Cow two weeks over due

[shorthorn boy]

Hello everyone, my dad and i bought a cow that was AI'd and was suppose to calve on the 3rd of september but she still hasn't calved and is about two weeks exactly over due. I have been told by my vets that they dont like to induse cattle and just like to let mother nature take its course. I was wondering if anyone has been in this kind of situation before  and if anyone knows what we should due? As far as I know she was not exposed to a bull while she was in the pasture. Thank you.

 

[lowann]

We had this happen this spring. Our DJ Salute/Heartbeat cow was AI'd to The Golden Child. She calved two weeks past her due date. Our vet said the same thing, let her go on her own. Well, she had a 145lb bull calf. It was a dummy. Never nursed from her. We tried bottle feeding it,tubing it twice. Needless to say it lived three days. His back legs were very straight from the start. His Mother, after the first day wouldn't pay any attention to him. I think she knew he was doomed.
Hope this isn't the case for you. It was hard to watch.

 

[shorthorn boy]

That is what Im afraid of because we had a shorthorn cow calve this spring and was only a week over due and she gave birth to a bull calf which it was an extremely hard pull and ended up weighing around 120 lbs. He was so dumb, maybe nursed from the cow once and never nursed form her again we tried to bottle feed him and tube him but he only live for four days.  This cow that is two weeks over is purebred shorthorn and is bred to Sull GNCC Eldorado and from what I have been told by the guy we bought the cow off of that most of have Eldorado calves he has had have only gone three days over (i guess our cow is the exception) and they all weighed around 80 lbs .

 

[Show Heifer]

The first thing you need to do is call the previous owner and VERIFY her AI date, and if she was exposed to a bull afterwards. Or even if there was a possibility she was exposed. Sometimes catalogs get it wrong, and the ol'memory is jogged when faced with the possibility it wasn't AI'd.

I am not a fan of inducing. Sounds like Iowann had a problem with "bad genetics" - since the calf was born too straight (I am not saying it is Iowanns fault, just that wrong genes got together. Had nothing to do with it being born late.)
And it is indeed frustrating to have a calf that won't nurse, but again, I kinda blame genetics.

I vote to let Mother Nature do her job (you can run into calving troubles if you induce, just like you might if you wait). I wish you luck.

 

[CPL]

Had nothing to do with it being born late.)
And it is indeed frustrating to have a calf that won't nurse, but again, I kinda blame genetics.

EXACTLY! It is NORMAL for a cow to calve 14 days on either side of the calving date. I don't know about you but I rarely ever have cows calves on their exact due date.

If she is roughly 2 weeks late and you have an extremely large, low vigor calf - you cannot blame it being late. It's definitely genetics.

 

[LN]

I'm a fan of letting mother nature take it's course.

I had a cow calve 3 weeks early today. One never knows.

 

[shorthorn boy]

Thanks so much for all the feedback I feel better knowing that is ok for a cow to go 14 days past her due date and i can understand the bad genetic deal being the cause of a big dumb calf I think that is what happened with my calf that died. We did contact and previous owner and he said that she was AI'd and wa not exposed to a bull and should have been due the 3rd. I have had only one cow calve on her due date but other that that i have never had a cow calve when she was suppose too but this is the first time I have had one go this far over so I was getting a little concerned. Also with the inducing thing I am kinda in a situation where I want to but i dont want to. People have told me that they do it all the time and never have any problems and then i was told that they did it once and killed the calf and they never did it again. The vet did say though that if she doesn't calve in like five days then we might think about inducing her but hopefully she will have it soon.

 

[greenbean]

I know it's hard to do, but the best thing to do is be patient and let mother run it's course.  We had a cow go over by 16 days this spring to her AI date. 

 

[SKF]

We just had a cow calf 2 1/2 weeks past her due date and we had a 91lb very healthy bull calf. When her due date came and went I worried and had the vet come check her when she was 10 days past and he said she was fine and to not worry. She will calf when she is ready.Good Luck!!