Estrous cycle and gestation length?

[smokymtnheritage]

Greetings everyone.

I hope you are doing great... I'm just curious what different folks out there have experienced both in terms of frequency of estrous cycle and length for gestation once pregnant. Of course I have read the limited literature out there on these issues for Dexters but again, just curious what your collective experiences have been...

1. What have you seen for the frequency of estrous cycles? (Is it really 21 days? More? Less?)

2. What lengths of gestation periods have you had?

It would be interesting for us to increase the overall pool of knowledge in these areas with our collective experiences... thanks in advance for your thoughts on these two areas...

[marion]

Hi Smokeymtn, 21 days is most usual, but you'd better be watching on day 19 and day 22 and we always watch our cows all the time anyway.. ;D
Gestation length..here's a few from recent years: Day 274 bull calf (same cow, same sire, day 274 bull last year also), Day 282 bull, day 279 bull, day 276 heifer, day 281 bull, day 284 bull, day 275 heifer, day 275 heifer, day 279 bull, day 283 heifer, day 279 heifer, day 280 heifer. ..marion

[smokymtnheritage]

Thank you both! Anyone else out there have any thoughts on this...?

[scyther]

I'm new to Dexters, but not cattle. 18-24 days would be a normal range for heat cycles with 21 being most typical. Varying cycles could be a sign of a problem, as usually they'll run within a day of what ever is normal for that specific cow. I don't know the gestation length for Dexters. It varies between breeds a little. Of the ones I know 276-290 days, a two week difference between the Ayrshire and the Brown Swiss. Most breeds are around 283 days. Hope this is useful.

[Clive]

We plan for 280 days min - 290 max, and it works out. 150 calves and never had one early (yet) even when I know some cows are bulling the day the bull goes in and gets on with it.