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south central IOWA | 4 years ago I had a cow that was called open when the vet preg checked in Oct. I thought what the heck and put the bulls back in hoping to start a "small" fall calving herd. Well, it worked and she calved on 8-18. I thought "that's good" so I kept her around.
The next year she ended up calving on 6-24. I thought "good deal, she gained almost 2 months" so I kept her around.
Last year she calved on 5-25. I thought "dang, she's almost caught up" so I kept her around.
Well, she just calved a nice little heifer on 4-23. It's hard to imagine a cow can catch up 4 months in just 3 years. What would that calving interval be?
So here's my question. I'm thinking of keeping a few heifers this year to retain since I don't like the fact of spending $2,000 on a 6 year old cow from the salebarn. Would you want to keep this heifer calf based on the fertility that her dam has shown recently or remember her dam came up open 4 years ago and should have been hamburger? It also depends on if the calf meets my expectations in 6 months but from the other calves the cow has produced I don't think there will be any problems.
It's kind of like gambling at the casino. You win once and you think you'll win every time. I've got to work on my soft side with these cows. :-)
Edit: I started calving this year on 3-16. One more year and this cow might be the first one to calve. LOL
Edited by play in the dirt 4/26/2011 23:40
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How many times does this happen?
