Dexter Cattle For Sale Discussion Board

Not sure what to do
I bought 2 dexta cows to add to my small herd last december, 1 had a hefer calf at foot the other a castrated male, all registered with The Dexter Cattle Society. The steer he's just 1 year old has been mounting my 2, two year old hefers (which are for beef later in the year) and his 10 month old sister over the last 2/3weeks. My problem, today on close inspection I noticed quite a large scrotem which look as if it's got a testical in it. What do I do now. I have got him in the shed and seperated from the rest of the herd at the moment, if the hefers are in calf I carn't sell for beef they will calve in winter and I don't have enough land to keep them, Do I have any come back on the seller I bought him from and who castrated him.

No 1, speak to your vet.

In that situation I would take the steer/bull/rig out, check his testicles and make sure it's not just a sack, then get the vet to "estrumate" the heifers, and I'd then do them again a few week's later. Note that we had almost exactly the same situation and estrumated our heifers twice, a few weeks apart, and 1 out of the 10 still calved!!!

Don't know about come-back on the seller but what you bought isn't what you got, so I'd certainly ask for payment of the costs you will now have to incur.

What to do with the rig if that's what he is, is another matter, and more hassle and cost. Depending on what you plan to do with him, he could also be a big loss as a rig is a bull for beef purposes and his value may be very much diminished. But surely you would have noticed if he had testicles when you bought him as a steer?

Sometimes the sack can look quite big if the steer has been castrated fairly late. Hopefully it's just that. Fingers crossed!