Breeding a Bred Cow?

[wstevenl]

I've got a 9 year old Dexter that has been breeding back fine. She had a calf in 2008 and another within 10 days in 2009. (I didn't own her previous to that but I know she's had multiple other calves)
I saw her bred two months after she calved last June and I haven't seen the bull show any more interest in her.... UNTIL last night. Last night our Lowline bull was following her close and then this morning he was mounting her. She didn't totally stand for him but she wasn't putting up much of a fight either.

One of our steers tried to get in on the action but I think he could have just been excited and interested because they were.

What are the possibilities that she's bred, not bred, just having some recreational breeding?

I would have thought that if she was 5-6 months bred i would have noticed if she aborted... they are in a pretty small paddock being fed hay and I'm there most mornings and every evening.

Thanks for any help.

[J & M Chambers]

Refer to this post.

dextercattle.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=gotopost&board=reproduction&thread=945&post=5690

This time of year (we calve in late March - May) our cow herd starts pairing up with the occasional attempts to mount.

Spring and such is in the air!

Jeff

[kansasdexters]

I'm going to go out on a limb and share a few observations. When a late-term pregnant cow is attracting the attention of bulls or steers -- she is probably carrying a heifer calf. When a late-term pregnant cow is pursuing cows and mounting them -- then she is probably carrying a bull calf. It's all in the hormones. Gerald Fry claims that a cow that is carrying a heifer calf will have a bushy tail and a cow that is carrying a bull calf will have a smooth tail. I guess it's 50/50 chance of getting it right! Let us know what the gender of your calf is. I'm betting on a heifer.

Patti

[wdd]

I hope your not right Patti. Our yearling bull got in with the cows the other day (he was on time out for nursing his mom who is due middle of next month) and was chasing a heifer that should calve in 3 mths. She is the one heifer that we couldn't catch in heat so was bred by a neighbors PDCA registered bull. If she does have a heifer I need to get some hair sample to get him genotyped so the calf could be registered. I do remember dairy cows that seemed to like to ride other cows after they were pregnant. I know for sure one had a heifer because we had her checked to see if she was cystic and she was actually 6 mths pregnant with a heifer calf.

[Gerry]

Patti
very neat to hear this from someone else i have carried that in my head most of my life, allways wondering if was true or not , My Great Grand-Dad use to tell me that when i was little , He could nearly guess our whole calf crop before they hit the ground. (i just copied the post and e-mailed it to my Dad because him and my Grand paw allways said my Great Grand Dad was just lucky) lol

[wstevenl]

Thanks for giving me hope that she really is bred!

[wstevenl]

Never did have her calf in June as she had been the two years previous. Forgot all about her being mounted in March until I ran across this post. Maybe she will have a Dec. calf after all. I'm going to try and have her preg checked soon. If she's open she'll be ground beef.