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Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2006 10:35 am
by Inger
Duncan do you remember the cow I told you about years ago, which wouldn't conceive for years? She finally had a calf last April, but to the neighbour's Hereford bull, that she'd jumped the fence to visit.
Well, finally, she given us a pedigree Dexter calf! Its a bull, but at least its a Dexter. She's coming up to six years old in December, but it seems that her fertility has sorted itself out, at long last. Here's a picture of her with her calf. 29 kgs. Sorry you can't see her head, but she didn't want to pose for a picture, as I'd just weighed and eartagged her calf and she wasn't pleased with me. :D
Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 11:13 am
by Duncan MacIntyre
Well done, a nice looking boy!! A word of caution, though - I do hope she does not take another 6 years to produce the next two calves, and I hope that the trend to take so long to get in calf is not passed on. But well done and hope she goes on from strength to strength now.
Duncan
Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 11:00 am
by Penny
So glad to hear this story. I was also going to post some words of hope for breeders, as I have a "heifer" who at 6 is just about to produce her second calf ( bagged up and ready to go!)
She was 5 when she came to me, and I was her 5th home in her short life. She had only had her first ever calf 6 months earlier which sadly was taken off her before she came to me. The bull was away when she came, but she held on second service once with him and I am hoping I can give you some really good news in a few days. I am not anticipating an easy birth, though, at her age and because it has been very difficult to keep the weight off after barely suckling anything for most of her life.
Fingers crossed!
Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 12:58 pm
by Inger
I don't anticipate anymore problems with her Duncan. Her weight has increased to an acceptable coverage and she has calmed down a lot in her temperament. I am hoping to get a heifer calf from her next year, then she can retire to the freezer.
We shall see how a heifer from her develops. Using Salty Pioneer over her, I'm hoping for a big step forward in fertility. His daughters are usually cycling between 6mths to a year. But if a daughter from this cow shows the same backwardness in maturing, I'm afraid she'll have to be culled as well. Only time will tell. At least in the mean time, she is finally earning her keep. The cross breed heifer she gave us last year, sold for $425 at the cattle sales. So we were quite happy about that. :D
If she's had a calf previously Penny, I wouldn't think that you need have any worries about her ability to calve. It could possibly be a smaller calf than average, because of her weight, but second calves are usually easier to birth than the first. Lactation should cure her weight problem. If she still isn't a sensible weight by the time her calf is weaned, you could try limiting her feed with an electric fence.