Dexters with curly hair

[JamsHundred]

On the back cover of P. L. Curran's book, " Kerry and Dexter Cattle and other ancient Irish breeds",
there is a photo of a South African bull, who appears to have been carefully groomed for show or photographic event. The hair from just in front of the shoulders is very tightly curled and you see the curls extend to the sides and top of the head though looser.

Some of the earlier bloodlines in my herd had this tightly curled hair in front of the shoulders, though not as noticeable as the groomed curls in the rear cover photo.

Do the "old-timers" on this board recall animals they have seen at shows or may have owned where you may have noticed this tightly curled hair? I am wondering if it was often seen in early cattle and has diminished or if there may have been certain bloodlines where it was more pronounced?

I tried to add a photo of the S African bull but that was a failure. . . . so tried to add as an attachment but cannot see if it will display.

Judy
USA

[Louisa Gidney]

When I started out, received wisdom was that bulls with these very curly heads & necks were temperamentally more docile.

[Saffy]

Oh...I didn't hear that one Louise, someone told me it was a sign of fertility though...perhaps men with curly hair should be more sought after???

[LISA]

Hello Judy,

I hope I am not old enough to be considered an "old timer" but I do remember when we started showing our Dexters in the early 1980's seeing several show Bulls with the very curly hair on the neck that you mention. I do not think they were naturally curly but rather the curls were formed from the naturally thicker neck hair being excessively backcombed and sprayed to produce the dramatic curled affect. When these animals were viewed on farm in their natural state they clearly had much thicker neck hair (possibly wavy) but not dramatic curls.

Two "very curly" show bulls that I particularly remember were consistently placed Champion in the show ring during the 1980's. This resulted in the exhibitors of other bulls believing they needed to back comb their bulls neck hair to achieve curls (believing only the dramatic curls would bring a Championship win). Obviously only some bulls had sufficiently thick hair to achieve good curls (similarly not all the stockpersons had the right skills or expertise to achieve curls even on thicker hair). Obviously in time these very curly bulls aged and died and were replaced in the show ring with younger Champions (who by coincidence may have had short sleek coats) and so the fashion for coat preparation in the show ring changed as well (if the sleek bulls were now winning people began flattening down the thicker hair hoping they would win as well).

I do believe the thicker hair is genetic and will still be around in herds today, but perhaps not visible in fully backcombed form. We perhaps are just not seeing it at the shows as fewer animals compete.

I have heard many different associations of curly neck hair on a bull being associated with docility, milking ability of that bloodline and also of fertility - I think there is a lot of coincidence as well however.

Best Wishes

Lisa Bell

P.S I once met a gentleman who told me a sure sign or virility in a male is not curly or sleek hair but baldness (and that same gentleman is kindly currently in the yard feeding our herd of Dexters!).

[moomin]

All my boys have curly neck hair when mature!
I think bull in photograph has been clipped out and neck hair left and back combed as Lisa says.
We show Dexter bulls in a natural state here in UK so wouldn't be so noticeable in 'photos.
Don't believe all you see in a 'photo!
Old timer Di

[LISA]

Have just realised today (and am now feeling embarrassed I had not noticed before!) that one of our bulls is naturally curly on his neck (actually very curly today while he was standing in the drizzle and doing his own "back combing" against the Silage ring).

Our other bull has thicker neck hair but is not curly at all. (entirely different bloodlines).

We seem to be covering all hair fashions in our herd!

I have questioned both bulls and they both said they are docile, from milky bloodlines and very fertile (basically they will tick whichever box is most beneficial to their cause!).

Happy Easter to all of you!

Best Wishes

Lisa Bell