Linear Classification

[Saffy]

We are intending to have our herd classified this year, (although we have sold quite a few so there won't be many to do now.)

I have a bit of an idea how it works as I used to have my dairy herd classified years ago but I do have a question.

My concern is this, with a dairy herd the cows would be milked out evenly and therefore the udder would fill up evenly with milk before being judged, however this is not the case with a single suckled cow is it? For instance if she has recently calved, I'm not sure about most dexters but mine have so much milk that the calf usually just suckles one front quarter for the first few weeks and the poor cow looks three quartered - then the calf starts on the others one at a time and by the time the calf is about six weeks old or so it is taking the lot and the udder is even again.

I wouldn't want to try to strip the rest of the milk out as the cow would probably beat me to a pulp, it would take me the best part of the day and open the udder up to infection.

So would a single suckler cow be marked down because her partially suckled udder looked an odd shape?

Stephanie

[Mark Bowles]

Saffy, the ideal time is for the nature to have gone out of the udder and before the udder starts to died back before drying up. The classifiers do take even lost quarters into consideration, common sense has to prevail, a correct udder will always score highly, 40% of the score is down to the mammary.
Bear in mind Holstein UK can take up to 8 weeks to arrange a visit due to the geographical spead of dexters and currently only 2 dexter classifiers.

[Saffy]

At the moment I have one just calved this morning and the rest are dry, so I should maybe leave it a few months anyway, thanks Mark.

Stephanie

[Mark Bowles]

Thought i would update some info. After some dexter training HUK now have 5 classifiers doing dexters. 1 based in Wales and 1 based in Co Durham so this should reduce the waiting times somewhat.
Congratulations to Jo Kemp up in the borders who has just had her herd done. Her bull Breoch Sultan who is on AI has classified EX93. Those of you that have stock from this bull will see his score on your pedigrees in due course, hopefully helping you sell your cattle in the future.This is the first AI bull that has been done so now if you want semen from the bull you can ring Jo for his linear stats which will give you an indication of his type without actually seeing him, a real plus for AI users.
Other cattle are in the pipeline so the Linear scheme is progressing nicely.
ps :- spring calvers will be coming into prime classification condition around now so why not think about having some of your cows assessed. Contact myself on 01509 211864 or Sue Archer in the DCS office for more info.
pps Check out the EX and VG classified cattle on the Linear section of the DCS website.

[Saffy]

Our first cow calved at the beginning of March and the last one will be the end of July, although there is a heifer even later.

When should we ask for ours to be done in your opinion Mark?

Stephanie

[Mark Bowles]

Saffy, thats a bit of a spread, wait until your July have calved and the udders have sorted themselves out, maybe mid to end Aug, trouble is your March calvers will be 5 months, they should be ok as long as they have some milk which i would think yours would.

[Saffy]

OK thanks Mark

[SteveM]

I can see the benefit of linear assesment as a means of comparing cattle that can not be compared side by side, but whether it adds any value to the animal will only be seen when cattle start to come up for sale.

In the sale ring a good cow is a good cow with or without linear assesment, the only certain benefit I can see is that someone else has already paid for the assesment.

Will be interesting to see how it evolves.

[Mark Bowles]

Latest bull to be classified today was Apple Coda owned by Malcolm Robinson. Coda was scored at EX94 making him the joint highest scored bull along with Seamer Supreme Ricard. Apple Coda also won the 2012 National Dexter show this year at the 3 counties in June. Congratulations Malcolm and also the breeder Stuart Tarrant.

[justmalc]

Thanks Mark, it was a really interesting process and we're obviously very pleased with the score achieved.
The Assessor was really helpful and explained the process being followed and how he reached each part of the score.

[justmalc]

Happy New Year everyone.

Just to let you know that semen is now available from Apple Coda the 2012 Dexter Cattle Society National Show Champion. Coda achieved a Linear Classification score of EX 94 with the scores achieved being;

Body - EX94
Breed Character - EX95
Legs/Feet - EX94
Rump - EX90

A photograph of Coda can be seen in the Autumn edition of The Bulletin and I'll put an advert in the Other Ads section as soon as I have a few minutes.

Many thanks,

Malcolm.