Small farm with Dexter cattle

3 posts
Sat, 01/12/2013 - 11:50 #1

Member for

11 years 10 months
AJS
Last seen: 07/08/2019 - 07:51
Joined: 01/12/2013 - 11:35

Small farm with Dexter cattle

Hi,

I am interested to know at what age (roughly) that a dexter bull may be able to breed with my cows. The mother of the bull needed to have a ceasarian whilst giving birth to this bull and our vet has told us not to breed her anymore which is why i dont want to take the risk of her becomming pregnant again. We only have the two cows and a calf and dont want to segregate her from the other cows if we dont need to. 

I guess the question is whether or not it is more beneficial to wean the bull and segregate him or segregate her? I dont believe he would be tall enough to mate but I'm just not sure. He is only coming up to 5months now and has been 'playing' and mounting our calf since they were both born so i'm not sure if its just 'playing' or if he is coming into puberty.

I'm also curious to know what the guidelines are for breeding bulls and cows that are 'related' and if there are any issues with inbreeding?

Any information you could give me would be much appreciated. 

Thanks,

AJS

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Sat, 01/12/2013 - 14:54 #2
barb
Last seen: 09/17/2019 - 18:07
Joined: 11/23/2011 - 09:38

Hi AJS,

My thoughts on the cow. If she is a pet and you would like to keep her you could have the vet spay her. If you can't have the vet spay her maybe for her sake she could go to another property.

Regarding line breeding. It can be done and this is the metod used to fix desirable traits in animals. However, you must be prepared to cull heavily because line breeding can bring out recessive genes carrying undesirable traits, that necessitate the culling of the offspring. i.e. Hare lip, spina bifida, super numery teats and so on. On the flip side you can get some spectacular specimens from line breeding also. The usual way that it is done is to line breed in twice and on the third breeding breed out to a new line. Then take the offspring from the third breeding and breed back into the same line again. As mentioned before, be prepared to cull heavily.  Heavy culling when line breeding was not done by many dog and cat breeders resulting in problems with breathing in persian cats and bull dogs and hip displasia in many dog breeds.

Regarding the little bull and his ability to mate due to his short height. Nature will always find a way. I had a very tall Brahman cow and hired a short Murray Grey bull to service the Hereford cattle. One day when I was in the paddock there was the Murray Grey bull mounting the huge Brahman cow- she was standing in a stump hole! The offspring was a bull who was magnificent. He had the huge frame and height of the Brahman and the superb muscling of the Murray Grey bull. I got a great price for him when I sold him too. He made a great terminal sire for the beef producer who bought him.

The little fellow probably won't be very fertile yet as he is still quite young and will become more fertile with age. Having said that, all animals mature at a different rate so I would seperate him within a month. Better safe than sorry.

Hope this helps,

Barb

 

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Sat, 01/12/2013 - 18:02 #3
rogermartyn
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 10/20/2011 - 16:16

Hi AJS


I haven't any direct experience with Dexters but I do know that bulls can be fertile and deliver the goods from 6 months of age although 10 months onwards is more the norm. Also fertility is usually measured by way of sperm counts - the point being, that a low sperm count can result in a successful pregnancy even if classified as 'infertile'.


If your bull is 'playing' around at 5 months, I'd be very careful as to what cows he runs with. And a word of caution, 'size' doesn't necessarily count, where there's is a will, cattle will find a way irrespective of size-age differences - that you can count on. I know this is the case with run cattle where bull calves have run with the herd to yearling stage.


If you do need to seperate the cow, try and get at least one companion for her, she will be much happier and easier to handel.


Regarding inbreeding, ie Mum with son, brother with sister is not a good idea unless you have a full understanding of the respective animals genetic histories. Although inbreeding can result in no problems and certainly result in good traits being passed on, the risk of bad recessive genes combining and causing some sort of a problem is greatly, greatly heightened. Getting to grips with the 'likelihood' is a science in itself full of complicated statistics that frankly you will not want to know about unless you're 98% geek yourself.


In summary, if you have to 'inbreed' the herd limit it to first cousins or more distant relationships and things should be fine.


Regards
Roger

 

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