Prolific Cow

60 acre hillside · Feb 26, 2014

I had an orphan calf about 10 years ago. She was kind of a pet and I did not really plan to keep her but she took up company with the Gentleman cow and calved when she was about 20 months old. Since that time she has always calved in less than 360 days Monday she had another calf 318 days after the last one. She is a good milker and raises a good calf but is the smallest cow in the herd. Is this unusual?

LonM · Feb 26, 2014

I would say she's well above average. You probably feed her well so she can breed back easy. We expect our beef cows to calve on a 365 day schedule, though some will make up lost time and calve 10 to 11 months after their prior calf. Others fall off and get out to 13-14 months. We had a yearling heifer a few years ago who had her first calf at 14 months of age, then her second at 29 months. We also had a small old Angus who had a few sets of twins in her lifetime; she raised 13 calves in 10 years. But these are all the exceptions- many only will produce 5-8 calves before they come up open or have some other issue that justifies culling. So I think you can take some pride in what you have done with that cow.
Lon

Richard G. · Feb 26, 2014

There was a Jersey cow in our community that lived to be almost 37 years old. She had had 34 calves. I remember seeing a newspaper article about her on a dairy science proffs door at Clemson U when I was a student.
Richard in NW SC

T in NE · Feb 26, 2014

How big do her calves get?
That's what I'd be more worried about.

60 acre hillside · Feb 27, 2014

I try to wean and sell at 6 months and her's sell like the others.

Cas · Feb 27, 2014

We used to have a few cows like yours years ago.
That ended around here when everyone switched to freestall setups.

Prolific Cow

60 acre hillside

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LonM

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Richard G.

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T in NE

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60 acre hillside

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Cas

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