Looking Forward- Cows and Babies

The anticipation of knowing whether or not my cows got bred is killing me!

We decided this year to AI the cows for the first time ever.  We accomplished this on August 23.  It has been a long 45+ days waiting til we could check them.  Tomorrow is finally the BIG DAY!  The vet will come in the afternoon and we will know within a couple minutes of loading each in the chute if they are pregnant or not.  If so, the calves will be due June 2, 2013.  We only have 2 to check as we had an unfortunate one that went back into heat a couple weeks ago. This was the first time heifer that we raised from a bottle calf.  She was re-bred on Sept. 29.  So hopefully that one takes for her.

I have tried to watch the cows like a hawk for signs of any heat in these two.  Unless I just missed it, they should be bred.  We will see how this goes tomorrow, but I am seriously thinking about renting a bull next year.  It has been a lot of waiting, watching and waiting again.  At least with a bull one can see the breeding happening! (Sounds wrong when I see it written, but yes, I like to watch!)

The vet will also be vaccinating/pouring this years' calves and the mommas. We have not been as diligent with vaccinating as we should be, but my goal is to improve from here forward.  

Calving is one of my favorite times of year.  The anticipation drives me even crazier then than now.  I am overly diligent with checking the cows multiple times daily when it gets close and my husband finds much humor in the fact that I know so much about what their rear ends look like in each stage!   

There it is!  I am super excited for tomorrow to get here and find out if we are pregnant or not!   

As always, HAVE A GREAT DAY!