Palpating the Cows

It was time to see of Lil' Bully had successfully bred Rosie and Daisy.  He's eighteen months old, but still a little short when compared to the cows.  We have the cows' cycles written down on the calendar and when "their time is right" we've seen some action in the pasture and know that Bully has been romancing them.

After a couple of months we decided to call our local veterinarian to come over for a farm call.  His office is only a half mile away.  I was at work and Tricia was here to watch the entire process and I wanted her to catch it on film and chronicle the ordeal.  I regret to inform you that yours truly did not have the batteries adequately charged in the camera and when she went to take pictures, the battery was dead.  But no worries, I have a spare battery in the camera case, except it was dead too.

We're just going to have to use our imagination here.  Tricia brought the cows to the barn and Dr. Fontenot put on some gloves that went clear up to his shoulders and lubricated them up real good. Then he put his entire arm into the back end of the cows and felt around.  It was not a pretty affair.  Cow poop all over the place.

After about 30 seconds of palpating Rosie, he asked Tricia how long ago she thought she had been bred.  Tricia answered two months.  He said, "Yep, that's how old it feels like the calf is."

Rosie's gonna have a baby

Then on to Daisy.  He checked her out and checked her out again.  He asked how long Tricia thought she was bred.  Tricia answered 5 months.  Dr. Fontenot said, "Nope.  I don't feel anything insider her."  Tricia let him know that she hadn't been cycling, so he checked out her ovaries and everything was fine.

Well that's not good news.  Tricia still maintains she's bred, but I don't think the doctor could miss a five month old calf inside her.  If that's true, though, that Bully hadn't bred her, we'll be out of milk from Daisy for a long time.

Daisy's test turned out negative

We know the bull is fertile since he bred Rosie.  For some reason he didn't get the job done with Daisy.  We'll likely dry her off after the first of the year.  The veterinarian told us that he didn't have much experience with dairy cows, but he said for beef cattle, he would pull the calf off for a couple of days and it would help her to go into heat. Maybe in another month or two Bully will grow a little bit and that will help.  

So Rosie will be calving in about 6 months.  As far as Daisy, well, we'll keep her exposed to the bull and we have a couple of other options to think about as well. We know another gentleman that lives nearby who has a registered Jersey bull and when Daisy is dry, he's offered his bull's services.  If at first you don't succeed, try try again...  And that's what we'll do!