Belvedere Farms

Farming for Flavor and Raising our Family on 47 Acres in NE Ohio

  • Our Story
  • On The Farm
    • Farm Goods
    • Farm Events
    • Farm Newsletter
    • Farm Institute
  • Milk Cow 101
  • On the Blog
    • The Family Milk Cow
    • Milk Cow Blog Posts
    • Farmhouse Recipes
    • Canning & Preserving
You are here: Home / Archives for breeding

How Can I Tell If My Cow Is In Heat?

07.28.2020 by Raelene Bradley // Leave a Comment

In order for your milk cow to produce milk, she must have a calf. And in order to have a calf, she needs to be bred.  The simplest way to do this is to have a bull handy, but that’s not always possible or feasible for a small family farm or homestead. Artificially inseminating your cow (either right on the farm or at the veterinarian) is a good option and ensures an accurate due date. But either way, you need to know for sure when your cow is in heat and ready to be bred.

A cow will come in heat 30-90 days after calving and then every 18-21 days after that. Every cow is a little different, so you’ll need to watch her closely for signs of coming into heat for several days around that schedule.

“In heat” means she is ovulating – fertile and ready to be bred. “Standing heat” refers to the 18-24 hours that she will willingly stand for a bull and accept breeding. Those are her most fertile hours and whether you’re doing a live cover (breeding with a bull) or AI (artificial insemination), you want to be sure to time the breeding just right.

How do you know when she’s in heat?

The most obvious sign is mounting other cows. When in heat, she will jump up on and ride another animal. This does happen with some regularity within a herd, even when they’re not in heat, but if she is consistently mounting or being mounted by another animal, and especially if she stands still while another mounts her, this is a clear sign of heat.

Sometimes a cow will even want to jump on you. When our yearling heifer is in heat, she often wants to jump on me; I watch her closely and try to keep from turning my back to her to keep her from doing so.

Another obvious sign of heat is mooing. Depending on your cow and her personality, insistent and consistent bellowing is another sign of heat. Our cow Sandy rarely moos. If she does, it’s for an obvious reason (e.g. we’ve just separated her calf). But she moos much more often when she’s in heat (sometimes it almost sounds like she’s in distress – but it’s just hormones). Our yearling heifer, on the other hand, bellows like it’s going out of style for several hours at a time. I can always tell when it’s “her time of the month” by her bellowing alone.

Discharge is another sure sign to look for. As her body ovulates and prepares for breeding, her vaginal canal will produce discharge to ease the breeding process. You’ll see long strings of mucus from her vulva, often swooped up on her flank by her tail. This is an excellent sign and a good rule of thumb is to breed 12 hours after seeing discharge – so if you observe it in the morning, breed in the evening.  If you see it in the evening, breed the next morning.

Other signs include restlessness, general irritability, rubbing on another cow, on trees or fences, or on you, and a swollen vulva.

The best way to know if your cow is in heat is to carefully observe her behavior and combine both the timing of previous cycles (18-21 days) and several of the previous signs.

What if there are no other cows around?

I am asked this question a lot. Because the most obvious signs of heat are mounting and mooing, if there are no other animals for her to interact with, it can be difficult to detect heat. The best way to do so is careful, consistent observation and accurate timing.

For example, our milk cow Sandy calved on February 15th. She came into heat for the first time on May 19th, exhibiting very clear signs: she had been irritable for several days beforehand (she balked when I tried to lead her, was sometimes restless and shifted more than usual during milking, and even laid down one morning when I tried to bring her up to the barn); she tried to mount both the steer she was with and her calf; she was mooing more than usual; and she had clear discharge swung up onto her flanks.

Knowing for sure that she had been in heat on May 19th, her next cycle would have been around June 9th. This was earlier than I wanted to breed her so I didn’t pay close attention.

The next cycle after that should have been June 30th. I watched her closely the day before, day of, and day after and though her vulva was very swollen and she did moo some, there was no discharge. Since the steer was no longer with us, I just wasn’t 100% sure. Without the steer around, she did not mount the calf and didn’t seem to exhibit many of those sure signs of heat.

Because I wasn’t totally sure when/if she was in heat, we missed the chance to breed her. But when the time came for her next cycle on July 21st, I had a better idea of what to look for with her specifically (and specifically without another animal). She was more restless than usual. She rubbed up against her calf and against the trees in the pasture. She was swollen and mooing (not a lot, but more than usual for her).

Having previously observed her behavior closely, when I saw these signs on the 21st, and knowing the timing was right relative to her previous cycles, we decided to breed her via AI on the morning of the 22nd, just after milking. Our friend is an AI tech and brought his equipment to artificially inseminate her. Once he was inside and could feel the condition of her cervix (which softens and elongates when she’s in heat in preparation for breeding), it was clear that though we were on the early side of her cycle, it was still good timing for breeding.

We’ll watch her closely around August 11th (the timing for her next cycle) and hope that she does not exhibit any signs of heat. This will mean that the breeding took and she’ll have a calf in mid-April.

Because they are lactating and much of their energy goes to producing milk, the conception rate for dairy cows is around 44%, so if she does come back into heat, we’ll simply try again.

Observation & Timing Bring Confidence

The three most obvious signs of heat are mounting, mooing, and discharge. But also watch for restlessness, irritability, rubbing, and swelling of the vulva. Combine those signs with careful observation and timing of her cycle (18-21 days) and you can be confident in identifying the signs of heat in your family milk cow and get her bred so she gives you a lively spritely calf next year and keeps on producing that liquid gold.

Have any other questions about identifying heat in your cow? Let me know in the comments below!

Categories // Blog Post, MilkCow 101 Tags // Animal Husbandry, breeding, family milk cow, home dairy, homestead skills artificial insemination, milk cow

belvederefarms

This time of year I worry about too much grass gro This time of year I worry about too much grass growing too fast before I can get the cows over to eat it down and make the most of it.
.
As a grass farmer, it’s the very best kind of problem to have: grass tall enough to get lost in.
.
Speaking of which: can you find the baby? Comment with a 👍 when you do!
.
.
.
#grassfarmer #grassfedbeef #iamyourfarmer #farmraisedkids #intensiverotationalgrazing #grassfed #grassfedbutter #farmlife #homesteadlife #supportlocalfarmers
That milk pail foam tho 🤩🤩🤩. . Those firs That milk pail foam tho 🤩🤩🤩.
.
Those first few weeks hand milking can be disheartening. Dribbles and squirts, milk running down your wrist, sticky fingers, and sore forearms. 
.
Milking is a skill. No one is good at it right away. It takes practice. The more you practice, the better you get. The faster you get, the more sure and even your squirts.
.
And then one day, there will be foam in the bucket and you’ll know you’ve arrived. Your squirts are fast and firm and sure and the sustained pressure of all that milk hitting the pail makes the most gloriously frothy foam.
.
Keep at it friend. Whatever skill you’re working on now. Just because you’re not that great at it right now doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing or that you won’t get better.
.
Keep working. Keep trying. Keep learning. The foam will come.
.
.
.
#farmlife #milkmaid #modernmilkmaid #milkmaidlife #milkcowlife #handmilking #rawmilk #homesteadskills #traditionalskills
Transcript of a real-life conversation we had this Transcript of a real-life conversation we had this morning:

Me: Whaa? Why is there a frozen turkey on the counter?!

Seamus (4): Because I like turkey and chicken meat.

Me: So you went out to the barn…

S: …and got in the freezer. And brought in a turkey.

Me: Oh, love. We can’t cook a turkey until we have a stove [kitchen reno still on going 🤦‍♀️].

S: Well, then you can cut it up and cook it piece by piece in the microwave.

Me: Actually, that’s not going to work.

S: (looks outside) Well, it’s raining today but tomorrow when it’s not raining we can make a fire and cook it outside on the fire.
.
.
Ever the problem solver, he was full of ideas. 🤣🤣
.
I did finally convince him to put it back in the freezer and wait until we have a stove - with the caveat that we cook it for his birthday.
.
.
.
#kidssaythedarndestthings
#farmkid #farmlife #homesteadmama #lifeonthefarm #farmraisedkids
We have two cows in milk right now: Sandy (old fai We have two cows in milk right now: Sandy (old faithful and best friend, there on the left) and Clara (new to our farm and momma to Ruby).
.
How much work is two cows vs. one? I was so nervous about adding a second cow because the additional time/labor was an unknown, but when it comes right down to it, it’s about 20 mins more time milking. That’s it.
.
Everything else is pretty well the same. It takes the same amount of time to bring them in to the milking shed. The same amount of time to move them to fresh grass. It still takes under an hour door to door to milk & do what needs done, and even less for evening milking.
.
And since our oldest boy (14) helps milk the majority of the time, that extra 20 minutes doesn’t often figure in. Many hands (and even just one extra pair!) make light work.
.
It does take a little more time to deal with the milk: more time straining, more time washing jars, more cream to skim, more butter to churn. But if more cream and butter are the cons, I’m here for it.
.
What would you say is the biggest obstacle holding you back from getting a family cow?
.
.
.
#familycow #milkcowlife #keepingafamilycow #milkcow #homesteadlife #rawmilk
Mud pie hearts. . Just because this day or month o Mud pie hearts.
.
Just because this day or month or season or year is hard does not mean you are not heard or seen or loved. There is beauty all around, if we have eyes to see it, hearts open to feel it, and wild, barefoot, dirty, outdoor-loving farm kiddos to deliver it.
.
.
.
#farmkids #wildandfree #mudpie #mudseason #springonthefarm #homesteadmama #farmmom
My cup - ahem. shirt - runneth over. Same same. . My cup - ahem. shirt - runneth over. Same same. 
.
I gather eggs every morning and again every afternoon. Farm life is a constant reminder that there is #alwayssomethingtobethankfulfor 
.
.
.
#farmfresheggs #farmeggs #rainboweggs #farmlifebestlife
Hello Friends! Jordan here, and it has been a hot Hello Friends! Jordan here, and it has been a hot minute. I went to Las Vegas last week to visit my brother and we made beef tongue tacos. I love using the whole animal and this was a fun process with a delicious outcome. You can check out the blog to get the recipe. Happy Cinco de Mayo!
.
.
#wholeanimalbutchery #wholeanimalcooking #beeftonguetacos #tacosdelengua  #cincodemayo #grassfedbeef #homesteadkitchen
T-minus 3 days until our first frost and we’re s T-minus 3 days until our first frost and we’re spending these lovely fall afternoons gathering in the last of the garden.
.
Today: dried beans (Christmas Lima and Cherokee Trail of Tears), Reagan’s sunflowers and luffa, the last of the tomatoes (gah! they just won’t quit!), and the rhubarb.
.
Tomorrow: chopping, freezing, cooking, and canning.
.
Months from now: bellies full of homegrown garden goodness.
.
.
.
#homegrown #gardenlife #farmlife #preservingtheharvest #garden #fallgarden #ohiogarden #growyourown #sunflower #familygarden #kidsinthegarden #gardeningwithkids #happyfall #harvesttime #harvest #fallharvest
Hello, fall. 👋 You’re long overdue and oh so Hello, fall. 👋 You’re long overdue and oh so welcome.
.
This morning was the first I stayed in a long sleeve shirt to milk and didn’t have sweat dripping down my face.
.
It’s the first the temperature has dipped below 60* (even though the humidity is a resilient 100% what with the rain, mist, and fog).
.
Technically, our first frost date should have been this week, but Ohio’s holding out and it doesn’t look like that’s gonna happen for another two weeks at least.
.
In any case, it finally (finally!) feels like fall and oh am I ever so here for it. So much so that once the must-do chores are done (yogourt, butter, beans and laundry), I fully intend to curl up on the couch with a cuppa and read.
.
.
.
#fallonthefarm #hellofall #fall #fallleaves #fallscene #farmlife #farm #ohiofarm #smallfarmcharm #simplehappycountrylife #homesteadmama #home #ilovefall #october
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Recent Posts

  • Tacos de Lengua – Beef Tongue Tacos
  • All About Cream : Part 1
  • How to help your milk cow adjust to Daylight Savings Time
  • What is A2A2 Milk?
  • Farmer’s Oxtail Stew

Categories

  • Blog Post
  • Canning
  • MilkCow 101
  • Recipes

Copyright © 2022 · Modern Studio Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in