Anna wrote:Is the situation the same in Australia, US, Canada, New Zeeland.. that the shorts are favoured in the show ring?
Grain fed cows can afford to be large framed giants. The grassfed movement is bringing the size of cattle back down. Grassfed animals can't maintain a large frame. Gerald Fry of the Bakewell Reproductive Center in the US is a big proponent of grassfed genetics. They specialize in Devon based animals that have very short legs and lots of beef. If you look at them, you would think they have the Dexter Chondro gene.
It is my understanding that Gerald Fry judged a large Dexter show here in the US and awarded first prize to a chondrodysplastic cow. The cow looked the most like the grassfed genetics that he prefers. He wasn't aware that the cow had a form of dwarfism. He wasn't aware that the animal could only reproduce itself 50% of the time and the other 50% of the time the cow would have greatly different offspring.
That's the point of a show, isn't it? To pick the animals that have the best phenotypes, with the assumption that they can consistently pass those excellent phenotypes to their offspring?
Imagine if the greatest looking bull in a show only had one testicle and when questioned, the owner mentioned to the judge that the bull had low fertility and only was able to impregnate half the herd, so he could only reproduce his otherwise excellent phenotype 50% of the time. I assume that the judge would throw out this otherwise great animal because of his inability to reproduce himself. If I were a judge, I would want to know if an animal had any known genetic conditions, impairments, or diseases that would prevent the animal from consistently reproducing itself. I would require owners to sign a statement to this fact as a requirement for entry into shows.
Here's a link to Bakewell with photos of very short legged animals that are becoming the model of the best phenotype for grass/hay fed animals.
PS. The phenotype of some of the Chondro Dexters is supreme, but the problem is they can't reproduce themselves consistently. With high tech DNA testing the bulldog issue is manageable, but the inconsistency is less manageable.
He has some great articles listed under "Archived Newsletters"
Kirk, you are correct in the matter of Gerald Frys not knowing the cow was chondrodysplastic. I spoke to him after the show and asked him personally. I'm sure it would have made a difference in his choice.
That being said, in my opinion she was a beautiful cow.
Something I strive for in a non-carrier animal.
"That's the point of a show, isn't it? To pick the animals that have the best phenotypes, with the assumption that they can consistently pass those excellent phenotypes to their offspring?"
I thought the purpose of a show was to have a properly trained judge choose from those animals before him/her which was the closest to the perfect example as outlined in the relevant breed standard and which in addition on that day had that little extra 'star quality'.
Thus a bull with only one testicle would quite rightly be chucked out with a visible deviation from any breed standard but a good looking infertile animal could easily be judged as best animal 'on the day' if it had been well presented.
Whose job is it to properly train the judge? When I first saw Dexters at country shows I certainly didn't know for the first few years that the breed also had non-short too. Our girls are non short and I resigned myself fairly early on not to bother buying an animal or rear a calf to show as it wasn't going to win if it wasn't short. Seems terribly negative to me, but it seems to be a way of Dexter life.
Hi Estelle,
I think you will find that some judges are begining to find more favour in the non short as long as it is within the breed standard. A good animal is a good animal and I believe non shorts are now being recognised as such. As the chairman of the local Dexter group I will be at the Kent show on Saturday to present prizes for best local heifer and I hope there are some non shorts represented there. If you want to try your hand at showing I am certain you will find it to be a fun experience for yourself and the kids even if you are not placed.