I have this morning received 2 copies of the 2005 Dexter Herd Book ( yes , I'm a clown and paid once with my subs and then sent another cheque in for the Herd Book and annual returns ! )
Anyone want it for £8.00 inc P + P ( to the UK ) ??
If abroad , let me know where and I'll find out how much
Thanks
Dominic
kativaponies@btopenworld.com
Dexter Herd Book - 2005
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Mark Bowles
- Site Admin
- Posts: 1290
- Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2004 6:03 pm
- Location: Leicestershire England
Having at last received the Herd Book, I confess I am disappointed. Forty- six pages, one sixth of the entirety, are taken up with a duplicate listing of female registrations. The only birth entries are for registered animals, there is no indication of the calving performance of the herd, and again there is further duplication, with separate listing of adults and another of births, instead of running the two together. It is a long wait for such meagre information, so badly presented.
Surely there would be too many breeders to list all the details of each farm? Our herd book just lists the registered animals and their details like colour, leg length, horn status, parentage, breeder and owner. I would like the leg length changed to carrier/non carrier, as I think its more relevant, but other than that, the important information is there.
We also have a CD option available which allows you to easily find all the offspring of an animal and the other parent. You can access the pedigree and nice little extras like that. I buy both versions as each has its merit for different needs.
We also have a CD option available which allows you to easily find all the offspring of an animal and the other parent. You can access the pedigree and nice little extras like that. I buy both versions as each has its merit for different needs.
Inger
NZ
NZ
I don’t think you can have seen the 2005 Herd Book to which I referred. Properly condensed, with no duplication and in the right format, I believe it could carry the information I specified without any increase in size.
I have for years, been fighting to make our on-line version available to all breeders, at home and overseas, but it needs be borne in mind, in Britain many Dexter enthusiasts still are not into computers.
I can see little point in allocating the short or long leg description unless it is backed up by a DNA reading. At present very few of our animals have been DNA tested, and in the last Herd Book the results only take up 6 pages out of the 336
. Despite the advantages, computers are as yet, a transitory method of storing information, the printed version is unlikely to become surplus in our time. The recent power cut in Europe demonstrated another problem, which is likely to escalate with global warming, and who hasn’t had their computer go down, my Herd Book is always available.
I have for years, been fighting to make our on-line version available to all breeders, at home and overseas, but it needs be borne in mind, in Britain many Dexter enthusiasts still are not into computers.
I can see little point in allocating the short or long leg description unless it is backed up by a DNA reading. At present very few of our animals have been DNA tested, and in the last Herd Book the results only take up 6 pages out of the 336
. Despite the advantages, computers are as yet, a transitory method of storing information, the printed version is unlikely to become surplus in our time. The recent power cut in Europe demonstrated another problem, which is likely to escalate with global warming, and who hasn’t had their computer go down, my Herd Book is always available.
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groubearfarm
- Posts: 169
- Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2004 1:52 pm
- Location: Tiverton Devon
The 2005 Herd Book was my first experience of producing the Herd Book. I did put a message on this board and in the bulletin as to what members wanted. We have tried to cater for the requests. I know much is duplicated but some wanted a list of females showing numerical order. All respondents wanted a list of their herd. The Dexter herd book still carries more information than any other Society. We took the decision to only include breeding stock births in an attempt to reduce the herd book size. To add the birth listing to the herd detail on data from Grassroots is a manual task on a "Word" document; with just 300 members requesting the herd book we have had to cut back to comply with the one major request asking for all the detail in one book. We hope to make the 2006 herd book detail available to those who can read a Word document and they can electronically sort how they wish. This is of course based upon Herd Returns appearing in the office in January !!!
When I wrote the above, it was my own immediate response, since then I find it is very much endorsed by others. Over the years I have spent considerable time browsing through the Herd Books. If space is available, different listings might be useful, if not, it appears to me, to be more important to get the maximum overall, rather than the same information in different formats. I think too much emphasis is placed on today’s demand, the Herd book will still be valued I am sure, in thirty years time. Meanwhile I repeat, the non-computer user should not be forgotten.
Yes, both versions need to be available. I always get one of each because each is so handy for different reasons.
The short-leg/long-leg column is an historical thing in our NZ Herd Book. I don't think its terribly useful as most new breeders (myself included) have been caught out by judging animals on leg-length. Calves are easier, but adult bulls I find more difficult to guess. Now that we have to DNA all bulls being registered in NZ., I think that getting the C test done at the same time, would be a good idea. Then perhaps one day, we can have a column for carrier/non-carrier instead of leg length. It would be more useful. But the wheels of change move slowly. Plus the C test costs $120 for both types of C to be tested. The samples are still sent to Australia to do. The cost is putting a lot of people off getting the test done.
The short-leg/long-leg column is an historical thing in our NZ Herd Book. I don't think its terribly useful as most new breeders (myself included) have been caught out by judging animals on leg-length. Calves are easier, but adult bulls I find more difficult to guess. Now that we have to DNA all bulls being registered in NZ., I think that getting the C test done at the same time, would be a good idea. Then perhaps one day, we can have a column for carrier/non-carrier instead of leg length. It would be more useful. But the wheels of change move slowly. Plus the C test costs $120 for both types of C to be tested. The samples are still sent to Australia to do. The cost is putting a lot of people off getting the test done.
Inger
NZ
NZ