Dexter Cattle For Sale Discussion Board

Well there has been a lot of talking but not much action in our household with regard to having our herd linear scored...wished we had done it sooner.
Very pleased to say our senior bull cosmos Draco is now judged to be an EX93 and our young bull, Cosmos Taurus (who is for sale at Melton sale in September) reached VG88. Andrew Spicer who came out to visit made the whole event quite 'painless' moving amongst the cows, judging them in the field, 'in their working clothes' as Andrew puts it...could not have be easier!
We were delighted to have two of our older girls judged at VG88 and two, first calving heifers at GP82. The rest were not far behind and each one now has a certificate showing a detailed breakdown of how the score was reach. This we can now see, is most useful in planning how the herd moves forward. Having an independent, experienced eye looking at your animals, pointing out all the good points which we had not appreciated before, was most positive.

Congratulation to you and Dean, i know you both have busy lives so it was a bit daunting to get your Linear done from a time angle. It goes to show how painless it can be and how very usefull it can be in understanding your herds traits and strengths for forward breeding planning, plus of course it adds value and saleability to good scoring cattle.
well done.
Mark

I've been interested in this but put off by the requirements to have hardstanding to measure stock on and a crush for the bull. Since I have neither, and Heath Robinson contraptions are explicitly fornbidden, how did that aspect of assessment work out in practice?

I too was worried about not having enough hard standing, and part of what I have is on a slope. As long as the assessor can see the animal walking enough strides to assess locomotion that is enough. I don't think it needs to be top grade concrete either, as long as it is reasonably smooth and clean and dry enough to allow good view of the feet. The crush is (I think) only specified for bulls, and I agree with that, it is not reasonable to expect people to go round handling strange bulls in makeshift arrangements. Maybe you could borrow a crush if you have a bull to do, just remember to have it cleaned and disinfected between herds for biosecurity.

Those who have had it done need to encourage others, it will be a really useful tool for both buyers and sellers, and even for selecting individual matings within a herd. Very useful to have an independant opinion, our friends are always careful not to say too much!!

Don't worry about it, just do it

Duncan

Andrew Spicer who came out to visit made the whole event quite 'painless' moving amongst the cows, judging them in the field,

I didn't realise they could be judged outside in the field, I think if people realize this there may be more people having it done.

ann wrote:

Andrew Spicer who came out to visit made the whole event quite 'painless' moving amongst the cows, judging them in the field,

I didn't realise they could be judged outside in the field, I think if people realize this there may be more people having it done.

Indeed.

This sounds like a great idea, I would love know how good or bad my cattle are. How much does it all cost?
1 young bull and 5 cows.
I have young heifers it would be great to have some expert advice on which are the better ones to keep.
We are in Mid Wales.

All the details are available here.

Thank you

It's the bull I'd particularly want doing and the problem is that even if I managed to find a crush to borrow, he's never been in one before and might take a dim view of such proceedings, and I'm not sure his horns would fit in anyway. How do they manage with Highlands and Longhorns in crushes?

Herds with any number of Highland cattle usually have special crushes, with a shaped bar coming down behind the horns to hold them. But their horns really are big in comparison, I think most Dexter bulls even with a full mature spread of horns could be put in a standard crush as long as they can be led with halter and nose ring. If the head yoke would not take the horns the head could be secured at front by the halter. As long as you handle the bull quietly I would be surprised if you have any bother getting him secured. It is amazing how horns can be tilted and wriggled.

Duncan

I've never had any trouble getting the bull (Glenlivet, the one I put to Twinkle) in the crush and he's got a decent set;