Our Guernsey, Blossom, was due to have her first calf on Dec. 27th. We took her to the bull on March 20th, and brought her home the same day. My book says a cow will carry a calf 283 days. Her bag is huge, she is somewhat swollen in the back-end. Yesterday she started a mucousy discharge,not much though. I am assuming this is her mucous plug. She is acting fine, eating good. Is it normal for them to go over? How long after she passes her plug, will she calve? Should there be alot of discharge? I know I sound like a worry-wart, but this is our first time and she is a member of our family. We love her.Thank you for any help, Becky in West Virginia

-- Becky (crostarws@aol.com), January 03, 2002

Answers

Response to A week late, still no calf

Hi Becky,

I would not worry yet. I raised hundreds of cattle in my life and interestingly each ultimately had their own gesatation day number that was within 2 weeks of so of the breed average. Weather conditions and othe external factors could and would affect the actually birth day, but that is all completely normal. Don't forget that your 283 days is based on an average with some standard deviation in days around that mean.

She sounds due shortly. One hour you can see her eating and the next hour you can see a contraction. And it can all be over in less than an hour after that. With first calves, you do want to pay attention though. The heifer is not experienced at what she will be feeling. She may get kind of restless and you might distract her and cause her to hold her baby longer if you are in her face too much. If she acts nervous at all with you around, watch her with binoculars. If she goes for too much longer you might have a vet induce labor but only because it is her first. That calf is growing larger with each minute and eventually it could cause birthing problems.

I had one whole line of cows all related to each other who typically went 10-14 days beyond their breed standard gestaton period. They were wide hipped and bore huge calves and never needed any help.

OK, so here you go. Watch her from afar. A contraction looks kind of like she is hunching her back. She might contract as she is grazing or eating hay. Often she will urinate fairly forcefully while her back is arched. She will stand and she will sit and she will moo low and she might grunt and breath hard. All of this is natural. Keep a watch and eventually you should see a membrane covered bubble...ballon if you will or a little white or yellow hoof or two peeking out. Now is the time to set yor timer. If it is a balloon, then the sack is still intact. If it is two little hooves then all is well and the sack is broken. At this point things should progress well for the next hour. You should see a nose kind of cradled by the hooves. after a few more contractions the head outght to crown. The first hard part is now upon you. The front shoulders can hang things up. If the calf is head out for much more than 20 minutes with regular contractions, I would gently pull on the front legs. Put her in a head gat if she will not let you get close t her. When she contracts, pull as hard as you can. Only pull if you really need to though. She will probably have her baby standing up. Don't worry about the calf landing on its noggin. She ought to turn and start licking it right away she will lick its face and that will stimulate breathing...be sure that the membrane is off the calves nose. If the calf is gasping and bubbling alot, pick it up by its hind legs and swing it agound as fast as you can. That will cause the fluid to run out and clear the passages. Mom ought to get the calf up and sucking within an hour.

Mostly, don't apply human worry to this animal who is beautiffuly equipped to do her job naturally. Puling a calf too soon is not good for her nor the calf nor you.

Good luck.

Thanks Oscar

-- Oscar H. Will III (owill@mail.whittier.edu), January 03, 2002.

Response to A week late, still no calf

Wow, Oscar, what a beautiful answer!

-- Bonnie (chilton@stateline-isp.com), January 03, 2002.

Response to A week late, still no calf

Thank you Oscar for such a detailed answer. You have put my heart at ease, at least about the timing. Blossom is very tame, we have had her since she was a day old, so I am hoping she will allow me to be there. But I will remember what you said about not getting in her face. I don't want to mess things up. Thank you again. I feel very lucky to have friends out there who can help. Becky

-- Becky (crostarws@aol.com), January 03, 2002.

Response to A week late, still no calf

Becky, I never worry until they go beyond ten days past due date, and with a first calf heifer they are generally on the late side. Much after ten days I'll call the vet to have her looked at just to be on the safe side.

To add to what Oscar said, when she does start to calve and you are watching, make sure that when the calf does hit the ground, that the membrane is open around its nose so the calf can breathe. It's rare that it doens't break open, but it happens and you can lose the calf at birth from it. This happens mostly when the cow has the calf laying down and it's an easy enough birth so she doesn't feel like she has to move around. The membrane (and it's tough stuff) doesn't get ripped in that case. You'll probably have no problem with this at all, but if you are around when she calves keep an eye out for this. Good luck with her. :)

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), January 03, 2002.