DexterCattleForSale.co.uk - We want your input...please!

Woodmagic · Post by **Woodmagic** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 10:50 am

I hope I am not too late Chris. Firstly we all owe you a big thank you for the site, which is recognised world wide as being one of the best, which is why we get the very interesting contributions from abroad. For the novice Dexter owner who needs help, it provides an excellent quick response
As an illiterate computer user, I was heartened to find that I was not the only one who had found themselves barred through ignorance from the site, I was lucky, a knowledgeable friend helped to put me back, but can I put in a plea, that you remember idiots like me. I don’t even understand some of the terms you use, and put in considerable effort, trying not to press a key I shouldn’t!
The discussion Board can be an excellent medium, but must remain completely independent, it is one of its virtues. To the critics of the way Council runs our affairs, could I remind them of the request, for more volunteers for Council, why not offer your services?
I think the Society faces a sticky future, with the withdrawal of subsidies, ever-increasing paper work, and more regulation and costs of slaughter. The brightest aspect is the use of the Dexter for sites of scientific interest, and I would like to see entries for Smithfield this year, it should provide a useful advertisement for the breed.
Best of luck, and thank you for all the time and effort you put in..

groubearfarm · Post by **groubearfarm** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 11:43 am

The site is great and I am sure it is a very valuable tool for communication amongst Dexter owners, so I would agree with Beryl Rutherford that it MUST remain independant of Council. I also feel it is important that it should be as user friendly as possible, contributions from the widest spectrum of people is the aim. Perhaps a picture gallery could be separate so that people not on broadband could still get easy access. I agree that picures in the cattle for sale section are desireable but to make them obligatory would reduce the numbert of animals put on the board. It would be difficult for all those who don't have a digital camera.
We appreciate all the time and effort you put into the site, thank you. Fiona

John C · Post by **John C** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 2:27 pm

No need to make pictures compulsary but I just imagine that the people who post pictures of their animal would get better results !
The only time that I can see this being a problem to the vendor would be if your animal for what ever reason wasn't very photogenic !:D

Kathy Millar · Post by **Kathy Millar** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 4:33 pm

Thank you Chris for all your hard work. It is an excellent site and I have no requests, only that may it continue for a long time. :D :D

Kathy

PeterO · Post by **PeterO** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 11:03 pm

John C wrote:Martin !
This is a little bit off thread but I am certainly wondering whether its worth continuing ! I've mentioned my slaughter house problems before and this together with the paperwork and interference from beaurocrats has made me uncertain.

Migrate to NZ - virtually no paperwork, no subsidies and it is half way through the winter and I haven't had to feed out once (only one frost to date).

Peter

Louisa Gidney · Post by **Louisa Gidney** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 5:43 am

If we are to have more photos in the For Sale section, could they please be "thumbnails" for browsing and "click to enlarge" if one looks interesting. Will be more user friendly for old machines on dial-up.

Farrant · Post by **Farrant** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:27 pm

Chris, how about adding a 'Bulls for hire' section under the cattle for sale page? I think this website is great!!!

Jo Kemp · Post by **Jo Kemp** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 3:52 pm

Excellent site and many thanks & congratulations for setting it up and keeping it all going.
I am still fighting to get broadband so appreciate the speed of opening topics etc. would photos delay this?
perhaps photos could be left as a file to be opened if wanted...ie. choose which 'cattle for sale' category - it would then open more quickly - then, if interested in a particular animal click on a 'photo' icon.... would that be possible Chris?

Penny · Post by **Penny** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:42 pm

I agree with the majority, that this is an excellent website and we are much in debt to you and your dad for spending so much time on it. A bull for hire section would certainly help, and the idea of seperate photos being downloaded for those with technology up to speed sounds good in principle but I bet it would be a lot of extra work for you.
Thanks very much.
Penny

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 12:08 am

Wait for it PeterO, the worst half of Winter is coming. We're looking at buying in hay now.

The site is excellent Chris and yes being able to post pictures would be nice. Also, can we have our country of origin written under our names? Then the answers to questions can be more applicable to the country that the question comes from.

Pauline · Post by **Pauline** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 10:50 pm

I always visit the site in the dinner hour when I'm at work.It makes me feel homesick,but I love looking at all the cattle pictures,and it helps me get through the day till I get back to the herd.Is this my version of a pin-up do you think? I must get out more...........

ann · Post by **ann** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 2:00 pm

Chris, one though that has just occurred to me looking at the amount of people who are logged on as reading mail, would it be possible to make the counters so that they did not clock up repeat visits to each subject, I know you can do this on websites, but I recognize that it may be more difficult to do on this site, my reasoning is that then we would have a better idea of the actual amount of people who had looked at that particular subject excluding repeat visits.

I find it fascinating how some subjects created so much interest and others, people read but never contribute to.

:p :p

Chris Downward · Post by **Chris Downward** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 11:03 pm

This is a great site. Posting pictures of animals is great but the main point of the site as I see it is the exchange of information. A picture of a cow in Orkney is of little interest to me in South Wales. The most important point about the site is it's independence and its use as a "oh what do I do now"
I'm a very happy reader as it is.
Chris

justmalc · Post by **justmalc** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 3:23 pm

Hi Chris,

Any chance that we could add a "Bulls for hire" element to the site please? This was discussed some time ago and seemed to be something a number of users would like. WQe could ideally add photos etc. as part of the advert.

Many thanks to yourself and Mark for all your work with this.

Regards,

Malcolm.

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 12:38 pm

Careful Peter! You'll increase the steady trickle of immigrants from the UK, to a flood and I'm not sure there'll be enough small rural blocks of land to cater for the demand. :D

I didn't realise that Nelson was that frost free. By the way all those still in the UK, this Winter has been one of the coldest on record for the South Island of New Zealand. Some families were without power for 2 weeks in Southland.