Post by indexters on Jul 5, 2013 22:32:42 GMT -5
Just thought I would share this, especially for other newbies out there.
We brought our new bull home on October 9th. Let him meet the girls, three total. He was definately smaller than them at the time. School was in full swing, fall activities kept us busy, and then winter was setting in. Honestly, I do not spend as much time out in the barn or field in the winter.
Spring finally arrived and we started discussing if Sambo was 'getting the job done'. Were any of them showing signs? Should we consider pregnancy testing? Then we noticed Bluebelle looking plump, so of course the speculation started. Finally, well if it happened what would be the earliest possible and let's work from there.
After consulting gestation calendars and other's comments, decided July 12th really should be the absolute earliest. Seemed as though 274 days was it. But keep in the back of my mind, technically if I add in the +/- 14 days, could be earlier.
Guess what?! Of course it was earlier. July 4th fireworks and a new calf in the dimming evening light.
So lesson learned: that first hello (which you may not even witness - to us it seemed there were a lot of back offs and take a hike messages) may be all that was needed for some. But we are still waiting on the other two girls to show more advanced signs to begin calf watch 2 and 3.
We brought our new bull home on October 9th. Let him meet the girls, three total. He was definately smaller than them at the time. School was in full swing, fall activities kept us busy, and then winter was setting in. Honestly, I do not spend as much time out in the barn or field in the winter.
Spring finally arrived and we started discussing if Sambo was 'getting the job done'. Were any of them showing signs? Should we consider pregnancy testing? Then we noticed Bluebelle looking plump, so of course the speculation started. Finally, well if it happened what would be the earliest possible and let's work from there.
After consulting gestation calendars and other's comments, decided July 12th really should be the absolute earliest. Seemed as though 274 days was it. But keep in the back of my mind, technically if I add in the +/- 14 days, could be earlier.
Guess what?! Of course it was earlier. July 4th fireworks and a new calf in the dimming evening light.
So lesson learned: that first hello (which you may not even witness - to us it seemed there were a lot of back offs and take a hike messages) may be all that was needed for some. But we are still waiting on the other two girls to show more advanced signs to begin calf watch 2 and 3.
