Cow showing signs of heat while pregnant?

[PROFarms]

Have got a Devon cow who we know is (or at least was) in calf and is due middle of next week. Went to check on her today saw her being mounted by another heifer that was in the field with her. It’s our first cow in calf and father was worried the cow may have aborted and is now showing signs of heat again?
Was just wondering if this is normal or something we should be concerned about?
Help/advice will be much appreciated!

 

[Paul E]

Probably the heifer bulling.
If you're worried, stick your hand in the cow,(top hole) if she's 8.5 months in calf you'll be able to tell no bother.

 

[Tarw Coch]

Some cows do, I’ve had a few over the years who will show bulling regularly throughout pregnancy.

 

[Whitepeak]

We've had cows show signs of bulling in the final few weeks of pregnancy but have calved normally. I think it's probably an overload of hormones causing odd behavior, that's my theory anyway.
If she's due next week she should be showing signs like filling her udder and slackening around her back end. If she's showing these signs I wouldn't be concerned, if she isn't then I'd be having doubts.

 

[RMSLLOYD]

She produces estrogen to slacken off her pelvic muscles to allow calf to pass through at calving. This is also the hormone that makes a cow show signs of bulling.

 

[Tealo]

Shouldn't worry, had that happen a lot.

 

[Pistonbroke]

Had a pedigree Lim heifer A I d five times because she kept going bulling every three weeks and she calved to the first service. Vet said could be cysts on the ovaries causing it

 

[tanker]

Somewhere up to 5% show signs of bulling when they're in calf so it's very possible that it's all fine..The heifer might have been bulling and the cow had an itch on her back which also might explain it.. (It's not always good news though,I'm sure most people with cows have the unexpected empty ones turn up after 9 months)

 

[GenuineRisk]

We’ve got one or two who do it too, oddly one also a ped Devon cow (our one and only!). Quite often you’ll see the Blue females jumping one another but that’s because, being so thin skinned, they are lice magnets so it’s for a good scritch! But the Devon genuinely seems to having a false bulling and also had a couple of Bluex recips do the same in previous years, all scanned well in calf before turn out. So much so we rescanned the Devon a few weeks back, convinced she’d lost the pregnancy but nope! When it happens in mares, nearly always turns out to be a filly they’re carrying.not sure same in cattle though,

 

[Bullring]

I've heard that before, if you see a cow bulling in pregnancy it's usually a heifer calf she is carrying.

 

[CharcoalWally]

I see it a lot in cows that aren't far off calving. Always say to myself that means she's not far off the calving. ..?

 

[Bopeep1981]

We had a summer calving cow mounting the bull this year, a week before she calved. I was a bit worried that she might give herself an injury! She had a bull calf @Bullring. The cow should be showing other signs of calving though, if she is that close, as already said above. Best of luck, hope all goes well!

 

[RMSLLOYD]

Had a pedigree Lim heifer A I d five times because she kept going bulling every three weeks and she calved to the first service. Vet said could be cysts on the ovaries causing it

Lucky she didnt abort if she was inseminated when 100days+ in calf

 

[Pistonbroke]

Even luckier that she calved ok because nobody was home expecting anything.

 

[PROFarms]

Her udders seem to have started to fill? Not much though at this point!
As I mentioned I’m new to this but how early/late can they be calving?

 

[andyt87]

We've had between 275 and 301 days this year, some fill a few days before, others don't until they've calved.

 

[Bopeep1981]

We have had one go two weeks over. She was AI'd so we were sure of her due date. She should be slackening off and looking "a bit wobbly" in that department when she walks by now. Udder fill can happen really quite close to calving with some cows, but I would be expecting her teats to be dropping and looking bigger, and her udder to have a bounce to it. Difficult to describe, sorry!

 

[andyt87]

As @Bopeep1981 says, you should be seeing her slacken off/go sloppy in the week before she's due. A few hours before calving you'll see the tail start to look risen from her hips (kind of like the black Hereford), if she's quiet it will feel softer as well.

Udder should be filling but it's not exact. All 3 of the pics below were within a few hours of birth, the black Hereford cross within minutes. All the udders are different. The blue has got proper 'bottle neck' teats. And the other Hereford X has barely got a bag [emoji849]