usually needle with prostaglandins at about 4 weeks post unwanted mating. Watch for heat behaviour after about 48hrs, if you're not sure she did cycle, needle again after another 8 days.

If you do needle ASAP before 8 days post breeding, as per Donlin's post it won't work. Dog reproductive physiology is very different to bovine reproductive physiology.

regards Louise

[arlen]

Thanks for all the advice. I'll get the vet out in a week or two.

[carragheendexters]

Oh, what happened? Donlin's posts disappeared.

Good luck Arlen with your heifer, always best to check with your vet if not sure about anything. I don't think that you should have any problems needling her, cattle breeders do it all the time without any probs.

regards Louise

[arlen]

Update....
Just had the vet out today and gave her the shot. We got her in a 12x12 pen, took 3 of us to restrain her...I really got to get a chute.
Now I just need to watch for her to go back into heat in a couple days to make sure the shot worked.

[zephyrhillsusan]

We used a head gate and it still took three of us to give our cow a shot! But I learned a good trick about tying their head to one side, so might try that next time. It's for giving IVs, but I don't see why it wouldn't help for shots, too, even if you're not trying to hit a vein. Cows just don't handle shots as well as horses do, apparently! Hope the shot worked--you sure don't want to have to repeat it!