TB - testing

welshdexterboy · Post by **welshdexterboy** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:30 pm

We will be TB testing this afternoon and the problem I have is that four youngsters flatly refuse to go in to the shed even though I have been feeding in there for the last couple of days

I don't think the vet will say "Oh well we will say they are ok" if they do next year I will leave the lot out :D
rob h

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:58 pm

Rob - Just stand in the shed and try to stop them entering, then they'll want to go in :D :D :D. Just had a holiday in Pembrokeshire, what a nice part of the world.

Edited By Broomcroft on 1224507538

Colin · Post by **Colin** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 7:08 pm

Had a steer with a previous IR prove negative, which I was very pleased about. So decided to move him and two others a mile down the road to another field. Got them coralled tightly around the base of the ramp into my trailer, but couldn't budge them from behind nor entice them with a nice tasty bucket. In the end I ignored them, and in they went.

Colin

welshdexterboy · Post by **welshdexterboy** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:19 pm

Just to let you know I failed miserably with the TB and had to send the vet off in the end. tried the softly-softly approach which included the nine that were in eating two bags of coarse mix

and the five standing outside. Tried shooing them in gently but that Red heifer B****** thing would not go near the shed. She never went in again after her first TB test last year.

She would just run off flat out to the farthest end of the field and even when it was lashing down for an hour and they were all in she still stood outside and each time I came round the corner to suprise her and send her in she would run straight past. I have worked with cows and cattle for a long time but she takes the biscuit

Vet said ring when they are in and he will call on the way past. So now I am pricing up the kit for a corral. Crash barriers or wood 8"x2". Does anybody have suggestions for height and width between wood . 4 rows takes me to 5foot 8 with a foot gap is this over-doing it?

Next time you are down Broomcroft Clive let me now and I could arrange a tour for you of Dexter places, none as big as yours of course. :laugh:

Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:38 pm

The Welsh boy says "Next time you are down Broomcroft Clive let me now and I could arrange a tour for you of Dexter places"----- I take it that binoculars or telescope will be supplied.

I once took 3 weeks to get a cow home from a grazing paddock, the big mistake was putting her there in the first place, but unfortunately ended up with her left alone which did not help. If you get her in again in time the vet may still be able to read the test but if not and she has to be done again can you keep her in for the 3 days?

Duncan

welshdexterboy · Post by **welshdexterboy** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 4:06 pm

Duncan as the churchill dog says oohhhhhh yes. As for bins and telescopes they will not be needed as normally people see them and they are all fairly relaxed. It is the going in the shed which puts the fear of God into them and especially the bleeeeping red heifer :D Also there are quite a few people around here with a few Dexters so the tour wouldn't have to be just mine. Perhaps I could sideline doing Dexter/holiday tours any takers. ???

nuttalls · Post by **nuttalls** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 7:59 pm

welshdexterboy wrote:Just to let you know I failed miserably with the TB and had to send the vet off in the end. tried the softly-softly approach which included the nine that were in eating two bags of coarse mix and the five standing outside. Tried shooing them in gently but that Red heifer B****** thing would not go near the shed. She never went in again after her first TB test last year.

She would just run off flat out to the farthest end of the field and even when it was lashing down for an hour and they were all in she still stood outside and each time I came round the corner to suprise her and send her in she would run straight past. I have worked with cows and cattle for a long time but she takes the biscuit

Vet said ring when they are in and he will call on the way past. So now I am pricing up the kit for a corral. Crash barriers or wood 8"x2". Does anybody have suggestions for height and width between wood . 4 rows takes me to 5foot 8 with a foot gap is this over-doing it?

Next time you are down Broomcroft Clive let me now and I could arrange a tour for you of Dexter places, none as big as yours of course. :laugh:

:p ours r still not home! Oh ek but that red heifer u mentioned we av a few. but then again u could always use a bullet. 5ft coral shud do it 16 inch gap with planks. i dreading weekend oh well shud be fun

welshdexterboy · Post by **welshdexterboy** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 8:41 am

Hi Jean isn't 16" a bit wide---- ??? some of the young calves would jump out through that I think. The feed barrier in the shed has two planks across the bottom then a rail about 16" to 18" and the new calves are regularly out on the haylage when I go down in the morning when they are in for the winter. Perhaps they feel safer out from the crowd so to speak. Good luck for the week-end stay cool

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:10 pm

We may well take you up on that Rob because we love the area and will almost certainly become regular visitors. But got to get the winter out of the way first. Cattle just about to come in any week now.

Colin · Post by **Colin** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 7:32 pm

Rob, 4 rails would certainly do the trick. I built a pretty robust enclosure using post and rail with 3 rails starting about a foot or so off the ground and high enough to put off even the most agile dexter. To plug the gaps for the small calves, I used pig wire or even chicken wire held in place between the rails and the posts.

Some of the posts are gate posts concreted in for added strength. I also use it for halter training so will tether them to these posts. Near a corner I've created a gap wide enough to allow entry into my cattle crush. With the herd in the enclosure and under control, I find I can use cattle hurdles and the entrance gate to create a chase and isolate individuals before driving them into the crush.

Not always plain sailing though, especially when they decide to go in backwards, or kneel down (I call it their ostrich impression) or try and leap over the gate in the crush. But I spend a lot less time chasing the little bleeders round in circles.

Colin

welshdexterboy · Post by **welshdexterboy** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 7:43 pm

Colin that sounds about right I especially like" the not chasing the little bleeders about" bit :D . After pricing the eight by two's at £12 odd for 4.8 metres against £18 for 10 foot 6 i will do the wood. It also looks nicer and perhaps they will come in first time then ???

Clive or anyone else for that matter if you come to Pembs ( sorry we can't put you up) house too small. But I would be happy to show you around on my days off from work --Paid work that is. Three days off in eight

Jean the idea of the 303 did enter my mind on occasions for the red heifer but she is too light at the moment to go into the freezer. I would be mad to breed from her :p

nuttalls · Post by **nuttalls** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 8:21 pm

i my best breeding cow is loopy shes a red, we also av a red heifer christine who,s worse. c wot the weekend brings test on tuesday!

welshdexterboy · Post by **welshdexterboy** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 1:21 am

Why do you breed from stock like that Jean when they are obviously off their heads and should be in the freezer?

The calf--I think gets his/her's attitude from his mam.

That why this red heifer is so annoying as the cow is tidy and the rest of her calves that I have kept have been sane enough. I am not looking for something to halter or have their nose in my pocket, just a cow that is reasonable

is that too much to ask.

Come on Duncan I am looking for sympathy here

Colin · Post by **Colin** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 10:09 am

I've got a flighty heifer who is very difficult to handle. Not a good buy. When she's enclosed she thinks she's Red Rum and has jumped over and through the barbed wire fence. She broke the gate in my old cattle crush. I've had to buy a new one (bought the Knightsway dexter crush for £800, wife has put me on bread and water for a month).

I have one steer from her, but won't breed any more and won't sell her either. So she's heading for the freezer in April, when her first calf is weaned. Hope she tastes better than Red Rum.

Colin

Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 10:32 am

Sympathy? Sympathy??? SYMPATHY????

I'll give you sympathy. What sort would you like from the vet who has to go back the third time to a farm on Monday to test the beasts that got away last Tuesday?

Although I have had badly behaved dexters in the past I am pleased to say all my current herd, steers included, will go on a halter. Maybe not to show standard, but are able to be led from a pen set up in the field to the trailer when they have to be moved.

I use modern full height cattle handling gates. In winter they make up pens in the shed at my house, in summer they can be moved to different grazings, set up as a small pen and the cattle walk in if they are tempted with food. I have one grazing place where I can set the pen up on a farm roadway between the entrances to two different fields I use, so they think they are getting a move, but end up in the pen.

I try to have any calves destined for breeding stock in for a spell during their first winter to allow a bit of serious halter training. Steers tend only to be on a halter when being moved but that starts as young calves moving along side the cows, and they never forget.

I would not keep a flighty heifer as a breeding animal.

On Monday I go back to finish TT on a hill farm with 75 or so wild sucklers, all put through the crush by one man and 4 dogs last week in 2 hours. That is getting near the rate DEFRA assume when they work out pay rates for vets. So please don't be surprised if your vet is upset if it takes an hour to test 6 dexters.

Do enjoy your tests :D :D

Duncan