We must be doing something right

Saffy · Post by **Saffy** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 9:39 am

So far the 3 times we have taken a steer they have had a straw bed on the way there and have had a lie down, got up and walked calmly out, no problem, all relaxed.

You are correct but I have tenants on the main of my farm and they shout and bawl and their dogs bark at the cattle all the time, it is just thier way and they won't change, mind you Di they shout at each other as well! :D

Stephanie

domsmith · Post by **domsmith** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 9:40 am

a few stories here!!

yesterday dropped off 2 bulls and 2 pigs at the abattoir. they have new unloading procedures. it means you reverse in to unload cattle but drive in forward to unload pigs. i said it seemed a little silly could i just not drive in forward to unload everything. it would mean having to walk the cattle in without a race through a doorway.
The lairage man said " no one else is allowed to do this but i know your cattle and i doubt they`ll give us any problems" unloaded quiet as mice .

Recent TB test all the usual, cows unhappy at being brought into pens, chaos reigns. we pushed all the cattle through the race and it went reasonably well. My father, herdsman, and myself.
only afterwoulds did the vet congratulate us for our patience, calmness, and general good humoured attitude to the beasts. She had never really seen a herd moved with out the obligatory blue sticks being used. i never even thought about it until we had finished.

Not to say i dont lose my temper and shout at the Bl**dy things quite often!!

davidw · Post by **davidw** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 11:56 am

A local contractor who trims feet told me that whenever he sees someone with a piece of blue pipe, he insists that they go away and do something else whilst he deals with his job calmly.

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 2:24 pm

Slightly off-subject but worth a note. Our local abattoir owner was around once when a guy brought a cow in, and it was not happy. The trailer was banging about and the cow was snorting through the openings like something off Jurassic Park. I asked if this would be a dark cutter. She said no, not likely. A dark cutter was more likely to come from a heifer brought in by herself and she will stand there quietly in the corner, scared stiff.

Luckily, 3 out of 4 abattoirs we use are tiny, and the animals are dealt with on arrival. I wish we could go back to more small local units.

Edited By Broomcroft on 1288964342

Saffy · Post by **Saffy** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 3:19 pm

We are very lucky as we take ours to a very nice, small and old fashioned place in the middle of the town of Talgarth. It is in a row of houses attached to the back of a butchers shop. Family run and friendly, you can't ask for better, they are happy for you to look around, they aren't hiding anything and the place is clean and well run. Nobody there has wanted to use an electric prod on anything of mine yet and they wanted to at the other place, although we made it clear that it was NOT needed and stayed to make sure it wasn't.

Stephanie

bjreroberts · Post by **bjreroberts** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 4:50 pm

When I took my first steer to a local abattoir they were ready with the blue pipe, but when I called him by name and he calmly walked off the trailer, the pipe soon disappeared and they asked me to walk him right through the race. The pipe never appeared again in subsequent visits.

Also at my last annual TB test there was a double booking and the senior partner had to come out. He said what a pleasure it was to deal with the Dexters and if all TB tests were like this he would request to come out on them. I subsequently discovered he even put a note on their computer system saying how nice and easy they were to handle.

Edited By bjreroberts on 1288972362

Post by **Mark Bowles** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 6:57 pm

We had our 4 year TB test back in April, we only needed to test 2 bulls and 24 breeding females..........vet was on site for 30 mins as we had all 26 animals on halters waiting for him. I had to use some of our leather show halters as it was difficult to find 26.
Don't think the vet had done a TB test like that before.

davidw · Post by **davidw** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 7:23 pm

We had our annual TB test last week and our vet also commented on how easy it was to deal with our animals. Apparently Dexters had quite a bad name for being difficult at our Vet's. I'm trying to correct that opinion.

ann · Post by **ann** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 11:23 pm

I always use to tie mine up with halters until one stood on an inspectors toe, it was in the days when we tattooed their ears before the dreaded eartags, and I got a letter saying I must have secure handling equipment otherwise they would fine me.!!

my vets don't have a problem with halters but I find it easier these days just to run them through the crush, and after reading the book health & safety have just sent out about farmers being killed and maimed by cattle its probably safer that way.

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 6:45 am

Our last vet thought our Dexter cows were no problem to pregnancy test. I'd warn her about a nervous heifer and she'd say " your idea of nervous is everyone else's quiet animal" and grin. She used to wish that all cows were that size, as it was easier for her (a shorter person) to handle them.

Our new vet, also a littler person, really appreciates the smaller quieter breed. That's not to say that the bull calves won't lash out with their back feet, if you're working with them in the race. The cows don't though.

There are times when I think the heifers are worse to handle and move around the farm than the bulls or steers. Perhaps its all those hormones, but they can be a right pain. Fighting each other and carrying on. Thankfully, after having a calf or two, they settle down.

Glad your Tb test was clear Di. I never have to worry about the results here. The 3 yearly testing in our area is only a formality, as there hasn't ever been any Tb in the wildlife, this far North in NZ. I can remember my Dad, nervously waiting for the test results though, back when the family farm was in the Bay of Plenty and the local opposums carried the desease. He would always hope that none of his best milk producers (we had pedigree Friesians back then) tested possitive. Farmers would go out is organised groups to shoot as many opposums as possible, to reduce the risk of the desease spreading to their dairy herds. All the while cursing the fool who introduce the pest to NZ, in order to start up a fur trade. All these years later and we're still fighting the possum plague. We are winning the war in some areas though. Unlike un the UK where your wildlife is native to the country, so you can't erradicate it. Its a difficult situation.

You are lucky to have local small abattoirs though. Some of our cattle have to travel quite some distance to one. To find a facility that handles pigs, is even more difficult. There used to be a lot more of them, like the dairy companies, but more and more got closed down as it wasn't economical to keep the small facilities open.

Those of us using home kill opperators for our own consumption, have the meat sent to a homekill butcher after its slaughtered on our property and the butcher hangs the carcass in a separate facility from any meat coming out of the abattiors. None of our homekill meat is allowed any contact with meat intended for public consumption. I don't know what the powers that be, think is wrong with homekilled meat, but I know that people prefer the tenderness and taste of their own homegrown meat to that which comes out of the supermarkets.