Well, I stuck a toe in the water at Carlisle with a bull. He sold for little more than I paid for my foundation bull in 1989, so in actioneers parlance I was "disappointed". Were it not for the fact that I do not have physical freezer space for the meat, I would have been much happier taking him direct to slaughter. I hadn't been to the Carlisle RBST sale since the early 1990's. I stopped going because I didn't enjoy it as either a sale or a social event. I much prefer York as a venue, though it is further to travel, and will continue to support that sale for preference.
The entire spectrum of the breed was represented, horns/dehorned/polled, all three colours, beef and dairy types, short and non-short, including the amazingly small non-short Harron bull. Some herds turned out beautifully presented stock, other cattle were out of the field and not looking their best after a night with little food, bedding or water. The discerning buyer with plenty of fodder and time to spend on handling could have picked up some bargains.
I also took sheep, they all sold but roughly £10/head less than similar lambs made at York last year. The 2010 Hebridean sheep prices last year showed a similar disparity between Carlisle and York.
Carlisle Sale
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Louisa Gidney
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Re: Carlisle Sale
Zanfara Dexters
Tow Law
Co. Durham
Tow Law
Co. Durham
Re: Carlisle Sale
I think Clako's comments on the recent article in the Dexter journal are really interesting.The prices of pedigree stock are inadequate in comparassion to commercial cattle particularly given the work involved getting pedigree cattle to show standard.Jacqui Parkes makes a number of pertinent points about becomiong a mainstream beef breed .
We read alot about stabiliser cows in the farming press being the low maintenance cow but for me particularly for organic farmers the Dexter has enormous potential.
The limiting factor for pedigree dexters is carcass size at 18-24 months.From my experience it takes a smashing animal to get 200kg and then the bone out % is middling given the conformation of most Dexters.
In Irish traditional music We have the purists(remain loyal to the original tune instruments etc) and the innovators such as Riverdance and even the Waterboys.Without the purists the innovators would get no where and would not have awell to return to for inspiration.Most traditional musicains learn their music in the pure form and some evolve while more stay loyal to the pure drop.
I see Broomcroft as innovator with his Dangus cattle and if carcass weights for grass fed steers can hit 250kg at 18 months I think that the business model compares favourably with any model.The dangus farmers would need to be supplied with Dexter breeding stock by the pedigree breeders or run a pedigree herd side by side.
I thought Andrew Sheppy's article in the same journal veery interesting as I was unaware such introgression would be allowed in any breed society.If I were to have a wish list under the controlled circumstrances alluded to in the article I would love to improve the Dexter conformation and thus meat yield.
We read alot about stabiliser cows in the farming press being the low maintenance cow but for me particularly for organic farmers the Dexter has enormous potential.
The limiting factor for pedigree dexters is carcass size at 18-24 months.From my experience it takes a smashing animal to get 200kg and then the bone out % is middling given the conformation of most Dexters.
In Irish traditional music We have the purists(remain loyal to the original tune instruments etc) and the innovators such as Riverdance and even the Waterboys.Without the purists the innovators would get no where and would not have awell to return to for inspiration.Most traditional musicains learn their music in the pure form and some evolve while more stay loyal to the pure drop.
I see Broomcroft as innovator with his Dangus cattle and if carcass weights for grass fed steers can hit 250kg at 18 months I think that the business model compares favourably with any model.The dangus farmers would need to be supplied with Dexter breeding stock by the pedigree breeders or run a pedigree herd side by side.
I thought Andrew Sheppy's article in the same journal veery interesting as I was unaware such introgression would be allowed in any breed society.If I were to have a wish list under the controlled circumstrances alluded to in the article I would love to improve the Dexter conformation and thus meat yield.