Page 1 of 1
Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 3:00 pm
by Saffy
This is our heifer Bracken proudly showing off her dun heifer calf, we are delighted as it is our first dun calf and by our bull Woodmagic Hedgehog 4th.
Stephanie
Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 5:30 pm
by domsmith
will you still be selling her!!
always nice to get a different coloured one
dom
Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 7:08 pm
by Saffy
Hello Dom,
You read my mind - I really don't know if I shall sell her now Dom, it was going to be a wrench anyway as she is such a lovely animal and I am quite fond of her. It was just that as Beryl had died I bought a few extra pure Woodmagic animals whilst I had the chance and Bracken is only part Woodmagic. Also she has a very nice udder, something you can only guess at before they have their first calf, so she is a very smart heifer.
She is a great Mum - humming away to the calf, which is now lovely and dry and very full.
Stephanie
Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 10:59 pm
by Minnie
Hi Stephanie,
I know how excited I was when I got my first dun coloured animal and it was a heifer! Very happy for you.
:D
Vicki
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 12:04 pm
by Saffy
Thanks Vicki,
It is doubly pleasing as her Mum has turned out so well, she was in rather poor condition when I bought her just under a year ago. See pic below, taken when she had already picked up a bit but was still rather thin. I wondered what she would turn out like. It was weeks before she would eat any amount - at first she would only eat a thin slice of hay a day and her back end swayed when she turned a corner!
It is worrying that a small minority of people still think that a Dexter can live on thin air, I think it is vital to drive home to anyone asking any of us about Dexters that the only reason they eat less than another cow is that they are smaller. They still need feeding properly.
Here she is today with her new calf.
Stephanie
Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 2:24 am
by wagra dexters
Congratulations Stephanie. Amazing what a good feed can do when applied with plenty of TLC! Did you drench and delouse her also?
Her feet look very neat in the 'before' shot. Had they been trimmed or are they naturally neat?
Margaret.
Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 3:23 am
by Minnie
Hi Stephanie,
The difference is fantastic, the first shot looks like our Cinnamon does now after the Lantana poisoning, but she's coming back.
I love the shot of the calf, absolutely beautiful.
Totally agree with the sentiments and people thinking a dexter lives on 'thin air'. These days when people ask about them as 'lawn mowers' I tell them, they are cattle they don't mow the lawn and you will still have to... once they eat your grass they will need to be fed, as well they are a herd animal and need company of their own kind!
:D
Vicki
Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 8:32 am
by Saffy
Hello Margaret,
We did drench and delouse but didn't drench for a week because it might have been too much for her when we first got her home. She was scouring when we picked her up but stopped straight away - must have been what she was trying to eat!
Her feet are naturally neat and her temperament is very gentle, she lets me stroke her calf but I am wondering if I shall be able to catch it to stroke it today. :D
Gosh Vicki - poor Cinnamon you must have been very worried!
Stephanie
Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 1:26 am
by Minnie
Hi Stephanie,
We sure were, and the photo of Bracken, is how Cinnamon was looking when she was improving.
She was total skin and bone, I still shake my head that she kept Fatima alive, because you wouldn't have thought there was anyone inside her that's for sure.
Days later I said, oh I should have photographed her so people could see what this dreadful plant does to cattle, but I was so focused on saving her I forgot.
Bracken is a credit to you, she's a beautiful looking cow.
:D
Vicki
Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 1:27 am
by Minnie
BTW the photo in my icon is Cinnamon the day she was born.
:D
Vicki
Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 4:09 am
by wagra dexters
We had a very dark dun heifer this year, the same as we'd admired on an older heifer at the National Breed Show last May.
The dam of our calf is by the same sire as the dam of our calf's sire, ie Wagra Wedgwood, a black bull we sold seven or eight years ago, not to the current owner.
I checked the breeding on the older heifer we saw at the show and she was also a double-up to Wedgwood.
The dark dun colour is brown but with the pale taupe muzzle and feet.
Margaret
