Woodmagic Dexters - viewing photo's

Woodmagic · Post by **Woodmagic** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 2:02 pm

Woodmagic Dexters

Foot and Mouth restrictions put a damper on the AGM, and disappointed me in that I was unable to meet some of the membership, and show them my herd. Stephanie very kindly took many of the excellent pics. she had obtained on previous visits, to the meeting.
It transpired not everyone managed to see them, and Clive very generously offered to put up a site for them.
He has done a beautiful job of it, and I am grateful both to him and Stephanie, the site couldn’t exist but for their expertise. If you want to satisfy your curiosity, it is:
http://www.woodmagicphotos.co.uk/

John C · Post by **John C** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 7:14 pm

Brilliant pictures WM. Thanks for sharing

happy hollidays · Post by **happy hollidays** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 12:26 am

What beautiful pictures of such a lovely herd, they are magnificent.

Anna · Post by **Anna** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 10:05 am

Thank you Beryl, Saffy and Broomcroft!!

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:45 am

That bull has good muscling. My Husband was quite impressed. Lovely straight backs on the heifers too.

Thankyou for letting us look around your herd. :D

Saffy · Post by **Saffy** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 5:42 pm

I am delighted that Beryl allowed me to photograph her lovely herd. She has already taught me a great deal more about Dexter keeping than I thought anyone could in such a short time, which I am very grateful for but I also learnt a lot from walking around her stock.

For instance never having had a bull on our dairy farm, when Beryl said, “its OK Stephanie, the bulls will be fine,” I was still SO wary but there was no need, they took very little notice of me, just took a lazy eyed look in my direction and carried on with whatever they were doing. – Oh what a relief!

The temperament of her cattle seemed very even and gentle. It was all too easy to get a photo of a tongue licking a camera lens if I stood still too long!!!

Beryl I think I probably know at least 1% of what I need to know now so if you can pop the other 99% on a very large postcard............... :D

Thanks Beryl

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 9:56 pm

Yes, I've decided that farming with animals like the yearling bull that we have (bought him at 6 months) is much easier than dealing with our hormonal 2 year old heifers. They're all over the place at the moment and scraping with each other. One more month and I can put them to the bull and hopefully pregnancy will settle them down. They're behaving like idiots at the moment. ???

I've taken the precaution of putting them in the cow and calf herd a month before mating starts, so that all their squabbles can be sorted out before they get divided into mating groups, for the three bulls that we have. I'm hoping that by doing this now, we can get the silliness over with and the bulls can concentrate on their main purpose, instead of having to sort out domestics all the time.

I have noticed that sometimes there are two animals that just CAN'T get on, no matter how long they've been in the same herd together. If they come into contact, they fight. Two such heifers, now cows, still don't get on. I think, when I sell them, I'll have to make sure that they go to different people. Its a clash of personalities I guess. ???

Kathy Millar · Post by **Kathy Millar** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 4:21 pm

This cow psychology part is rarely mentioned to beginners in books, especially the fighting part. Having 3 mature cows plus their calves and two heifers has been really difficult for me. I have had to rush in and break up fights, watched smaller ones being slammed against the barn wall, had one cow go lame probably due to a beating, and couldn't sort heats out (who's on first, who's on second.... :p ) In the end, 3 cows didn't take and two were re-inseminated, the third goes to the butcher. And all this silliness was not with the heifers. One cow went almost crazy when she came into heat and broke the gate trying to get at the other cows (who were right next to her all the time in the same barn). I was almost ready to sell the whole #### lot except that there is almost no market at this time. Managed to sell the two older cows together and they will soon go to their new home. Have already sold the one heifer and will keep Rosie (red and polled ) who is one of the heifers plus the 3 calves. Hope things calm down with the smaller herd! :laugh: )

Issy · Post by **Issy** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 6:30 pm

Thank you Beryl for letting us look at your herd, they are beautiful animals. My favourite cow is by a woodmagic bull and she is fantastic in all respects.

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 2:21 am

When starting a herd, it works best if you buy a couple of heifers/cows that have grown up together and are mates. Or buy a mother and grown up daughter. The dynamics have already been established and the get on better together, because they all know and accept the pecking order.

Woodmagic · Post by **Woodmagic** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 5:52 pm

Kathy I think you are ignoring the completely artificial situations in which we put our cows. Dexters are rather nearer to the wild animals that roamed many centuries ago, than your average dairy animal. That is what gives them their hardiness and survivability. A cattle herd would never allow a stranger in, and it would be unlikely to occur. When a cow is in breeding condition, her over riding impulse is to find a mate; otherwise the species would not last long. You will certainly have less trouble if you confine yourself to home bred animals, but all species tend to sort out the pecking order. I would not recommend getting between two cows when they were in action; you are no match for them. With a confined animal you have to remember it wants a strong partition to hold a six cwt cow. Dexters make wonderful pets, but you are still dealing with a farm animal.

Saffy · Post by **Saffy** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 6:48 pm

I completely agree about not getting between the cows!

My 100 cow Friesian herd was a closed herd but they still did fight to an extent but mostly on the first day they were turned out in the Spring. It wasn't a free for all there would be about 5 or 6 at first that would push each other around, then maybe 3 would have a really good set two until the boss cow was decided upon.

Things would be pretty quiet again then, until the next Spring.

Although new heifers would get bullied a bit when they were first introduced to the herd but they seemed to naturally understand that they were lower in the pecking order and not step out of line too far.

Stephanie

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 10:34 pm

Interestingly, I have one cow who is boss whatever group she is in. But she doesn't do anything obvious to be accepted as boss. She is not aggressive, she is not nice, she is not horrible, she is simply unbothered. She doesn't see me as a threat when she's just calved except for the first few hours. Even I am part of her family rather than the reverse. It's quite fascinating.