Cattle Reproduction

Looking at a gestation calendar for cattle, she would be due on March 9, 2008.

Veal comes from young calves of age 6-12 month (beef)

It is very rare for a cow to cycle while pregnant. When the cow is in calf (pregnant) the corpus luteum (a group of follicular cells which secretes progesterone and maintains pregnancy) will continue to function, persisting in its progesterone production and preventing further estrous cycles. When a cow or heifer is breed, and comes into cycle the following month, this will mean she did not catch (eggs were not fertilized, therefore, no corpus luteum is present).

Those four teats are attached to four quarters (one teat for each quarter). This is so that the cow doesn't have to have all production go into one milk "container," if you will, to feed one calf. It's Nature's way of making sure that a specific amount of milk is stored in all quarters (more milk stored in the back quarters than the front), to make it easier for the cow to carry between her legs when the calf isn't suckling, and to store milk that hasn't been drank by the calf. Ideally, though, it's a method to store more milk in each section than to have one big section store the same amount of milk.

I am assuming that this question should read, "Is embryo transplanting feasible with cattle?" The answer to this topic will vary greatly among cattle farmers, with many of them answering that it is not. But as the practice becomes more widespread and the techniques to perform the procedure become more common, a greater percentage of farmers may look to embryo transplanting (ET) as a long-term economic improvement to their operation.

In the simplest of terms, one of the best cows in the herd for production (and any other characteristics the farmer wishes to propagate) is chosen to be the DONOR MOTHER. This cow is given a complex series of hormone injections that will cause her to ovulate with a great number of eggs, such as 10 or more. The donor cow is bred, usually artificially, to the best bull that money can buy, which fertilizes a great number of these eggs.

Ten days later, the donor cow is FLUSHED, which is a process of extracting the eggs through a tube while injecting a flushing fluid simultaneously. This process is normally handled by a veterinarian.

Embryos are usually analyzed under a microscope for any abnormalities. The healthy ones are saved, and can be stored indefinitely in liquid nitrogen at -160 degrees F.

SURROGATE MOTHERS in the herd are then determined, either by forcing ovulation through injection, or by patiently waiting for their cycle, and instead of breeding the cow, a fertilized embryo is placed in the uterus instead, using a pipette-and-plunger type of tool.

The costs involved: shots to the donor cow are about $200 total, and the flushing cost and embryo selection is about $300. Because of today's availability of "sexed semen", the farmer can even exert influence on the number of female calves that will be produced. Let's say the female rate is 80% and there are 10 viable embryos. For most farmers, propagation of female genetics is the goal. There are those who produce bulls for the national market, but they are the minority. This group has used ET for decades already.

So, we have 8 potential heifers from a $500 expense, and lets say 25% of these embryos fail, leaving us with 6 viable heifers. We have implanted 8 surrogate mothers (remember 2 failed). So we saved the breeding and semen costs for the six successful mothers, to the tune of about $120. So now the true cash outlay for the farmer is $380 for 6 viable heifers that are GENETICALLY SUPERIOR to probably any of the other calves in his herd.

Here's the benefit: for a dairy farm, 3 years later these heifers are milking cows, and produce just 1,000 lbs. of more milk each year than their peers. This is a value of $130 per animal per year, or $780 per year for the half dozen animals that were ET produced. If these animals have a 5-year production life (and that is realistic) they have returned a gross ADDITIONAL milk production value of $3900. This was with the original $380 invested. Ten times the money in 8 years.

There are other long-term benefits to the propagation of superior genetics such as: better feet and legs, better feed to milk conversion (or feed to meat conversion for beef farmers) more longevity, more size, straighter legs, larger udders, etc. It really depends on the focus of the ET selection process.

ET requires a great deal of management with regard to sanitation, to TIMING, and to care in selection. One must remember that all of the bad traits are propagated as well. But for farmers who already conduct their own artificial inseminations (and many do) the process of embryo transplanting is very similar. As economic margins on the farm continue to tighten, farmers will look for ways to develop greater production per unit in order to be able to meet ever rising costs such as taxes, insurance, and land payments.

AI is great because dairy farmers have less to worry about if they have to handle dairy bulls. Dairy bulls are VERY dangerous and can turn unexpectedly on anything that moves and put it in the ground. AI eliminates the constant use of these mad creatures and allows for more choice of what semen from which bull to breed what cow. AI thus allows a more flexible way of using semen from several different bulls on one or two cows without having to rent or buy the actual bulls.

They can, but they won't conceive a calf. It's just like with two women having sex: they can arouse each other to orgasm, but that won't mean that they will conceive a child between them. In the case of the bovine world, if a cow is in heat, she can (and will) ride other cows or heifers and other cows and heifers will ride her, but because they don't have the "tools" necessary to get her bred, she cannot conceive a calf. That's where the bull comes in, or the AI technician.

5-10 pounds at the most

Since this question has already been answered already in two separate questions, provided in "Related Questions" below, the answer would be the same: around 280 to 285 days in length.

Holsteins, Jerseys, Brown Swiss, Guerneys and Ayrshires, in that order.

No. A pregnant heifer will rarely come into heat, and her heat period will only be once or twice during her pregnancy, then stop until after she has her calf. But she will not go into heat and start to lactate at the same time she's bred. She can only either be pregnant and have a small chance of coming into heat, or be pregnant and start to lactate (which only happens when she is nearing the end of her pregnancy).

T-bone, Bruno, Red, Blackie, Sir Loin, Ribeye, Hamby, etc.

A calf is in the womb for around 285 days (though the exact time frame depends on the breed of the calf and the cow), and is raised on the cow for 6 to 10 months until weaning. After weaning a calf is no longer referred to as a calf anymore. However, it is still undergoing growth until it reaches 3 to 4 years of age, which it becomes a cow (or heiferette if it still hasn't given birth to a calf yet) if it is female, or a bull if it's an intact male. Males that are castrated are still known as steers even after they reach maturity.

Generally, calves go through three stages, the first being the "calf" stage. Then, when they are yearlings, they are either considered a "heifer" if they are female, "bull" if they are male, or a "steer" if they are a castrated male. Once a heifer has her own calf, then she is considered a cow.

That is highly dependent on the breed and the sex and age of a bovine. Typically older animals will have longer horns than younger stock, and males have longer, larger horns than females do.

Texas Longhorns have been bred to have enormous expanse of horns, sometimes with a length of over 6 feet from tip to tip. Ankole-Watusi have huge horns in terms of diameter at the base, but also in length. One horn can be as long as 4 feet with a diameter of around 10 inches or more.

Highland cattle may have a total length of 4 to 5 feet in length from tip to tip (some bulls have longer expanses), and Ancient White Park are typically a little shorter. Horned Shorthorns and Herefords only have a horn length (individual horn, not tip-to-tip) of a total of 8 to 10 inches. Hereford bulls, who have their horns to be made to curl down, may have a horn that is 12 to 14 inches long. Brahman and Zebu-type cattle may grow up to the same length of horn as Horned Herefords and Horned Shorthorns do, though Brahmans' horns are usually a bit shorter.

A cow is born with nipples--or rather, teats--therefore this question is impossible to answer. However, if you are asking about the formation of an udder being an indicator to when a cow will give birth, it could be anywhere from days to several weeks.

When calves that have not started eating solid food (grain, hay, etc.) are slaughtered for meat, the product is called "veal".

A Holstein calf can be given four to five quarts or milk per day, or 2 to 2.5 quarts per twice-daily feeding, especially in the first week of its life--this equates to 10% of the calf's body weight. However, in mimicing nature and opting for a more intensive feeding strategy, you can choose to boost up the amount of milk fed per day so that the calf is getting around 20% of its body weight per day with more frequent feedings with more milk after the second week of its life. Naturally, a calf on a cow will drink that amount of milk many times more than just two or three times a day. Most feel more safer opting to feed a calf 10% of its body weight per day since many feel that the incidence of scouring and digestive upset is greater when more milk is being fed.

A cow-calf operation is an operation that uses cows and bulls as breeding stock to produce calves. These calves are often sold for the purpose of being used for beef production, and as the main annual source of income for the cow-calf producer. Cow-calf operations always pertain to the use of beef cattle, not dairy cattle. The cows themselves are often cross-bred, straight-bred or even purebred. A cow-calf operation can be commercial, where 80 to 90% of calves are sold for beef, or seedstock/purebred, where 80 to 90% of the calves are sold as breeding stock.

Angus cattle tend to have short gestation periods, ranging from 260 to 280 days in length. However, this can be the exception rather than the rule. Because Angus are so popular and wide-spread, it shouldn't come to a surprise that some strains may have average or slightly long gestation periods ranging from 280 to 290 days long.

Moo.

The baby is called a calf and mother is a cow. Together they are called a cow-calf pair, or "mom and baby."

A cow can be bred 45 to 80 days (or a little longer) after she has calved and during her heat cycle which is once every ~17 to 24 days.

Heifers can be bred by the time they reach between 9 and 18 months of age, (preferably 15 months of age or older) and/or weigh 60% of the average mature cow-herd weight, since some heifers may not be able to be bred until they're ~20 months old, like with most Brahman heifers for instance.

There are many cow herds with Angus cows that are excellent mothers, some too good that the producer can't get near the calf without having momma blowing snot down his back pockets. Some Angus herds, though, may have cows with not so good mothering ability. It all depends on the individual herd and what producers have selected into or out of their Angus cow herds.

She is still called a cow. If she's old a lot of producers call their old cows "granny cows," especially if their foundation cows or good producers that have been in the herd for a long time.