Dexter Cattle For Sale Discussion Board

Hi All,

Just come in from stables feeling confused - a heifer calf who was born 22nd March this year ie about 11.5 weeks old appears to be bulling- jumping - sweated up -bloody back end - out with a bull! I once had a heifer who was four months old covered by our bull - vet out - estrumated etc - but 11 weeks??? Brought her and mum into stable for the night. I know dexters seem to be infamous for this sort of behaviour - much has been featured on this site in the past but surely not as early as 11 weeks? I will have to ring vet tomorrow just in case - you never stop learning with these creatures!

completely shocked

Jean

I've never seen any sign in a heifer so young but if my memory serves me correctly, and it usually doesn't, 11 weeks has happened before and the heifer got pregnant . But I might be dreaming! I've had two caught by an AA at 5 months, one calved the other had a CS.

I have also had a heifer bull at 3.5 - 4 months old which was a surprise when we first had the Dexters, I knew they were early maturing as this was one of the reasons we choose the Dexter but wasn't quite prepared for 4 months let alone 11 weeks!!

We now are on high alert having just put Mr Bull back into the herd!

MIma

We had one from 3 months old. Covered by his sire.
2 weeks after that we injected the calf with Dinolytic, and slimy stuff came off. 2 weeks later we repeated the treatment. Then she was clean. Since then she is bulling every 3 weeks. We looking out for A.I. her (cobthorn Dannyboy) in a few weeks when she is 15 months.

Normaly we wean the heifer calfs at 4 months just to provide getting in-calf that early.
Maybe in the bigger herds the bull doesn't cover such young heifers because he has other work to do?

Hi, thanks for your input - I have spoken with my vet - he is of the view that she could not be pregnant at that age. He says it will do her no harm to inject her in about ten days time but he did not seem to think it would be necessary. She certainly seems to be displaying 'teenage behaviour' since bulling - no longer following mum into the yard when called - she just stood up the field with a very defiant look!

Jean

I'd still inject, you never know.

I had 10 heifers last year that went to a bull but I wanted to clear them, so when they left the bull vet injected (Estrumate?) after 2 weeks, then 2 weeks later repeated the injection. One still calved 9 months later. I think that's pretty rare if injected twice, but it happened.

Hi All

Just an update - I decided not to get the vet out to estrumate immediately. I have kept a very close eye on her and have kept her away from my bull. Indeed I have been keeping her and her mum a bit like ponies - stabling at night and turning out each day. Luckily her mum has been covered by the bull and appears to have held. 3 weeks 2 days after the calf appeared to be bulling she came bulling again. So I have now established that I do not need to estrumate her but she will not be running with the bull over the next 12 months! I am still shocked that she came bulling that early.

Jean