Failure to loose winter coat tells all?

[Broomcroft]

I have a few books on breeding, all based around breeding sustainable cattle to finish on grass.

In one, I have just read that if you remove animals that are slow to loose their winter coat (assuming there's no good reason of course), then you will be removing most of the problems from your herd.

Have you ever heard this?

[Saffy]

In our area the soil is selenium deficient and if we don't treat the soil or give the cattle a selenium lick or injection they will keep their coats and not thrive.

I can see that it would be a sign of lack of thrift if all bases were covered, (my old horse keeps his coat longer and longer now but he is 29!) However there would perhaps be an underlying reason a deficiency of some kind selenium, copper, cobalt maybe or a worm burden?

Yes keeping the coat often means that the animal isn't thriving and I try to find out why.

Stephanie



Edited By Saffy on 1244535621

[Louise Badcock]

Interesting comment from Saffy. Our old horse was also 29 this year when she was PTS and the only sign of something being amiss with her was her failure to shed the winter coat. That is until we found her one morning in a distressed state, so took the decision to PTS.

[Penny]

My thoughts are that those that are slowest to lose their winter coats are indeed the poorest ones in the herd, but are ones that possibly could have a mineral ( or minerals) deficiency and are not thriving as well. Instead of removing them from the herd though, I would try to rectify the problem with mineral drenches and further investigation if necessary. This is assuming that they are breeding cattle who have other attributes you would benefit from keeping.
Any one who knows me, will be aware that I have a thing about mineral deficiencies in dexters, especially those who are grass/hay fed produced from home or locally produced fodder as regional deficiencies perpertuate.
Copper is my main thing, and I am now equally concerned about selenium levels.
Last year I had the misfortune to graze most of the herd on summer grazing which turned out to have almost negligble copper levels. I am paying the price now. Despite putting in licks with decent amounts of copper it has not prevented them acquiring quite a deficiency. It has disrupted fertility and they have just not "looked good". It is the ones who were young stock last year who are seemingly suffering most.
I am witnessing some strange bulling activity, when the cow is hopefully in calf, but on the time of her usual cycle, others especially the young boys act as if she is in season. Some of these cattle have gone on to calve, so I know that it is not that they have not held.
I know that you have tested your soil and now have a closed herd, Clive, but for other people,bought in cattle can turned up with an established deficiency which can increase or decrease depending on mineral content of your own land.
Long answer to a brief question!
Penny

[Penny]

Took so long to write my reply as a delivery turned up in the middle of doing so, that I now see that steph and louise have also written on the subject!

[Broomcroft]

The author is writing the book from the point of view of minimum, really minimum, input. So I think he is saying that if the cattle don't do well on your farm, but others do, then get rid of them rather than spend money on the farm. That's my interpretation of the point he is making and it's probably wrong, never mind.

How do you know your cattle are deficient in a mineral? Do you test their blood, or look at the coat, what, how?

[ann]

Hi this is not cow related but concerns the horses not losing their winter coats.
If the coat is felting then this is a sign the animal may have cushings disease, My mare eventually died from this complaint and the year before she was diagnosed I had to clip her winter coat of as it just refused to moult.