16 days late or 5 days early?

[cathylee]

My first registered red Dexter heifer (Burnt Fork Georgia) delivered a cute black calf (bull did not carry color other than black).  Born on June 7th. 

Bull is www.pdca-pedigree.org/pedigree.php?aid=207434 

My husband had it in his arms and still can't tell me if it is a heifer or a bull calf.  It is cute and vigorous.  Takes long naps and Mom loses it from time to time calling with no response.  She gets quite distraught for 15 minutes calling the calf in a voice I had not yet heard from her and then she goes back to eating.  

When they come in to the corral to drink I look and look and never see it pee.  Her udder is never distended and the little one works all four teats regularly.  I assume as a heifer she is coming in a bit more slowly.  The calf seems very vigorous.  If it was going to be a problem I guess it would have manifested by now.  I'm checking on mom and babe regularly.      

I saw Georgia mate with George (names are strictly coincidental) and the chart said May 22nd calved on June 1st.  It was a long wait.  I spent a lot of time checking udder and vulva.  I'm hoping for a heifer, of course.  

We have all our calves (some galloway x dexter crosses) on the ground and they are enjoying lush grass and nice weather.  Quite a change from last year, so far.   

I'll launch some pictures when I get my photobucket problem solved or figure out how to post to a public forum from my icloud.  

[zephyrhillsusan]

Congratulations, cathylee! At least in my experience, there's a big difference from a FF (first freshener) to the second lactation. So it's not surprising that your calf can handle all Georgia's milk. She'll probably build up gradually to meet the calf's increasing demand. Silly mamas, losing their babies! At least the calf seems smart enough to come find mama when it's hungry.

Tell your husband next time he holds a calf in his arms, to support the calf by sticking his hand between the back legs to feel for a scrotum. If there's not one, it's a heifer. When we got our first calf, the umbilical area fooled me into thinking we had a bull calf. Then I saw it pee and though, "aha! Boys don't pee like that." I have to say, I've practically forgotten what it looks like when a heifer pees, we've had such a run of bull calves.

If you're having trouble with photobucket, you might try Tinypic or Imgur. I used Tinypic, pretty easy to use, until it quit working for me. Now I use Imgur; it's a bit more of a learning curve, but works very well.

[cathylee]

Well on inspection today I believe I see a scrotum. Now if I can get my husband to wait a while before banding him. I hope it's polled. I think I'll send some hairs in for homo vs hetero polled. It might influence whether to watch him awhile instead of banding.

And Susan I do feel for you. I was hoping for a heifer. I thought I could see some male parts back there. Got a better view today. Our first Dexter x Galloway this year is a heifer as is I believe the second.  I haven't been nearly as interested in their gender. That's the problem with having only one Dexter cow. All your hopes are riding on one calf. It never made much difference to me with the Galloways. But since I have a Galloway bull coming to visit on Thursday I might care a bit more about gender in the Galloways next year. We have always sold our Galloway and Galloway cross calves or they were what's for dinner.

[Deleted]

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