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Cattle Reproduction
Knowing reproduction of cattle is important to the herd, no matter how big or small it is. Cattle reproduction involves breeding, genetics pregnancy, calving, care of the young calf and weaning, all of which is involved in the reproduction of cattle. Questions about everything involving in cattle reproduction, including a little on lactation, can be asked and answered here.
1,831 Questions
What age should you start putting your bulls with your heifers?
When the heifers are at least 14 months old, you can put yearling bulls (15-20 heifers per bull for yearlings) in with them. Don't put your big mature bulls in with your heifers as this could cause problems later on.
What type of inheritance is Roan in cows and bulls?
Roan is an example of incomplete dominance inheritance in cows and bulls. In this type of inheritance, the heterozygous individual will display a phenotype that is a mixture of the two homozygous genotypes. In the case of roan cattle, the roan color pattern is expressed when a black coat color allele and a red coat color allele are present.
Many a good cow hath a bad calf?
Sadly, this is often true. A good cow or heifer can have the looks of a good cow or heifer, but when it comes to producing a good calf, they fall short. And it's not always the bull's fault.
A good lookin' heifer may be the one that has more trouble calving, or one that raises an average to poor quality calf compared to the rest of the heifers in the herd. All this could be due to too much condition which affects milking ability and calving ease, diet during pregnancy that could've induced a calf that was too large for her to deliver by herself, or that she produced a calf that was too small. The good lookin' heifers may also be the ones that do not have as strong a mothering instinct as the other heifers, and may kick the calf away from them, fail to protect their calves against the test of predators like dogs or even strange humans, or just altogether ignore their calves. Even the good lookin ones may be the ones that fail to breed back or breed back on time.
The same can be said for the cows. Often there are those good lookin cows that raise great calves, but there's also those great lookin cows that are only able to raise average-quality calves. Even these good lookin cows may be the ones that are less able to gain weight easily after birth, or take more feed to maintain. There may also be some good cows that break down quicker than the uglier ones.
There's all sorts of variables to the phrase that "Many a good cow hath a bad calf."
How does a bulls penis extend from copulation?
The base of a bull's penis (inside the bull) is a sigmoid flexture, which is curved in an S shape when retrated inside the bull, held by muscles that keep it that way. When the bull is sexually aroused and extends his penis to copulate a cow, the muscles relax and the sigmoid flexture straightens out allowing the penis to protude to copulate the cow he his mating with.
What age should a heifer be taken away from a bull?
This is the wrong question to ask, actually. You should be more concerned about the age that you should put a heifer in with a bull to be bred, not when should a heifer be taken away from a bull. See the related question below, but generally, a heifer should be at least 15 months of age to be bred and be able to grow a calf in her.
Now to really answer your question, the bull should be removed after a couple months of being in with the heifer[s].
Cows are bred to produce offspring for various purposes such as meat production, milk production, or breeding of future generations. Breeding helps farmers maintain and improve the quality of their livestock, ensuring the sustainability and productivity of their operations.
What does a wildebeest calf weigh?
A wildebeest calf typically weighs between 19-29 kg (42-64 lbs) at birth.
No, cows and cats are different species and cannot successfully mate and produce offspring. Their genetic makeup is too different for them to produce viable offspring.
What does gestation have to do with a cow?
Cows are mature female bovines that are capable of having calves. By "having" I mean that they are able to conceive, grow and give birth to live young. Gestation is just a fancy term for pregnancy, which also means that a cow is capable of being pregnant with a calf (being the fetus) inside her.
Thus, gestation has pretty much everything to do with a cow. If she cannot conceive and become pregnant with a calf in both dairy and beef operations, she is deemed unworthy and culled for slaughter. In order for a dairy cow to produce milk she must both conceive, stay pregnant and give birth to a live calf in order to be deemed productive AND produce milk. For beef cows, the determining factor that enables them to stay in the breeding herd are the calves they are able to produce. They MUST conceive and give birth to a live calf in order to be deemed productive, otherwise she's better off as hamburger.
Genetics is a tricky thing and there are no 100% guarantees that you will get the color you want. That being said the best possible way that this might be achieved would to test the genetics of each breeding pair. And continue to breed a successful pair, but have a care not to over breed them. A roan will not necessarily produce another roan either. Any born not of the color you want test to make sure of the genetics and decide to keep and breed or sell. It would take years of careful screening, breeding, trials and errors and disappointments. But with patience and persistence I believe that it would be possible. :)
Is it a good idea to induce labor on a cow if her calf is too big?
No. The calf will obviously be too big to get his shoulders through the pelvic opening and through the birth canal without causing extensive damage to both himself an the cow, even if he was pulled out with a calf puller. You're much better off getting the vet out to do a Caesarean section on her to safely pull the calf out.
Is it normal for a cow to calve 5 weeks early three years in a row?
No, not really. A cow should be having her calf to full term, not calving 5 weeks prior to the expected due date. You should get her tested for diseases like BVDV (Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus), H. somnus, Leptospirosis, Listeriosis, Neosporosis, Salmonellosis, Chlamydia, Sarcocytosis or TB (Tuberculosis). Get your cow tested by a licensed veterinarian, and if she comes up positive in any of these tests, cull her immediately and any other cows that may be affected.
How many years can you bread a angus heifer?
Angus heifers are typically bred when they are around 15-18 months old, but this can vary depending on individual growth and development. It is generally recommended to breed them by the time they reach 15 months to allow for proper growth before calving.
Could a roan cow and a white cow have calves which are red?
Nope. And here's why:
Answer #1: A cow cannot produce offspring with another cow. Just like sexual intercourse between two women cannot nor will not produce a baby. So, in order to produce a calf, we need to put a BULL into the equation, and remove one of the cows. Which one, you ask? I say it's up to you. But remember this: Bulls contain semen which contain sperm which are able to travel to the embryo (after being ejaculated into the female) and fertilize it by natural fusion and create a baby calf. Now that we have sorted that out, lets tweak the question a bit:
Could a roan cow and a white bull (or a roan bull and a white cow) have calves which are red?Now from here, I can properly answer the question in the second part below.Answer #2: Using a Punnett square (you can draw one on a piece of paper as I cannot do one on here), you have the coat colour genes from the Roan Cow which are symbolized as RW for Red & White as Roans are animals that have red and white hair intermixed together. This is what is referred to as a Codominant Gene. Next, you have the genes from the White Bull which are symbolized as WW since the bull has white hair. Now draw your Punnett square and you will get the following chance of coat colouration in the resulting calves:
50% chance of white calves
50% chance of roan calves
0% chance of red calves.
So the answer to this question remains: No, you cannot possibly have red calves when a roan cow is bred to a white bull (or a roan bull is bred to a white cow).
Bulls do not experience love or attachment in the way humans do. They mate with cows as part of their natural instincts for reproduction. Bulls may show signs of interest or aggression towards cows during mating season, but this behavior is driven by biology rather than emotions like love.
Are bovine male and female twins fertile?
Yes, bovine male and female twins can be fertile. However, fertility in cattle depends on various factors like genetics, health, and nutrition. It is possible for both male and female twins to be fertile and able to reproduce under optimal conditions.
What is the youngest age a heifer can accidentally be bred?
This depends on the breed and environmental and nutritional factors. Early maturing breeds and/or herds that have highly fertile cattle can have heifers entering puberty at 4 to 8 months, which, if not weaned or separated from bull calves or the older bulls, will result in a "whoopsie heifer". The oldest a heifer be to reach puberty is 12 to 14 months.
This is not a matter of how many it's a matter of chance in terms of percentages. In this example, any bull that is horned is ONLY homozygous, both phenotypically AND genotypically, for horned because the horned gene in cattle is recessive. The polled (non-horned) characteristic in cattle is a dominant trait both phenotypically and genotypically. So that means that any horned parent that breeds a homozygous polled parent will have offspring that are ALL polled. The only way you will get horned offspring is one of two ways: a horned sire mates with a horned dam, or, a hetero polled sire mates with a hetero polled dam (resulting in a much smaller chance than the first way). The question above is answered as followed:
Homozygous Horned (Hereford) bull x Homozygous Polled female = 100% Polled offspring.
I cannot use the Punnett square on this site, but if you use it on a piece of paper you will see that 100% of all offspring are polled. But notice that genotypically they are HETEROZYGOUSLY polled. This means they are polled physically, but in their genes their offspring have a 50% chance, should this offspring be bred to a horned partner, of having either horned offspring or polled offspring. If the offspring of the above cross were bred to a polled partner, the results would be 50% hetero polled and 50% homozygously polled. AND, if the above offspring were bred also to a hetero polled partner, you would get, phenotypically, 75% polled and 25% horned. Genotypically, this is 25% homozygously polled, 50% hetero polled, and 25% homozygously horned.
See, the most a cow can have in her lifetime is 20 calves. There is no way that she can have 100 or so calves in her lifetime to see this example work out. Producers have to go by chances of an event happening when selectively breeding cattle, not how many.
What does a cow vulva look like?
It's just a slit below the anus that has a little hair on the bottom part (called the ventral commissure). It does not have two types of labia (vuval folds) like the human female does, but just a single fold that protects the vagina.
The stage of the estrus cycle in which no active reproduction occurs is called?
Anestrus or Diestrus. Proestrus is when the female is about to go into estrus, and Metestrus is the period before Diestrus and after Estrus which the female goes out of heat and ovulation ends.
What is a young male bull raised for beef called?
A young male bull raised for beef is called a steer. Steers are typically castrated males that are raised for their meat and are known for their high-quality beef.
If a cow gives birth to twin heifers are they sterile?
No, twin heifers born from a cow are not necessarily sterile. Twinning in cattle can sometimes result in one of the twins being sterile due to fertility issues, but it is not a guarantee for all cases. It would depend on various factors such as genetics, health, and individual development.
Will heifer-calf twins be able to get bred?
Yes, heifer-calf twins have the potential to be bred once they reach maturity. However, they may face challenges related to their reproductive development and fertility due to shared intrauterine environment during gestation. It is recommended to monitor their growth and reproductive health closely.
Is a heifer 18 months old to young to breed?
It is generally recommended to wait until a heifer is at least 15 months old and has reached a certain weight before breeding to ensure proper growth and development. Breeding too early can lead to health and reproductive issues. Therefore, 18 months old is an appropriate age for breeding a heifer.
