Woodmagic

[Duncan MacIntyre]

I remember Prof Wilke from South Africa saying at the 1st Dexter World Congress that they had no problem with feet, but then their cattle had to walk 8km every day to get a drink.

Duncan

[SteveM]

Our cattle have to be housed over winter so we do need to trim a few, have access to summer grazing on a ww2 anti-aircraft gun site with a concrete road accross middle, the cattle on there keep there feet nice and tidy.

[Broomcroft]

It's a lot to do with the weather as well IMO. Last year we had to trim a lot of ewe's feet and virtually all cattle, but usually we trim say about ⅓-½ the cattle and maybe 5% of the sheep. The tups got into a terrible state, had to bring them in.

[Saffy]

Rob R - Mentions people using a Woodmagic bull on anything in order to sell calves but there are only a small handful of Woodmagic bulls left alive (and no new ones coming along) - most are quite old. As for semen, well I can't seem to find any!

Colin - I was not suggesting that feet that need trimming should be left long, of course they should be trimmed. Also - all herds will get foot problems from time to time....including mine I am sure. However if/when I breed an animal with bad feet, I shall not keep it and breed from it.

I got my interest in cattle from the family dairy herd which had a very high standard of conformation.

(With dairy cattle, when you wish to choose a bull linear assessment is fantastic because the bulls have had so many daughters you get a detailed list of what attributes they are likely to improve or worsen and by how much. I always went for a bull with a high score for legs and feet because no matter how much milk a cow can potentially give - if it can't walk into the parlour you might as well shoot it, same thing applies to all stock in my opinion. After that I looked for temperament - as important as legs and feet and a good straight back before I went for the quality and quantity of the milk. When my herd was sold in 1991, I had a good sale and none went for meat, also one old girl went through the ring with her new born calf, she looked fantastic, she wasn't for sale though, it was her 16th calf and she was 18 years old and 50% holstein. It was however the hardest day of my life, which is the main reason I bought some dexters.)

Stephanie

[Jac]

..........
(With dairy cattle, when you wish to choose a bull linear assessment is fantastic because the bulls have had so many daughters you get a detailed list of what attributes they are likely to improve or worsen and by how much. .....)

Stephanie

It is always nice to know that an animal you have bred has attained a good score however, unless it is made compulsory to have every animal scored that the bull has sired or in the case of a female has given birth to, then I feel it has limited value as a tool for predicting improvement or not as the case may be.

[Saffy]

..........
(With dairy cattle, when you wish to choose a bull linear assessment is fantastic because the bulls have had so many daughters you get a detailed list of what attributes they are likely to improve or worsen and by how much. .....)

Stephanie

It is always nice to know that an animal you have bred has attained a good score however, unless it is made compulsory to have every animal scored that the bull has sired or in the case of a female has given birth to, then I feel it has limited value as a tool for predicting improvement or not as the case may be.

The quantities with dairy are so huge - I can't imagine we could ever have that sort of bull scoring for prospective progeny with dexters, also there are usually thousands of calves born to a bull to give these figures before the semen comes up for sale to the general population of dairy farmers as we all would want to buy from a properly proven bull. I wasn't suggesting this is what we should be doing with dexters, just that this was my background and how I came into choosing, buying and breeding the dexters that I own. I do agree though, I would be delighted if some of the animals I had bred and sold, or that my bull had sired elsewhere were assessed.

[Rob R]

Rob R - Mentions people using a Woodmagic bull on anything in order to sell calves but there are only a small handful of Woodmagic bulls left alive (and no new ones coming along) - most are quite old. As for semen, well I can't seem to find any!

Perhaps that's not the case, but reading back it was my mistake, quite often it was Woodmagic cows that were mentioned in the ads, not bulls. And the example on here was a case of the calf being advertised before it was registered. so perhaps it was more perception than truth. With only a handful of bulls left alive though that doesn't sound like any attempt to keep lines alive can go on for too many more generations though?