Sods Law - Building up a herd
ease of getting in calf; ease of calving; good mothering; not calf proud; producing just the right sex for owners' preference; producing short/non-short to owner' preference; producing at just the right time of year; being sociable and careful with owner; putting on/keeping just the right amount of weight for owners' preference; living out all year/coming into comfortable barn again to owner's preference ................. Jeez, who'd be a Dexter ??? :p
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Duncan MacIntyre
- Posts: 2372
- Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2004 12:38 am
- Location: Isle of Bute, Scotland, UK
Hello Martin,
Yes I have enjoyed my dexter heifer beef, the reason she went that way was partly because she was very big, but largely because she was not in calf after quite a few inseminations. As a vet I never encourage farmers to keep heifers which do not settle, and not to spend a lot of time or money trying to get them to settle if they do not do so naturally - your point in your last post is very valid. Even keeping the older cow on too long is probably not a good idea - the longer they go without having had a calf the more difficult it is to get them in calf and often they get far too fat and have difficulty calving if they do get in calf.
At the end of the day few of us can afford to run animal sanctuaries, and those who can should not make those who have to run our holdings on some sort of economic basis feel bad about it as long as they have a good life whilst they are with us. They are not pets.
Duncan
Yes I have enjoyed my dexter heifer beef, the reason she went that way was partly because she was very big, but largely because she was not in calf after quite a few inseminations. As a vet I never encourage farmers to keep heifers which do not settle, and not to spend a lot of time or money trying to get them to settle if they do not do so naturally - your point in your last post is very valid. Even keeping the older cow on too long is probably not a good idea - the longer they go without having had a calf the more difficult it is to get them in calf and often they get far too fat and have difficulty calving if they do get in calf.
At the end of the day few of us can afford to run animal sanctuaries, and those who can should not make those who have to run our holdings on some sort of economic basis feel bad about it as long as they have a good life whilst they are with us. They are not pets.
Duncan
Duncan MacIntyre
Burnside Dexters 00316
Burnside
Ascog
Isle of Bute
Burnside Dexters 00316
Burnside
Ascog
Isle of Bute
Hi
Just thought I would put my 2 pence worth in, it i quite difficult to sometimes get a balance between being sentimental and being practical. I have some cows which have calved on the same day for years and then suddenly for no apparent reason they do not hold. 2 years ago I had several which came back over after 2mths so I invested in high fertility mineral buckets for the breeding period and this certainly seemed to help, they do work out quite expensive but so does a cow missing a year out or several months. I have found prids are very good at giving that extra boast sometimes, however I have had to call it a day on one very nice heifer which I just can not get in calf this time and this is the first time I have had this problem in all the years I have been keeping dexters and I have given her ever chance that I could.
However it does also worry me some what that you do keep hearing about heifers been sold on when the sellars know that there is a problem getting them in calf, I think my warning here would be to any person buying a heifer over 2 yrs old, not to buy it unless it was either very cheap and worht taking a gamble, or to insist it is P.D in calf.
Ann
Just thought I would put my 2 pence worth in, it i quite difficult to sometimes get a balance between being sentimental and being practical. I have some cows which have calved on the same day for years and then suddenly for no apparent reason they do not hold. 2 years ago I had several which came back over after 2mths so I invested in high fertility mineral buckets for the breeding period and this certainly seemed to help, they do work out quite expensive but so does a cow missing a year out or several months. I have found prids are very good at giving that extra boast sometimes, however I have had to call it a day on one very nice heifer which I just can not get in calf this time and this is the first time I have had this problem in all the years I have been keeping dexters and I have given her ever chance that I could.
However it does also worry me some what that you do keep hearing about heifers been sold on when the sellars know that there is a problem getting them in calf, I think my warning here would be to any person buying a heifer over 2 yrs old, not to buy it unless it was either very cheap and worht taking a gamble, or to insist it is P.D in calf.
Ann
Here's something more to think about.....!
I bought a lovely heifer, who I knew had previously had one calf and then had missed a year after having only a 3 week period to run with the bull and failing to hold in this time. I put her with the bull immediately and she was served a few days later. However, she continued to come bulling through the summer and I began to think that she would never hold. A few days ago she started to bag up, and I wondered whether she had a phantom pregnancy or was going to slip. Checking on my dates, I realised that she would be due to calve if she had actually held the first time. Sure enough, she produced a lovely little red heifer yesterday.
So she was bulling whilst in calf, which can happen, so I am very glad that I was both patient and too busy to consider doing anything else with her.
Happy Christmas everyone!
I bought a lovely heifer, who I knew had previously had one calf and then had missed a year after having only a 3 week period to run with the bull and failing to hold in this time. I put her with the bull immediately and she was served a few days later. However, she continued to come bulling through the summer and I began to think that she would never hold. A few days ago she started to bag up, and I wondered whether she had a phantom pregnancy or was going to slip. Checking on my dates, I realised that she would be due to calve if she had actually held the first time. Sure enough, she produced a lovely little red heifer yesterday.
So she was bulling whilst in calf, which can happen, so I am very glad that I was both patient and too busy to consider doing anything else with her.
Happy Christmas everyone!