How to find out if a cow is pregnant or not at home: gestational age in months

For a cow to give milk, she must bring a calf. Pregnancy in cattle lasts a long time, the animal can give birth to only one offspring per year. It also needs to happen every year. Consider how to find out at home whether a cow is pregnant or not, what determines the duration of pregnancy. Why a cow walks, how to correctly calculate the date when she will give birth.

How long is a normal pregnancy for a cow

Knowing whether a cow is pregnant or not is essential to properly feed and care for the animal during this period. It depends on how the calf will develop, how the mother will feel.To determine the term, you need to know how many days the cow carries the fetus so that you can prepare for calving in time.

Heifers happen for the first time when they are 16-18 months old, cows - in the first hunt after calving. The duration of pregnancy in cattle is 250-310 days. As can be seen, the spread is large and amounts to 8 weeks. The duration of pregnancy, on average, is 280 days, but even in the same animal, each pregnancy lasts differently each time. The term is counted from the date of mating. Deviation in both directions for 2 weeks is acceptable.

How long can a cow walk?

Despite the standard gestation period of 9 months, pregnancy can last longer. The female can walk for 2 or even 3 weeks. This is due to the peculiarities of the development of the calf and the mother's body, as well as the fact that during natural insemination it is not always possible to determine with certainty the date when conception occurred.

In order to have time to prepare the animal for calving, it is advisable to have a calendar where the date of mating will be marked. You need to add 280 days - this is how much a cow walks, this will be the date of the expected calving.

What factors determine the term

The duration of pregnancy is affected by feeding, living conditions, age, breed, he alth of the pregnant woman. An animal belonging to large breeds wears a calf longer. The gestation period is increased by several days if the cow is covered with a large bull, so the fetus inside her is also large.

First-calf heifers, older animals or those with diseases are the hardest to expect to be at term.

How to determine the pregnancy of a cow at home

There are many ways to do this. You can check if a cow is covered by bringing a bull to her every day.If she does not respond to him, avoids mating, then we can assume that she is pregnant. This is the basis of the test bull method. The fact that the cow is covered can also be determined by her behavior: she does not show signs of estrus for more than a month, her appetite increases, the animal becomes calmer, moves less.

Pregnancy can be accurately established by ultrasound, rectal method and laboratory analysis of blood and urine. These methods cannot be implemented at home, you will have to contact the veterinarians. The accuracy of an ultrasound examination is over 95%, and the gestational age can also be determined. The rectal method is still one of the main methods in animal husbandry for determining pregnancy. Effective even in the early stages, when visual signs are not yet observed.If the animal has been unable to conceive for a long time, a rectal examination can determine why this is happening.

Blood and urine tests can determine whether they contain a hormone characteristic of pregnant animals - progesterone. Its content in the body of cattle begins to grow rapidly when there is an embryo older than 3 weeks in it.

Veterinary pharmacies sell pregnancy test strips. The strip is placed in urine or milk. Human test strips should not be used in this case. In the laboratory, pregnancy can be determined by milk. It is handed over on the 19-23rd day after mating. If progesterone produced by a cow's body during pregnancy is found in milk, it can be safely assumed that the cow is pregnant.

After 5-6 months, pregnancy can be determined visually by the protruding lower part of the side on the right. The easiest way to determine pregnancy is in the last month.They try to determine pregnancy by milk at home. To do this, mix 5 ml of milk and alcohol in one container. If milk is taken from a pregnant cow, it will curdle within a maximum of 3-5 minutes. If you have a barren one, this will take more than 20 minutes. The effectiveness of such a test is 70%, so it is desirable to confirm its result with more accurate methods.

How to calculate calving date

First of all, it is necessary to note the date of mating. Add 280 days + 15 days that the cow can walk. You need to wait for calving in these 2 weeks. If the deadline has passed, and the calf has not been born, you need to contact the veterinarian, as this may indicate some kind of he alth problem for the animal.

How many calves can a cow give birth at one time

Like all large animals, a cow gives birth to one calf. The gender distribution is about the same. It can bring twins, calves are of different or the same sex, heifers or bulls. Twins are rare, triplets are even rarer.

In exceptional cases, there may be four, five or more calves. This is almost always the result of artificial insemination or the effects of treatment when the cow is injected with drugs that stimulate estrus. In natural mating, at best, twins are obtained.

The ability to plan pregnancy and birth of cattle will be useful to any livestock breeder. Knowing how much a cow wears a calf, what deviations in the term can be, you can calculate the calving date and prepare for it. During this period of time, you need to carefully monitor the animal so as not to miss the signs of an approaching birth. This is necessary in order, if necessary, to be near the animal and help with difficult births.