We have a very handsome red bull calf, born 17th May 2005. My wife is totally in love with him and floods into tears at the thought that he may have to go for finishing/slaughter. Help!! Any ideas?
Harry Page.
Bull Calf
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Duncan MacIntyre
- Posts: 2372
- Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2004 12:38 am
- Location: Isle of Bute, Scotland, UK
The first option for any bull calf is always slaughter for meat I am afraid.You don't say if he is castrated or not. If not is he sellable as a breeding bull? If you do not know and are a DCS member a field advisor should be able to help decide that. If he is fit for being a breeding bull, DO NOT keep him - it sounds as though your wife is in love with a baby bull calf but a mature bull is not a pet and likely to cause trouble if treated as such. If he is castrated there may be occasional outlets for bullocks to act as "ornaments" eg on a city farm or some such thing, now and then someone wants to use them as draught animals, but chances are few and far between. I assume you cannot countenance keeping him as a bullock for years yourselves.
If you have been through all the options and none fit, then I am afraid you will be back to the first option.
Is this your first calf? If it is you need to ask some serious questions and come to an understanding as a family on what will happen to future calves, and have this done well in advance and regularly spoken about.
Duncan
If you have been through all the options and none fit, then I am afraid you will be back to the first option.
Is this your first calf? If it is you need to ask some serious questions and come to an understanding as a family on what will happen to future calves, and have this done well in advance and regularly spoken about.
Duncan
Duncan MacIntyre
Burnside Dexters 00316
Burnside
Ascog
Isle of Bute
Burnside Dexters 00316
Burnside
Ascog
Isle of Bute
How much has he bee played with by humans? I don't know what others do but in the main, our calves are not handled a great deal when young. This probably isn't good for females but with males the last thing you want is a bull which plays with you as an adult. No matter how dear it looks, a Dexter bull IS a bull and therefore not wholly to be trusted.
As a steer gets older, it will have young brothers/sisters for the family to oooooh over and the steer will be less of a plaything and .. the meat is good.
We concentrate on giving all the animals as good a life as poss and as quick a death as poss.
I have just lost a favourite sheep - toes turned up without warning and she was only 4 years old...farming is full of these moments and I'd rather have the planned deaths!
I lost the sheep during foot & mouth and it was the waste that really finished me off - we couldn't even eat them ourselves although they were healthy.
In a curious was 'you are what you eat' isn't there a cannibal tribe that eats (or ate) its friends so they became part of them?
Yipes. Jo
As a steer gets older, it will have young brothers/sisters for the family to oooooh over and the steer will be less of a plaything and .. the meat is good.
We concentrate on giving all the animals as good a life as poss and as quick a death as poss.
I have just lost a favourite sheep - toes turned up without warning and she was only 4 years old...farming is full of these moments and I'd rather have the planned deaths!
I lost the sheep during foot & mouth and it was the waste that really finished me off - we couldn't even eat them ourselves although they were healthy.
In a curious was 'you are what you eat' isn't there a cannibal tribe that eats (or ate) its friends so they became part of them?
Yipes. Jo
As mentioned in the previous posts. 1) a bull calf which has been played with by humans could be a very dangerous proposition when he grows up, 2) a castrated male kept as a 'pet' is only feasible as long as the person incredibly fond of him remains so, and keeps him. There is NO general market for pet steers. 3) Cute babes arrive every year you can't keep them all if Dexters are being kept for their proper purpose. 4) Do some sums regarding how many animals you intend to keep and have land for. Farming involves heartbreaking decisions at times, I doubt there are many farmers who haven't wept about something. My advice, get him castrated (if he isn't already) and bide your time. Of course he is cute at 3 months, enjoy it, at 28 months things might be different. In any case there will be other babes arriving before he has to go. It might be better, when the time comes to sell him, rather than have him back for the freezer. This advice comes from someone with a husband who also tends to falls in love with various babies who arrive, but we manage.
You are not going to like my comment but anyway...
at only a few months of age a bull calf shows very little of its potential as a bull. Poor quality dexter bulls produce ..... the buyer will be very fortunate if the gamble pays off and I believe we shouldn't gamble IF we are going to register the young.
Other breeds don't register everything, only the really good quality animals - should we do the same?
Here goes - flack jacket at the ready!
Jo
at only a few months of age a bull calf shows very little of its potential as a bull. Poor quality dexter bulls produce ..... the buyer will be very fortunate if the gamble pays off and I believe we shouldn't gamble IF we are going to register the young.
Other breeds don't register everything, only the really good quality animals - should we do the same?
Here goes - flack jacket at the ready!
Jo
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Kathy Millar
- Posts: 725
- Joined: Wed May 19, 2004 4:53 pm
- Location: Vancouver Island, BC, Canada
Jo. Harry didn't say anything about registering the bull calf. He wouldn't have to be perfect just to be used as a bull on non-registered or non Dexter cows. And if he doesn't come up to expectations, the new owners can eat him. That's what turns me off of alpacas. Although they are edible.....
Kathy
Kathy
Kathy
Home Farm, Vancouver Island, Canada
Home Farm, Vancouver Island, Canada
Kathy, if you are turned off alpacas because they aren't eaten in this country I doubt you will have long to wait before this hurdle goes too. I couldn't (anymore than I could eat my dogs) but with the massive imports and dwindling sales opportunities and fibre prices falling I can see somebody suggesting it in the not too distant future.
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Kathy Millar
- Posts: 725
- Joined: Wed May 19, 2004 4:53 pm
- Location: Vancouver Island, BC, Canada
Jo & Sylvia
Hold on ladies! I thought this was the DCS not the 'I hate/love Alpacas Society'
As it happens I have eaten Alpaca in Peru, not up to much though. Also they are ugly things, with no personality.
Back to the calf, had you had the benefit of seeing him, and knowing his parentage and grandparentage, you may feel differently about him. The buyer also has the advantage of many years experience in pedigree cattle.
Why do you make me feel like I am a naughty little boy? I don't need a flack jacket, my skin is as thick as a Dexter's.
Harry
Hold on ladies! I thought this was the DCS not the 'I hate/love Alpacas Society'
As it happens I have eaten Alpaca in Peru, not up to much though. Also they are ugly things, with no personality.
Back to the calf, had you had the benefit of seeing him, and knowing his parentage and grandparentage, you may feel differently about him. The buyer also has the advantage of many years experience in pedigree cattle.
Why do you make me feel like I am a naughty little boy? I don't need a flack jacket, my skin is as thick as a Dexter's.
Harry
I haven't mentioned the 'A' word!
I am a relatively new Dexter breeder and have been greatly surprised at the quality of some working bulls. When looking for a stallion, the mare's owner goes to a lot of trouble choosing a good match and this applies to serious breeders of every type of animal. If your bull calf grows up and is judged good that is marvellous but whatever his parentage, he could still develop into a less than good animal. I simply say I do not make such a decision until the calf is a young bull - at least 12 months and preferably 15 months old.
I have one now... he is 15 months old - good and straight but I won't know whether he has the required amount of beefy backside until he is older... his mother is excellent and so is his father but we shall see. He has just been registered.
Jo... with said flak jacket activated
Don't mean to make you feel like a naughty boy!
I am a relatively new Dexter breeder and have been greatly surprised at the quality of some working bulls. When looking for a stallion, the mare's owner goes to a lot of trouble choosing a good match and this applies to serious breeders of every type of animal. If your bull calf grows up and is judged good that is marvellous but whatever his parentage, he could still develop into a less than good animal. I simply say I do not make such a decision until the calf is a young bull - at least 12 months and preferably 15 months old.
I have one now... he is 15 months old - good and straight but I won't know whether he has the required amount of beefy backside until he is older... his mother is excellent and so is his father but we shall see. He has just been registered.
Jo... with said flak jacket activated
Don't mean to make you feel like a naughty boy!
As it happens I have eaten Alpaca in Peru, not up to much though. Also they are ugly things, with no personality.
Sorry I can't let this go without comment. Maybe the high altitude affected you and you saw and were eating something else. In Peru most alpacas are slaughtered after a certain age because it is believed the fibre coarsens with age. And the meat is eaten. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I have never heard them called ugly before (even straight after they are sheared) and maybe in a herd of thousands you may miss the 'personality' of individuals. But I can assure you that in the smaller herds in Britain you ignore the fact that these are intelligent animals within individual and varied 'personalities' at your peril.
Sorry I can't let this go without comment. Maybe the high altitude affected you and you saw and were eating something else. In Peru most alpacas are slaughtered after a certain age because it is believed the fibre coarsens with age. And the meat is eaten. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I have never heard them called ugly before (even straight after they are sheared) and maybe in a herd of thousands you may miss the 'personality' of individuals. But I can assure you that in the smaller herds in Britain you ignore the fact that these are intelligent animals within individual and varied 'personalities' at your peril.
Sylvia,
Thanks for your comment, it made me visit an Alpaca website, after seeing the prices those beautiful beasts fetch I am now out of cattle and sheep ASAP! £8200 for a breeding female, I only got a fraction of that for the bull calf, which you may remember was what the original posting was about.
By the way, Lima is at sea level, and the Alpaca socks I bought went out of shape in my wellies. As you have used the DCS site to push Alpacas - what about Ryeland sheep?
Harry
Thanks for your comment, it made me visit an Alpaca website, after seeing the prices those beautiful beasts fetch I am now out of cattle and sheep ASAP! £8200 for a breeding female, I only got a fraction of that for the bull calf, which you may remember was what the original posting was about.
By the way, Lima is at sea level, and the Alpaca socks I bought went out of shape in my wellies. As you have used the DCS site to push Alpacas - what about Ryeland sheep?
Harry