Yesterday morning Christina acted strange. Beefy had jumped on her while we were getting ready to milk, which he hasn't done in several weeks. During milking she startled, knocking into me and I leaped out of the way. I was fine, but she seemed nervous. These were all signs that she was coming into heat.
It has been 19 days since we gave her the series of shots to push her into heat and breed her. I called the breeder and he said to watch for her standing still when beefy jumped on her. But the cows spend so much time in the shed with the hay that we figured we'd easily miss it. So we moved the feeder out into the pasture where we could see them.
We spent the day with someone stationed at the back window watching the cows. Occasionally the cows disappeared into the shed and we'd run out to peek, just to find them napping. During the day she displayed every sign of heat — lots of movement, mooing (it was kind of a cross between a moo and a growl), nervousness, and walking the fence like she was looking for something. But we kept waiting for that definite sign — standing still when beefy jumped on her.
About 4pm, I was downstairs and my daughters came running. "Beefy jumped on Christina and she didn't move." That was it! I called the breeder and he said the best time to breed her would be this morning, so he's on his way.
Since we breed her a few weeks ago, it's a little disappointing that it didn't take, but we're actually grateful. Now we've seen her in heat naturally and we can identify it. Next year we'll put a steer with her from the beginning.
We marked 19 days on the calendar to keep watch. Hopefully this will be the last time this year we see her in heat and she'll calve on or about Nov. 16th.
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