Using Hereford bull

Kathy Millar · Post by **Kathy Millar** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 6:08 am

A friend has a 16 month old Dexter heifer which may have been impregnated with the neighbour's Hereford bull. Do you think the heifer will have a hard time calving? (first calf of course). Otherwise she will have the vet in to abort her.

Kathy

Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 8:59 am

Difficult to be sure since both Dexter heifers and Hereford bulls are variable. I do not have many farmers using herford bulls now but did many years ago, and hereford calves out of dairy heifers could be quite difficult, especially with certain bulls. If the neighbour is approachable and liable to give a reliable answer, might be best to ask if he knows the bulls history on calvings. If in doubt get the vet in for a misalliance injection - usually prostaglandin given at least a week after service and definitely best not more than 3 months after.

If it were a Dexter cow I would not be too worried.

Duncan

Kathy Millar · Post by **Kathy Millar** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 5:50 am

Thanks, Duncan. I think the neighbours said there had been no problems but seeing as this is a heifer, probably best to abort.

Kathy

judy · Post by **judy** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 8:30 am

Just to let you know I had a Hereford X steer calf out of a short legged cow. She calved very easily and without any outside help. The person I bought the cow from put his Dexter cows to a Hereford bull every other year and didn't have any problems with calving and the resultant calf just had a bit bigger frame when the animals were sold for beef.

Kathy Millar · Post by **Kathy Millar** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 5:51 am

Hmm, that little cow must have pretty strong legs....otherwise, you could end up with a new definition of "cow pattie"

Kathy :D

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 12:46 pm

A Hereford bull got into our Dexter cows last year and two of our cows produced a white faced calf. The long-legged 4 year old had hers quite easily, but I had to pull the calf out of the short-legged Dexter heifer (2.8 yrs old). She couldn't get the massive head out. Only the hooves showed after 4 hours. So I got the calving ropes out at 1:30am in the middle of the worst deluge we've had all year. (Murphy's Law).

I'm not a small person, but it took all my pulling and all the heifers pushing to get that calf out. A good 10 minutes worth. Needless to say, I'd never mate a Dexter heifer to a Hereford again - given the choice. Next time she'll be having a nice small Dexter calf. Mother and short-legged Daughter are doing fine. The calf is almost 3 months old now.

Kathy Millar · Post by **Kathy Millar** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 4:24 pm

My friend did decide to abort and the heifer has now been AI'd to Saltaire Platinum. She and I are sharing a "cane" of straws of him. Gotta love this cattle jargon!

Kathy