Delving into the past - Lots of bull

Kathy Millar · Post by **Kathy Millar** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 5:26 pm

Liz, I just checked the CLRC database and none of the GB registered animals have any letter to indicate colour and neither do the US animals. Very frustrating but I did discover that my cow has a dun grandfather which would explain the dun calf she has now. That same cow also produced a red calf out of a red bull so she is also red factored....

Even though Carol has sold all the Salty semen, you could call the new owners. I did but haven't heard back which straws they will part with. I have a red Saltaire Platinum daughter and have bred all 3 of my cows to that sire again.

Thanks, again, Beryl, for sharing all that information with us. Perhaps I can look forward to more dun calves when I use the Woodmagic decendants on my cows.

Kathy

Woodmagic · Post by **Woodmagic** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 5:50 pm

Most of my black animals carry the dun, one year I will have umpteen dun calves, and the next with roughly the same animals I am lucky to get one, it is a lottery. All the animals mentioned above are black except, I forgot to say, Squirrel was dun, so Wheatear must carry it. Nice to know that it is wanted, not everybody is keen this side of the pond, I would hate to lose it; my only regret is that I haven’t the red too.

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 12:11 pm

Kathy, I live in New Zealand. We have graded up animals here. We use solid coloured foundation cows and purebred Dexter bulls. This was done because there weren't enough purebred cows in NZ to increase the numbers within a reasonable time.

G1 (Grade 1) is 50% Dexter, G2 is 75% Dexter and so on. We can class G4 cows as purebreds in our Herd Book. All grades are able to be registered, but they are placed in the appropriate section of the Herd Book. Only Grade 5 bulls or above, can be registered and from July 1 next year, no more Grade 1 cows will be accepted into the Herd Book. We have decided that there are now sufficient Dexter cows in NZ to be viable as a breeding population.

Liz, as yet, I only have 1 adult heifer from Salty. She is due to calve at the end of this month. So I'll let you know how well she feeds her calf and I'll be weighing the calf periodically. The NZ Dexter Assoc. is trying to gather data from breeders (voluntarily) so that they can provide some statistics on each bull. This will help cow owners to find the right bull for their needs.

This is the heifer Brenda as a calf;

She is a Grade 3, so her calf will be Grade 4 or 97% Dexter. I'm hoping its a heifer as it will be my first purebred heifer. The sire of the calf is Dun, which will be the first Dun genes in our herd (I think). We have quite a lot of Red genes hidden away in last year's heifer calves, curteousy of a borrowed Red Dexter bull.

Our Salty bull carries a Red gene, but so far we've only had one Red heifer. I expect that there'll be more Red calves arriving from future generations.

Our bull Klondyke Salty Pioneer (bred by Nancy Edge) is a Grandson of Saltaire Platinum M2708P, who was bred by Carol Davidson. Salty Pioneer's Sire is Hiyu Salty Rambler ADCA 7654.

Liz D · Post by **Liz D** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:21 pm

Inger she is gorgeous! Salty carries dun as well as red and I have bred him to a yearling heifer, out of my Cluny daughter (dun) and Galaxy, also carrying dun... so wouldn't a dun little heifer be nice! Not due till next spring, though, lucky you! These bulls haven't been used in Canada as much as in the States and so by checking the proginy lists in the US registration, it is possible to see what they are carrying. I really am interested in knowing about the calve's weight gain, conformation etc. I am really excited about Salty and his prospective offspring so I would appreciate it if you would let us know. Kathy I am sorry, I thought you were talking about the Cdn. born registrations. All of the AI bulls are blk with the exception of Lucifer, (red), Dunstan, O'toole and Samson(dun) but it is possible to check what colour genes they carry by the colour of sons/daughters. That is why I said I had too much time in the winter! Speaking of which...it's not winter yet! Tomatoes are calling.... Liz

Post by **Mark Bowles** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 7:05 pm

Inger, i think you will find Saltaire Platinum was bred by Jay Hunt here in the UK.We have 2 of his daughters, both have thrown red and could be described as dairy ish types of the dexter.
Mark

marion · Post by **marion** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 12:46 am

Hi Mark, that's really interesting about Saltaire Platinum throwing "dairy". His calves were described in one Cdn newsletter as "elegant and beefy"....marion

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 6:16 am

Yes our Salty bull tends toward the dairy side (he also carries Red). To counteract that, I bought an Australian born bull, which is more beef orientated and I'm hoping he will improve the rump area.

I would like to see an improvement in the udders in our herd as well. As yet, I can't comment on our Salty bull's ability to pass on a good udder gene, as this is the first year that one of his daughters is calving. However, his calves have always looked beautiful, the heifers more-so than the steers. It takes a number of years to prove a bulls worth, but I'm happy with the foundation that our Salty bull is laying down in our breeding herd. I think it'll give me a good base to start from.

Kathy Millar · Post by **Kathy Millar** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 6:21 am

Mark, are they polled? The two calves I have from Saltaire Platinum are red and I'm hoping one might be polled.

Liz, did you buy a number of Salty straws? I still haven't heard back from the new owners of Carol's straws which is really starting to limit the choice of AI bulls. Are duns very rare in Canada?

Kathy

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 10:18 am

Our Salty bull is polled Kathy, but carries a horn gene. As far as I can tell, the polling goes back to Migh Poldark, Saltaire Platinum's Sire. After that, I haven't got very much information on his predecessors.

Liz D · Post by **Liz D** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 11:50 am

This is really interesting about Salty throwing more 'dairy' types....let us know about his daughter's udder Inger, even at first lactation. I had thought that he would be more beef and am using him in combination with Magician, who I thought would be more dairy. Although I must say that a Magician steer that we have is really quite a bit longer and beefier than I was expecting. It really is interesting that one can do all the 'homework' using pedigrees etc but it is the info from each other's experiences that really counts! I don't think that Dun is rare in Canada, I think that Red is. Dun is just a personal preference of mine so my herd will be dun or blk and carry dun. All of the AI bulls that we are using are either Dun (Dunstan) or blk and carry (Salty and Galaxy) the only one that I can't see any Dun progeny from is Magician. Does anybody know? I didn't buy as many Salty straws as I should have Kathy, but am using him in combination with the others. Liz

marion · Post by **marion** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 2:59 pm

Ok guys, I think you might be talking about two different "Salty's". It would be helpful to use the bulls' complete name. Thanks :p marion

Liz D · Post by **Liz D** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 10:16 pm

Are we? Ok I am talking about Hiyu Salty Rambler IV. How about you Inger.....is it a different bull? Liz

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:49 am

Yes they are different bulls. Our bull is called Klondyke Salty Pioneer. He is a son of Hiyu Salty Rambler iv, out of a cow called Klondyke Hiku Patrice. Our bull was bred by Nancy Edge here in NZ. I presume he was bred by A.I. I think I've got a photo of him somewhere. I'll have a look.

Yes, I have got one. This is our Salty busy working.

He is the Sire of the heifer calf on the previous page.

marion · Post by **marion** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 1:11 pm

Hi Inger. Hiyu Salty Rambler IV is a horned bull, so the polling of your bull must have come from his dam, as polling doesnt skip a generation.....marion

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 11:46 pm

Yes his mother was polled and was Red.

My records show that Saltaire Platinum was polled as well. Is that correct? I've got a lot of gaps in the details of my pedigrees. Mostly I can find the colour and maybe the leg-length, but the horn statis is often left blank.