Risks in Purchasing a Pregnant Cow

December 21, 2023December 21, 2023 Agric4Profits

When some ruminant farmers ask if I can advice their buying a pregnant cow, well I won’t really say is such a bad idea because you may be lucky the animal may give you a very good result while on the other hand, it may turn out to be a problem.

I will personally counsel against it because if a pregnant cow is dead, the meaning is that you have lost the money that would have been used in purchasing about 4 to 5 weaners and since we are here to figure out how we can make profits from our agricultural investments I will not advice you to take such risk here.

However if you must buy a pregnant cow, sheep or goat, you must get adequate history of the animal.

For instance, How many times has the animal delivered before, has the animal aborted before, what was the previous reproductive interval etc. also, make sure you know the reason why the farmer is selling the animal.

Is it because he needs money or is there a problem with the animal? All of these must be ascertained before buying the pregnant cow.

What Makes a Good Cow?

Of course, for your first few animals, you’re not looking for a show-quality cow. However, you do want one that is healthy. Here are a few characteristics of a healthy animal:

Eyes: The eyes should be bright and clear. Avoid buying a cow with a mucus discharge around the eyes. This may indicate pinkeye.

Nose: Likewise, avoid animals that have copious mucus coming from their noses. A few beads of moisture on the nose is fine, but the cow or calf shouldn’t be snotty.

Breathing: Animals should breathe normally. Panting is normal on warm days but the animals shouldn’t be constantly coughing. Some coughing may be normal if the farmer is feeding powdery feed or dusty hay.

Gender

Conformation: Male animals should look masculine; females should look feminine. Avoid buying cows that look “manly.” They may be less fertile or even infertile. Steers should have both testicles removed. If one is present, you can have a vet remove it, but keep that in mind as you bargain for price.

Coat: The coat of a healthy animal should be smooth. In winter, it’s normal for the coat to be thicker and fuller, but the animal should not have bald spots.

Udder: The best cows should have four quarters that are fairly similar in size. A cow with one dead quarter can still produce plenty of milk for her calf. However, if you plan on marketing fresh milk at some point, you may not want a three-quartered cow.

Also, keep in mind that a three-quartered cow may have had mastitis in the past and may be at risk for it in the future.

A dead quarter isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker for most homesteaders, but it may be a factor that you keep in mind as you talk to the farmer. Dairy cows should have well-formed udders that are nicely suspended from the body.

Avoid beef or dairy cows with poor udder suspension. Additionally, make sure that the dairy cow has teats that will work with your desired milking setup.

Some dairy animals have teats that are too small to milk by hand. If you don’t have a machine, don’t buy a cow if you can’t wrap three or four fingers around the teats. Weaned heifers should have small undeveloped udders with little teats, half the size of your pinky finger.

Body: Beef animals, both cows and steers, should be beefy. They should have well-developed muscles in the shoulders and legs. Their legs should be sturdy, well-balanced, and straight.

Both beef and dairy cows should have straight backs that are not swayed. Dairy cows will be much slimmer than beef animals, but they shouldn’t look like walking skeletons. They too should have straight, strong legs and move smoothly as they walk.

Disposition: Avoid any animal that seems crazy, mean, or wild. Beef cows are generally more flighty than dairy animals, but they shouldn’t bolt if you or the farmer walks quietly among them. Disposition is especially important for dairy animals that you will be handling on a daily basis.

The best way to determine what makes a good cow is to look at lots of them. Look at lots of pictures of cows, both show cows and non-show cows, and start to determine what commonalities the best cows have.

If you have a farming neighbor, talk to him and ask him to show you his best cows. Another good way of educating yourself is to take classes that many agricultural extension agencies offer.

Managing cow reproduction

To consistently achieve a high level of cow reproductive efficiency, management is required that results in:

1. A high proportion of cows becoming pregnant early in the optimum conception period;

2. Pregnancy testing to remove non-pregnant cows or cows that conceive late, and

3. Ensuring high cow and calf survival through to weaning, during which time pregnancies for the next calf crop are established.

The following are some of the key elements of management required to consistently achieve high reproductive efficiency. Each of these elements is discussed in more detail in other documents.

Managing cow condition

Managing cow condition is a key component in improving reproductive rates. Poor nutrition is often the leading cause of sub-fertility in breeding herds in northern Australia.

During the dry season a lactating cow’s nutrient requirements usually exceeds what she is able to consume from the pasture. As a result cows lose body condition, and then have difficulty conceiving following calving.

A cow should be in condition score 3 or above (on a 1–5 scale) at calving if she is to get back into calf again within the 85-day window to produce a calf each year (i.e. within a 12-month time frame).

Body condition of the cow at the time of calving determines how soon a cow starts cycling and conceives post-calving.

For most businesses, the key strategies in maintaining cow body condition during both wet and dry seasons are:

Cattle control (to improve management capacity)
Pasture management: appropriate pasture utilisation (feed available)
Weaning management (to remove stress of lactation)
Mating management (to reduce dry season lactations)
Strategic supplementation (to correct nutritional deficiencies).

Cattle control

Cattle control is primarily a function of fencing and the capacity to muster and handle cattle as required. Where basic management is not satisfactory, higher-order management such as seasonal mating becomes proportionately more difficult and less efficient.

Pasture management (feed available)

Appropriate pasture utilisation and adequate distribution of good-quality water points is fundamental in managing cow body condition and achieving consistently high reproductive efficiency.

Weaning management

Weaning is critical in managing the period of time a cow lactates. A lactating cow requires considerably more energy and protein than a dry cow. Weaning removes the stress of lactation which in turn lowers a cow’s nutritional requirements and reduces body condition loss.

A vast amount of research has shown that lactation also suppresses cycling. A cows’ chances of cycling are improved simply because the suckling calf is removed.

Managers must time weaning to achieve the best compromise between weaner growth and loss of cow condition. Astute managers start weaning before cows start to slip, and time weaning rounds to minimise the degree of condition loss in lactating cows. Special supplements are needed for young weaners to meet their nutritional requirements for their growth.

Despite well-established folk-lore, research also shows that temporary weaning for 48-72 hours by itself has little or no significant fertility benefit.

Mating management

If infrastructure development allows, seasonal mating will markedly assist lactation period management and overall business efficiency. The key objective of seasonal mating is to reduce the period of lactation in the dry season.

This will preserve body condition, support healthy egg development and ovarian function for cycling, and improve herd reproductive performance. Mating should be timed to restrict or eliminate dry season lactations.

Strategic supplementation

Dry season supplements should only be used to enhance effective management, not as a primary management tool to manage nutrition. Under poor pasture conditions in the dry season when crude protein (CP) levels maybe as low as 5%, the pasture diet does not supply enough protein to meet the needs of an average size lactating cow.

At 5% CP this dietary deficit in protein may be in the order of 480g. A 30% urea supplement will only supply 172g of protein if 200g per day is eaten. So for lactating cows it is difficult to correct this dry season protein deficit with a urea dry lick.

For a dry cow it is easier to correct the dry season deficit in dietary protein, due to the lower nutritional requirements of a dry cow.

Holding condition on pregnant and lactating cows keeps the ovaries in a ready state to cycle. If cows are allowed to lose condition it is generally too expensive to recover enough condition to warrant any increases in pregnancies during lactation.

One exception is Spike feeding where an energy concentrate is fed to cows during late pregnancy for 50 days before calving during a period when cows would otherwise have been losing condition.

This strategy is most economical when applied to maiden heifers seasonally mated, and where energy supplements can be accessed effectively.

Wet season supplements are necessary to correct major mineral deficiencies, which can impact significantly on feed intake, growth rates and fertility. The key mineral deficiency in northern Australia is phosphorus.

Nutritional supplements can help to rectify management errors, but in most cases, supplement efficiency is much greater when based on good management.

Heifer management

A good heifer management program is essential to improve reproductive performance in the breeding herd. In heifers, age and weight at puberty is highly variable.

Generally, if well-managed heifers reach 350kg by the end of their first mating, the probability of pregnancy is high. Heifers may require supplementation in some years or a special paddock after weaning so they achieve these weights.

As heifers are still generally growing themselves when they have their first calf, they should be seasonally mated so that they calve at the right time of the year.

Nutritional stress is significant during their first lactation. A heifer that calves at the ‘right’ time for her first calf is much easier to manage than one that calves out of season.

Pregnancy diagnosis

Pregnancy diagnosis is a valuable tool for beef producers and impacts on short term profitability through sales decisions. Pregnancy testing or foetal aging results will give an indication as to the conception rate in seasonally mated herds, as well as the calving pattern and spread.

This allows producers to make decisions about which cows to cull e.g. dry empty, late pregnant) and which to identify or segregate. In turn, it assists with decisions about keeping more pregnant replacement heifers or purchasing heifers or pregnant cows.

In herds where mating is uncontrolled pregnancy testing also enables producers to identify and separate high risk cows due to calve in the late dry season.

Disease

The primary infectious diseases that affect reproductive efficiency in north Australia are botulism, vibriosis and pestivirus. Leptospirosis and trichomoniasis are a problem in some situations. Botulism and vibriosis vaccination are recommended in most areas.

Diagnosis and financially-viable control measures for all diseases should be on advice from your local cattle vet: e.g. vibriosis vaccination is recommended universally in bulls, but only strategic use in female cattle.

Bull management

Part of the cost of producing each weaner is the cost of having bulls. North Australian research shows that no more than one bull per 40 cows is required (2.5% bulls). Lower bull percentages enable use of higher-value bulls, but with the proviso that bulls are not sub-fertile or infertile.

All bulls should pass a Bull Breeding Soundness Examination (BBSE) before their initial mating. Bulls passing a full assessment and those that do not suffer injury, disease or mismanagement, generally remain fertile for many years. However, all bulls should have an annual check-up before mating, particularly for single sire herds and where lower bull percentages are used.

Stress, whether it is caused by poor nutrition, relocation, mismanagement of bull groups, or being non-adapted, all cause sub-fertility. Fertility, and particularly semen quality, can be substantially suppressed for two months or more until relief from the stress is achieved.

Good managers minimise stress in bulls, particularly in the two months pre-mating and during mating. Some strategies to achieve this include:

Purchase and relocate new bulls well in advance of mating and acclimatise them carefully
Keep bulls in forward condition
Never use in excess of 4% bulls
Cull bulls before they reach 10 years of age.

Summary

Aim for cow condition to be score 3+ at calving
Maintain adequate pasture resources
Minimise or eliminate dry season lactation (weaning and mating management)
Strategic use of supplements
Appropriate disease management
Bull management (condition and soundness)

Risks in Purchasing a Pregnant Cow

What Makes a Good Cow?

Gender