“Honey, can you hand me my phone so I can take a picture of the cow’s mucous?”
That’s pretty much how the conversations have been sounding around our house lately…
Calving is always an exciting time, but I’m especially excited this year since we bred Oakley (our milk cow) to a super nice Brown Swiss bull. Usually, we just borrow a neighbor’s bull and end up with a half beef/half dairy calf. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I’ve been wanting a full dairy heifer to keep alongside Oakley, so we found some lovely Brown Swiss semen this past summer and had Oakley artificially inseminated.
And I’ve been waiting. And waiting. And waiting.
What’s the secret to knowing exactly when your cow will calve, you ask?
Well, there isn’t one… When it comes right down to it, you just gotta be patient. The gestation period of a cow will be anywhere from 270-290 days, so it’s all about the waiting and watching game once the time approaches.
However, there are some definite signs of calving you can look for that’ll clue you in to when the time is getting pretty close.
5 Signs of Calving
1. Rapidly growing udder
Now, this can be a bit deceiving, since a cow will start “bagging up” sometimes months before their calving date. However, when the time gets really close, you’ll see the udder get much bigger, much faster. There will no longer be any wrinkles in the bag or teats, and the teats will “strut” or stick out at a slight angle. I felt bad for our Oakley– I thought her bag couldn’t get any bigger, but it just kept growing and growing right up until she calved.
If your cow is a heavy producer, sometimes milk will start dripping out a bit, but I don’t suggest squeezing the teats or trying to express any milk until after the cow calves.
Time Frame = Bagging up will begin months prior, with fastest growth happening in the week before calving
2. Springing in the Back End…
Also know as a puffy, relaxed vulva. Yup– you’ll want to get up close and personal with your cow and see how things are looking on the back end… As calving time approaches, her vulva will get very loose and relaxed. On Oakley’s last few days before she calved, I noticed her vulva would even bounce a bit as she walked.
Time Frame= Springing will often begin several weeks before birth, increasing as time passses
3. Disappearing pelvic ligaments
Does your cow’s tailhead seem to be sticking up a little more than usual? That’s a good indication her pelvic ligaments are softening to prepare for birth. However, like the other signs, this can be deceiving because what you *think* are super-loose pelvic ligaments might not actually be near as loose as they will be right before calving.

Also, on beef cows or fat cows, it will be much harder to use the ligaments as a determining sign. Our Hereford cow calved the day before Oakley, and her tail area didn’t seem to change at all. Oakley, on the other hand, showed considerable change as time progressed. Watching the progression ;of her ligaments reminded me of watching our goats for the same sort of thing.

Time Frame = You may notice softening in the pelvic ligaments up to several weeks before calving, but you’ll notice the biggest changes 12 hours before birth.
4. Mucous & discharge
Noticing a little bit of slimy discharge under your cow’s tail? That’s totally normal, and you can expect to see it one to two weeks before calving, or, you may not see it at all.
I noticed some mucous strings on Oakley’s tail the day before she calved. Not a lot, but just enough to let me know we were getting close.
Time Frame = You may see discharge/mucous from your cow up to two weeks before calving
5. Restlessness and weird behavior
The day Oakley calved, she wasn’t quite acting normal. While her friends were out grazing in the pasture, she stood in the pen by the water tank and kinda “zoned out.” Several hours later, my husband caught her in the barn pressing her head against the wall and stretching her back legs out.
Her abnormal behaviors were the signs of early labor, however she continued to graze and act normal on and off throughout the day, so her labor didn’t become “intense” until the last hour or so.

Once the cow is REALLY ready to calve, you’ll see her pacing, pawing, and getting up and down.
Time Frame= I usually notice the most weird behavior 12-24 hours before calving
Oakley’s Special Surprise
Although I do watch our cows carefully during calving season to make sure there aren’t any problems, I try to give them plenty of space, for the most part, to just let them do their thing. However, I was bound and determined to get some good calving pictures this time around, so I pretty much stalked her with my camera during that last week.
My persistence paid off, and Prairie Girl and I were able to witness Oakley calving for the first time ever. We stayed fairly hidden so as not to disturb her, but I was still able to snap some pictures of the process.
You can see the water bag here– it has ruptured and although not visible in this photo, there were two small hooves beginning to peek out.
(Note: We have a barn with stalls, but I prefer to let our cows calve outside, in a small pen where there is fresh air and grass. Oakley happened to choose a spot right by our post pile (argh), but I didn’t want to disturb her by shooing her away from it.)
Front legs and a head. At this point, I even caught the calf blinking as it took its first look at the outside world.
It’s hard to see here, but the back legs are just about done coming out.
Oakley is a fabulous mama and always gets right to licking and cleaning the calf.
At this point, Prairie Girl and I decided to head inside and give Oakley and her calf a little time to bond. I’m not a fan of jumping right in the middle of things if I don’t have to. This is a very important bonding time for calf and mama, and since I know Oakley has a strong maternal instinct and knows how to clean off a calf very thoroughly, I wanted to leave her alone for a bit.
But when we came back out an hour later, we had quite the surprise.
Because there wasn’t just one calf on the ground, there was TWO.
TWINS!
And twin heifers, no less! I was absolutely beside myself. 🙂
At this point, it was starting to rain, so we decided to take everyone into the barn for the night.
Oakley had an instant bond to both calves, which was a relief as sometimes mamas will reject one twin.
Prairie Girl helped dry them off a bit more as hubby and I made sure everyone was figuring out out how to latch on and nurse. Making sure any newborn baby gets their first drinks of colostrum is absolutely crucial in the first few hours after birth. One of the twins was slightly weaker than the other, but both were able to get up and had strong sucking reflexes.
When it comes to cattle, twins are often not a welcome outcome. There can be issues with rejection of one of the calves, or sometimes the cow doesn’t have enough milk. Also, if the twins are mixed-sex (one boy, one girl), it is very common for the heifer (girl) to be sterile (aka a freemartin heifer).
Thankfully, Oakley is used to multiple calves, as we often graft bum calves on to her due to her copious milk supply. And since they are both heifers, we likely have side-stepped any fertility problems. Whew! Therefore, I’m seriously celebrating my two-heifer year. We have decided to keep both for a while and will halter break them and breed them before selling them.
Here are some more baby pics, because, well, I’m a little obsessed…
We kicked them out of the barn the next day so they could enjoy the sunny skies and fresh air.
It looks like Prairie Girl has decided to name them Elsa and Anna. Although I’m still having a hard time telling who is who, since they are pretty darn identical!
What an informative post! Thank you for taking the time to take these pictures; you just don’t see enough of them. What a lovely surprise for both your family and for Miss Oakley! Congratulations on an easy farm birth and a wonderful outcome. They are absolutely beautiful babies and I hope that they grow strong and healthy. I’m not a cow-mama yet (we live in an apartment right now, but we have dreams of a small homestead one day, after we go debt-free!) but I am learning all I can ahead of time. I always enjoy your blog and I learn something new every time I check it out. You are always inspiring! Thank you for the work that you do!
Thanks so much for sharing a lot of great tips I’m still nervous cause this is our first time be so excited also. Again Thank you.
Thank you so much for your fantastic and very informative post, updates and pictured. We are also first timers from South Carolina with 3 pregnant 3 1/2 yr old 1st time Belted Galloway Heifers ( 2 are due in 3-4 weeks. Our 3rd is due end of April. The pictures gave us. Insight what to be looking for.
Thanks so much for sharing a lot of great tips I’m still nervous cause this is our first time be so excited also. Again Thank you.
They’re so sweet! Congrats!
Wow – you lucky duck!! Good for you!!
I am so glad I listened to the Essential Oil Revolution and found out about your blog. We have a 15 acre hobby farm. Right now we only raise laying hens and meat chickens but next adventure is cattle. Found this information great and I love visuals.
This is by far the COOLEST blog post I have EVER read. Thank you for sharing. How adorable are they?! I bet they’re a playful bunch and so fun to watch. My sister (and me kind of) raised a calf when we were younger (she bought it so it was her calf – I just helped occasionally) and it was incredibly fun to bottle feed it and brush it. I can’t wait for the day when I can have cattle and pigs and wee little cuties like those!
Thanks Jenn! Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Thank you so much for the awesome post! Very well written and great pics! Wondering if you can walk us through the transition to milking her again? Did you milk her 24 hours after birth? How long do you get colostrum and are not able to drink the milk? Will you separate the calves to milk her once a day? Thanks!!
Usually I have to start milking a bit right away because she has SO much milk and becomes engorged if I don’t. (And then the calf as a hard time latching on) This time, because there were two babies, I didn’t really have to do that. I usually wait about 2 weeks before I start separating the calf to milk once per day– just to give her time to recover and adjust.
Good to see Brown Swiss …. my uncle was a big cattle farmer in the breed …. finished up his farming career marketing Brown Swiss sperm around the world and arranging breeding stock transfers ….
Wow twins! That is so neat. She looks like a great mama!
Hi, great blog post about the calves…. I found it really interesting. Also I love your beautiful pictures of the animals! 🙂
I don’t get a chance to post here very often, but I always enjoy your pics and information you provide. This is particularly interesting and fun to see. Thanks for the time you take to help out fellow homesteaders. (Even if ours is very small).
Wow Jill!! Twins!! They are beautiful!
We just had two cows freshen! Both bull calves. A bit sad that we did not get a heifer but they are both so sweet and doing well!
We separate right after milking with our separator. In your opinion would it be ok to immediately make butter or should I chill the cream for a few days and then make butter?
Hi Carol,
Congrats on your new calves! Yes, you can make butter immediately from the cream. I find that room-temp cream usually makes better butter anyway. 🙂
I went ahead and tried it. The only thing was the butter never got very hard and it was too soft to squeeze to get all the buttermilk out. I usually use my mixer with the dough hook and cold water to wash the butter but it was just too soft. I put large spoonfuls on parchment paper and put in the freezer. After it was frozen I wrapped it up to store in the freezer. Haven’t tasted any yet..
Hmmm…. Good to know. Sorry it wasn’t more of a success, tho. Maybe it hadn’t had a chance to fully separate, so you ended up with more milk in it than normal?
I did have that happen when we first had our cow. I did learn right then to cool the cream to 50* then churn ?
Jill, I have read your blog now for a couple years or more and have never commented. I enjoy your perspective because I live very near you. In fact, I took your natural homesteaders book into a local mill and asked if they could mix up the soy and corn free chicken feed for me. They said “of course!” They have mixed it up for you before. How are your chickens liking that mix? Do you still use it? I see the picture of the bags in some of your posts.
Anyhow, our family has been interested in getting a dairy animal for quite some time and figure we will start with goats to “ease” into it. However, I’m pushing for a cow for many of the same reasons you went from a goat to a cow. Butter, cream, cheese. And to have some extra milk to possibly feed to the pigs. What is your time frame for breeding and selling the twins? We’d like to be considered if you don’t already have them spoken for.
Thanks for your blog and all the great information.
Hey Neighbor!
My chickens are still loving our custom mix! We bought our second batch a while back, and I am super happy with it. We’ll be breeding the twins late next summer, and then selling at least one after that. I’m happy to keep you in mind for as a potential buyer!
Very interesting, although I don’t have any cows or even know what to do with one, I found it interesting and enjoyed the photos.
Only being familiar with goats and horses , dogs ,cats and birds I found this so interesting . Great photos and I might add ,so totally sweet
My daughter (who I think is about Prairie Girl’s age) named last year’s calf Elsa! Now we’re anxiously awaiting my guernsey heifer to calve. I’m having the hardest time beig patient. Great post by the way. Very informative.
Elsa is a pretty popular name this year! 🙂
Guernsey is another old time breed, I’m glad to see others keep them as well..
Thanks for this very interesting post Jill! The pictures turned out great! I’ve not seen calving but have been around plenty babies since dad’s family are all Iowa farmers!! Nothing cuter than a baby calf! We would go out to the barn as kids and let the babies suck on our fingers! Boy do they have a strong suck!!! Enjoying your emails on homesteading!!
You are very welcome Miss Lori. 🙂
Congrats on the twins! So adorable.
I want to recieve your blog.
Thanks,
Elizabeth
Enjoyed calf story and info on DE.
Hey Elizabeth– You can go here to subscribe. And you’ll get my free ebook, too! http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/subscribe
My husband and I are raising registered Red Angus, registered Berkshire pigs, and registered foundation, registered quarter horses. I am so excited about my newfound destination here on The Prairie Homestead! It’s great to connect with folks who speak my language. I gobbled up this article on the signs of calving, as we have several heifers who are pregnant and this is my first experience with calving. Your info was spot-on! I love the subsequent articles on composting, creating apple cider vinegar and the all natural fly repellent. I look forward to many more informative articles as well as scrumptious recipes.
Thanks again,
Toni (JAM Ranch)
Thrilled to have you as a reader, Toni! I’m a big QH fan as well. 🙂
Hi I have 3 cow all with calf just dont know when there time is . We got a young bull and put them together and he has done he do only we dont how when the took. Love some help with telling when . Twice I have felt one was so close and they just laughed at me all three were hand raised by me even the bull I know it any time Help if you can please Pam
Twins and rain in one day?! What an amazingly beautiful blessing!!! Fantastic post <3 we too have a Brown Swiss that we just love! After some unfortunate events that led to the abortion of her 4 month old fetus, we ended up just turning her out with our Hereford bull. Hopefully she's bred now! Oh how I love new babies on the farm <3 Cheers to new furry family members this spring!
Never ever sell twin heifers, most fertile cows you will ever have, keep them at all cost. When we started our dairy we bought heifer twins, both had heifers first and the second time around the firstborn heifers had heifers the first time they calved. just amazing, a true blessing. Never sell them.
Loved the info thanks so much
Thank you for such an informative read while I’m waiting for my first ever calf from the beautiful Red Angus heifer,Marilyn Monroe. I’d love to see recent pictures of Anna, Elsa, & sweet Oakley.
Thank you for your blog. I am new to the cow world and my Jersey girl is due in May. So excited.
Hi I learned a lot from your post . I have been looking at the back end of our heifer for so long . She is 6 weeks over due by my count — She has a full bag and very loose vagina – so loose there are wrinkles and flops about . Every time I think today She just seems to laugh at me . She is a Angus / Sharlay mix I raised from day one , I tend to worry about he a lot this being her first . any help you can give would be great. Waiting in Texas
Thank you for posting this Jill!
I’m about to experience this first hand; for the first time, with a first time momma. I’m nervous & excited & all sorts of things, but this post helped clear up some questions! Thank you!
What beautiful babies and momma.. I’m so excited for you all… I can’t wait for ours to get here. They will be here anytime now.. thanks for the information on the birthing.. it’s our first time, and we’re still learning each day… ?
Beautiful calves.
Hat’s off to you Jill!!! Great post!!! Calves are my favorite and no matter how old I get I still love them more than any other baby animal. The saddest time for me as a child is when a calf was born dead which didn’t happen often or when it was a bull calf because I knew my dad would sell it to THE MAN WITH THE RED AND BLUE TRUCK THAT HAD A SMALL DOOR IN THE SIDE THAT SEEMED TO SWALLOW UP MY FRIEND MY PET AND DRIVE AWAY. As a child of course I didn’t understand any thing but the pain and loss. To this day I still cannot bring myself to eat veal. Your a wealth of information and your children will know so much and be able to help you both.
As a novice 3-year hobby farmer, who is cow sitting 3 Jersey heifers-2 with calves, your article couldn’t have been more helpful & enjoyable! It turns out the heifers could be pregnant & though we just experienced our first breeding of our dwarf Nigerian pygmy dam, Glory, last year (there are some similarities with the signs), I’ve watched too many episodes of Dr. Pol to want the responsibility of having the cows deliver “on my watch”. Our friends who raise beef cattle say “Oh don’t worry-we usually just wake up & find a fresh calf by their mama!”.
Wish I could be so lax, but I was a nervous mom with my firstborn, nervous “farmer mom” to my goat, & I’m already stressing about these possibly-pregnant “guests”. We don’t have to have them on our farm when they’re close to birthing, but I’m researching all the same. Heck-some women don’t even know they’re preggars until jr. pops out (how they don’t know I can’t begin to imagine!). SO, thank you for your fantastic website. Love, love, love the photos & info. We have 3 dwarf Nigerians; Gus, Glory & kid Gunther, Llama George, 2 barn cats Bella & Luna & we’re planning on getting 2 mini cows, but now that we have the full growns-on-loan, were going to go that route. A rescue horse is the last dream addition to our four-legged furry family. Plus the 6 Pekin ducks & 3 inside dogs, Elwood (13), a coon-hound/doberman mix, Nestle (12), a Australian shepherd mix, and Zelda (2) a purebred German shepherd. Needless to say…with my husband, my facially hairy 26-year-old son, & the pups, I feel some days like my wood floors look like they’re wall-to-wall carpeted…God Bless 😉
What a wonderful post. I read this post because my jersey heifers are due any day now. Well one of them I think could possibly be in early labour. She’s very restless and not acting herself.
I am excited but very nervous that something will go wrong. I have have bottled raised them since they were 4 days old. Thank you for these much needed photos and information.
Any ideas where I can get a jersey for a family milk cow? I cannot find one in my area.
Amazing to hear jerseys are hard to find. It seems they are a dime a dozen here in Maine..
Thank you for sharing . Great info with pictures. Congrats on the grand calves. So proud for mama cow and your family
Hi,we have an angus x jersey who has been bred with a holstein bull. They were together until 10 July. They actually grew up together then we had to slaughter our bulls because of lack of pasture in a very dry spell. And feed was very expensive. I did not realise she was pregnant until December when I noticed udder developement. My question is how will I be able to calculate due date? Also she is smallish so I am worried about calf size. The bulls were slaughtered on the 10 th of July. Her udder has gotten much bigger and vulva is loose. I am new to this so any advice would be great. Thank you. PS,I have pics,but dont know how to post them
Forgot to mention she is a heifer around 2 years and 4 months old
Jill, They’re beautiful and both heifers! I’m really happy for you.
I can’t get over how beautiful those calves are!
Just wanted to say everything you said is absolutely correct. The photos with the time line are extremely helpful.
I am so glad I found your article. Your pictures and descriptions are exactly what I’ve been looking for. My husband grew up farming, I did not. We started raising cattle in 2012. He gets a kick out of me and all of the pictures I take and post. We both work full time and as our herd has grown I do check the cows by myself on a lease about 30 minutes away, then I relay what I see to him. I’m getting better about relaying what I see, just wish I could figure out their exact delivery dates. LOL
Really helpful photos, and great to know the time frame for the mucous strings. Thanks so much for this!
Hello,
Just wondering if you kept the calves and if they got bred? Wondering if one of them is sterile like the Freemartins. Usually freemartins are one male, one female. Is that the case with 2 heifer twins?
Thanks,
Colby
hey loved the cute farm pictures this will really help with our calf’s your so lucky to have twins we never had twin’s before the calf’s are darling
mooooo!!!!! 🙂 😉
Loved reading this. You sound as cow crazy as I am. We have stalked a few cows with binoculars to see if all okay, especially first time mums. We have also camped in the car some nights when there have been problems. Have never had twins, how fantastic. Beautiful calves.??
Twins are not always a blessing…. I had a hereford that had twin bull calves my first reaction was awesome twice the beef. I later learned it was a disaster as momma cow was never able to calf again. She would go to full gestation and then self abort. Not sure what the problem was but after 3 or four times of this happening we finally decided to have her butchered. Best of luck to yours I hope she calves again for you.
Oh my goodness you have beautiful cows.
I wonder if you might help me with a question. I have very little experience with this. My first time Jersey cow bagged up a full 6 weeks before she delivered. She was miserable. We left the calf on her for 3 days then when we tried to milk we found she had mastitis. We treated her and she milked beautifully for 18 months. Now we are trying to dry her off so we can breed again. We stopped her grains, milked once a day for a week, then every other day for a week, then we skipped two days, and now she has mastitis again? Are some cows just prone to mastitis? Also, if she bags up early again should we try to milk her before she calves in order to keep her from getting mastitis a third time? Thanks so much for your time.
What a beautiful and most informative insight leading up to, during and after the birth of 2 baby heifers! Thankyou so much for sharing.