Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 12:01 pm
When we started with the Dexters a couple of years ago we bought a couple of cheap heifers and later a bull to go with them.
After he'd done the business we put the bull in the freezer and very nice he's tasting to As a result of his administrations one of the ladies has had two crops of calves but we have had problems with the other one. She aborted a deformed calf after three or four months and since then has steadfastly refused to get into calf despite of running with two seperate bulls. She is most definately barren.
The time has come for her to go but my options are limited. She is over 30 months of age and none of the fairly local abbatoirs cater for over 30 month slaughter, so the closest is in Crewe which is a good 3 hours drive with a trailer away.
On the bonus side their killing price is £60 which is fully £40 cheaper than the local people. Once they have dressed the carcass, they will also butcher it, bag it and seal it for me at 42 pence a kilo. This is the option that we are considering. The journey with the trailer is going to be a bind but the collection of the meat afterwards will be alright because we can combine the second journey with a visit to my mother who only lives about twenty minutes from there.
My other option is take the cow to a local market and sell it there as a barren. The going rate for barrens is about 50 to 70 pence per kilo on the hoof. With it being an unusual breed, the chances are that I could get less than 50 p for her and what with commission from the auctioneers this will mean a very poor return for her.
The sticking point thats effecting my decision making is that I don't know how good the meat from her is going to be. She's over three years old and is almost as broad as she is long. She's a fat beggar and I simply don't know what to do for the best.
After he'd done the business we put the bull in the freezer and very nice he's tasting to As a result of his administrations one of the ladies has had two crops of calves but we have had problems with the other one. She aborted a deformed calf after three or four months and since then has steadfastly refused to get into calf despite of running with two seperate bulls. She is most definately barren.
The time has come for her to go but my options are limited. She is over 30 months of age and none of the fairly local abbatoirs cater for over 30 month slaughter, so the closest is in Crewe which is a good 3 hours drive with a trailer away.
On the bonus side their killing price is £60 which is fully £40 cheaper than the local people. Once they have dressed the carcass, they will also butcher it, bag it and seal it for me at 42 pence a kilo. This is the option that we are considering. The journey with the trailer is going to be a bind but the collection of the meat afterwards will be alright because we can combine the second journey with a visit to my mother who only lives about twenty minutes from there.
My other option is take the cow to a local market and sell it there as a barren. The going rate for barrens is about 50 to 70 pence per kilo on the hoof. With it being an unusual breed, the chances are that I could get less than 50 p for her and what with commission from the auctioneers this will mean a very poor return for her.
The sticking point thats effecting my decision making is that I don't know how good the meat from her is going to be. She's over three years old and is almost as broad as she is long. She's a fat beggar and I simply don't know what to do for the best.