# Jersey Cow bred to Brown Swiss Bull



## BlackWillowFarm (Mar 24, 2008)

My neighbor just bred my small, not miniature, Jersey cow to a Brown Swiss bull by accident. He pulled semen from the Jersey Tank and used it before I had a chance to look at the straw. It was an honest mistake and I'm not mad at him for it. He feels awful about it. We had quite a conversation about the resulting calf after we realized what happened.

He's not an amateur at this by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, he's very skilled. It's his profession. He works for a large embryo transfer company.

He gave me two answers to my question "what do we do now?". His professional answer was to abort and try again. His personal answer was he'd like to see the calf from this pairing.

I went online of course and searched the bull. His calving ease is 4% and his stature is below average, which I guess means he's smaller for a BS bull.

This would be my cows 4th calf. She had one calf with me since I've owned her. The heifer calf she gave me weighed at least 75lbs, probably more, when it was born. I'm basing this on my husbands opinion because he picked the calf up right after she was born and brought her into the barn.

What should I do? Should I let her continue with this breeding, or try again with a Jersey bull?

I LOVE this cow and I would be very upset if anything happened to her. Right now, just a few hours after being bred, I'm leaning towards starting over.

Here's the bull:

http://data.altagenetics.com/Bull/Bull.aspx?Naab=073BS00018&Site=A&Language=A

What would you do if it were your cow?


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

Personally, and from my experience with Jerseys, I'd let the pregnancy continue if she has taken. Jerseys are easy calvers and your cow has calved in the past so I would very much doubt there will be any problems. If she gives you a heifer calf, you will have a very nice combination.

If it helps, I bought a little (and she is little) Jersey heifer that her idiot owner had allowed a pure bred Simmental bull to get to. The story of this cow is a long one so I'll skip that, but in short I got the vet out to do an internal and he felt that if the dates were right (and nobody was really sure) we should err on the side of caution and induce. We did that and she popped out a very large calf and live without any help while I was eating my lunch - this after having watched her all morning and getting nothing done I now milk that calf and she towers above her mother.

The final decision rests with you but if you do go ahead and then have doubts, remember you can always get your vet to check the growth rate in later pregnancy but as I said, I doubt there would be any problems.

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

As a bonus if she has a bull calf it will make a much better beef animal than a pure Jersey.


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## Madsaw (Feb 26, 2008)

How big is your jersey? Is she wide in the hips? 
Being a 4 th calf, she should not have a problem. We used a swiss on jerseys in the past. In all terms a jersey is top in calving ease. Basically a jersey can have a elephant. The biggest calf one of my jersey's had was 125 lbs. But, as a jersey she was big. In the range of 1500lbs on summer grass. Her last calf we had to pull due to her age she had alot of problems. That calf was only about 85lbs. She passed later that yr at the age of 16.
Bob


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## BlackWillowFarm (Mar 24, 2008)

Madsaw said:


> How big is your jersey? Is she wide in the hips?
> Being a 4 th calf, she should not have a problem. We used a swiss on jerseys in the past. In all terms a jersey is top in calving ease. Basically a jersey can have a elephant. The biggest calf one of my jersey's had was 125 lbs. But, as a jersey she was big. In the range of 1500lbs on summer grass. Her last calf we had to pull due to her age she had alot of problems. That calf was only about 85lbs. She passed later that yr at the age of 16.
> Bob


My Jersey is probably 900-1000 lbs. She's short, but my neighbor (AI guy) said she has wide hips. I don't have enough experience to be able to tell wide or narrow hips. I know when she calved last August, I saw fluid coming from her, threw on my clothes, rushed out there and by the time I was at the barn, there was a calf on the ground. Guesstimates put her calf between 75-90lbs.

He basically said when using Swiss on Jerseys, that you use a Jersey bull on a Swiss cow. But, the responses I've gotten so far make it sound like it might not be so bad.


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

Actually, all the Swiss/Jerseys I've ever owned were out of a Jersey cow/Swiss bull. I'm with the others, I'd imagine she will calve with no problems and the calf should be nice.
A 900-1000 lb Jersey is actually on the large side for a Jersey cow.
Of course, what you should do is completely up to you.


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

Hi all, Emily, 900-1000 lb. jersey cow is small at my place. I don`t know why but I have some huge jersey cows. They are about the size my dads holsteins were when I was a kid. Carla, I think if the cow is bred, I would let her have the calf, just don`t overfeed your cow when she is in the end of her lactation. And the 60 day dry period, make sure she gets nothing but good grass, grass hay, mineral and salt, no grain. That will make that calf grow way to much before he`s born. I have a jersey/swiss cross and she is a sweetheart. Good luck, >Thanks Marc


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

Around here in MO dairy country, 600 is a small Jersey, 700-800 is a medium-sized Jersey and 900 on up is rather on the large side for a Jersey. The show breeders breed for a larger Jersey. The people wanting home milkers want a medium sized Jersey. I personally like the medium to large sized cows for myself, I'm not a small person.


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## BlackWillowFarm (Mar 24, 2008)

BlackWillowFarm said:


> My Jersey is probably 900-1000 lbs. She's short, but my neighbor (AI guy) said she has wide hips. I don't have enough experience to be able to tell wide or narrow hips. I know when she calved last August, I saw fluid coming from her, threw on my clothes, rushed out there and by the time I was at the barn, there was a calf on the ground. Guesstimates put her calf between 75-90lbs.
> 
> He basically said when using Swiss on Jerseys, that you use a Jersey bull on a Swiss cow. But, the responses I've gotten so far make it sound like it might not be so bad.


Okay, I found the weight tape and weighed her. She taped at 823lbs. Guess I was off a bit on how big/not big she is. 

Does that change your opinion on following through with this breeding? Honestly, I would love to have a Jersey/Swiss heifer calf. I think it would be a fine cross. I just don't want to damage my cow getting there.


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## Madsaw (Feb 26, 2008)

springvalley said:


> Hi all, Emily, 900-1000 lb. jersey cow is small at my place. I don`t know why but I have some huge jersey cows. They are about the size my dads holsteins were when I was a kid. Carla, I think if the cow is bred, I would let her have the calf, just don`t overfeed your cow when she is in the end of her lactation. And the 60 day dry period, make sure she gets nothing but good grass, grass hay, mineral and salt, no grain. That will make that calf grow way to much before he`s born. I have a jersey/swiss cross and she is a sweetheart. Good luck, >Thanks Marc


Marc,
Do you have candain gentics in your herd? My big ones came out of blood lines from the Barless family near Janesville WI. They go by Gil-Bar farms. If you want to be shocked in october take a trip up to madison to the world dairy expo. Walk through the cattle barns. Its ntohing to see ton milk ocws lounging around there. Alot of the jerseys are over 1600 and put most normal holsteins to shame.


Carla,
All our crosses over the yrs was like this. With the swiss crosses we used a swiss bull to cover holsteins and jerseys. Both old cows and heifers. We then would use holstein on the swiss cows and heifers when we had them. This would have been 25-30 yrs ago before many folks thought of breeding for grazing. Our goal was to come up with a hardy grazer. Anything with jersey could stand the mid day sun and still be out grazing. With swiss in teh line they lasted a long time and was calm. We still have alot of crosses in the herd today. But these are all from holstein bulls now. 
I still stand by my opinion that a jersey can have a elephant. Seen alot of bad births over the yrs, for the most part it was when a beef bull was used other then a small angus.
Bob


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## DJ in WA (Jan 28, 2005)

Somewhere I've heard that "Jerseys can calve a Mack truck."

I've wondered if with less muscle on a Jersey, maybe there is less muscle in the pelvic canal to obstruct.

I've decided my lowline/jersey cow is having it way too easy being bred to a larger lowline. She's had 5 calves and I haven't seen a birth yet. A couple hours after you see her doing nothing, there's a calf stumbling around. I'm going to start breeding her to a standard size red angus bull (though calving ease).


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## tyusclan (Jan 1, 2005)

I pretty much agree with everyone else. If this is her 4th calf, I wouldn't worry too much. If she were REALLY small, and this was her first calf, and the bull threw large calves, I'd probably abort, but since none of those are the case, I'd give it a go.


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

Carla, I would go ahead with it and knowing me, I wouldn't be worrying either. I would much rather a Swiss (which I've never had) than the Simmental that I did have. The consensus of opinion is that she will carry and birth just fine and I think she will too.

I had a look at the link you posted for the sire and there was nothing in there that would startle me enough into wanting to abort the pregnancy.

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

Carla,
Polly is pretty small....but she is tough. If you decide to let it go....I will come and help you baby sit her....I bet she will be okay. Remember, 1/2 that calf is jersey genes. It will be smaller than a BS, right?


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

If she's calved before I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. One morning you'll go outside and she'll be nursing a calf.


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

I still wouldn't be worried about it, but thats your call.


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## BlackWillowFarm (Mar 24, 2008)

I'm feeling much better about it after seeing all the positive replies here. 

I have until Friday to make a decision, but I have to say, I think I'll go ahead with the breeding as it is.


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

I rarely have to help a jersey, but most of mine are purebred. I still wouldn`t think much wrong about your cow having a swiss baby, good luck.>Thanks Marc


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## lrd3 (Jun 14, 2013)

how did this turn out?


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## BlackWillowFarm (Mar 24, 2008)

lrd3 said:


> how did this turn out?


Ha, I'd completely forgotten this thread from 2010. Thanks for asking how it turned out.....

I decided to let her have the calf and we got a big bull calf, no problems with the delivery. The cow went down with milk fever 12 hours later and it took three bottles of calcium along with several ( I think five ) doses of oral calcium. She then went into ketosis and developed a mild case of mastitis. It was a good ten days before she was back to herself again.

I pulled the calf at birth which is what I always do. He was a big sweetie. It was hard to see him go. He was friendly and gentle and never gave me any trouble. We had him butchered at 18 months and he hung at 700+ lbs. He was totally grass fed but was on mothers milk from a bucket for the first eight months.

We called him "Big Boy" but in my mind his name was, "Should-a Been". Should-a been a Jersey and should-a been a heifer.

The cow had another bull calf last year with no complications and is due again in a couple days. Hoping it's a heifer this time.


Not the best picture but he's the big one in front by the calf.


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## lrd3 (Jun 14, 2013)

good stuff............
my buddy who swaps beef for pork with me was wondering how this would work out.
i will link him over here..


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## countryK (Apr 7, 2016)

Hey guys I know this is an old forum but... I'm in the EXACT same situation but with a heifer instead. Are your opinions different or the same? I started my own forum but got nothing but bad news. I'm told they'll have to chop up the calf and pull out the chunks. I've never heard of that. 
This forum gives me hope, but again mine is a jersey heifer, not a cow. Still think it's gonna be ok? She's due in May. Thanks.


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## BlackWillowFarm (Mar 24, 2008)

That's a tough question. If I were in your shoes the questions I'd be asking myself are, "How big/small is the heifer?", "How old/young is she?" "Has the heifer been palpated by a vet to rule out any genetic deformities or internal issues that could interfere with calving?" "Any calving issues on the mother side?", "Was the bull a low birthweight bull?"

Some people use drama to scare you. I realize they may have personal experience with the gruesomeness of chopping up a calf during birth and I'm sure it was a very unpleasant experience. I have to ask myself, out of the hundreds of thousands of births each year, how may calves get chopped up in the birth canal? Sometimes you have to be analytical in your thinking and try to remain calm about the subject.

My personal experience went well. My cow calved a healthy BS/Jersey cross bull calf. I named him Shoulda Been, because he shoulda been a Jersey and he shoulda been a heifer. lol

Good luck with your heifer.


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## countryK (Apr 7, 2016)

Thanks for the positive feedback. I've been needing some!


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

the brown swiss being a dairy animal is a finer boned cow than a big beef and a better choice than a charlias or semital or even a housteen .all we can do is hope all gos well and a great little heifer calf is the result


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## Jennifer L. (May 10, 2002)

Only time here we ever had a calf cut up inside the cow was when it was a "siamese" twin situation. No way those ever can come out any other way (well, cesarean). 

If the heifer is well grown and not scrawny she'll probably be OK. I'd want to be there, though, to see that things go all right and so you can jump in quickly if things aren't going right. Earlier to get to a cow in trouble, the better the outcome.

Good luck!


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## countryK (Apr 7, 2016)

Thank you!


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## countryK (Apr 7, 2016)

Wow. Well this morning I left Annie's side for thirty minutes. While I was gone her water broke and BAM!



She broke her water AND calved a beautiful BULL calf in under 30 minutes! 

I need to give credit where credit is immensely due. If it wasn't for all our prayers and the Good Lord's love I'd still be out there with a jack and a half dead heifer.


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## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

VERY glad for you that it all worked out well. She appears to be mothering up to her baby and I hope that good things continue.

Congratulations!!!!


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

now to get to milking ; bet it feels great the pressure is off its a happy day . it looks like shes gonna be a great milker . hopeing the next step gos smoothly


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