Dexter Cattle For Sale Discussion Board

Killing only fee sounds about right, but the butchery costs seem very high.

I pay about £180 irrespective of weight, hung for around 21 days and packed in polystyrene trays, cling film wrapped and labelled.

Lovely photos as always Stephanie.

Glad it is not just me that is feeding some supplementary hay due to the lack of grass! I've only had to mow my lawn once in the last 2 months.

Another study has been published by Ulster University into the benefits of grass fed beef http://www.agrisearch.org/projectsdetai ... 7&MenuID=5

There are so many factors e.g. how long you keep them out for, weight of bales etc., but I aim to secure half a bale per day per animal for November/December/January/February and then take my chances if I have to get any more in. However, mine are out all year and do have access to any remaining/new...

£25 per animal served seems a normal rate, but as others have already said unless the hirer is going to serve lots of animals you need to cover the cost of the TB test as well. It is getting harder to find people willing to hire out bulls and I can fully understand why when the financial benefit is ...

From what I have read, topping creeping thistle has little benefit as it will grow back from the roots. Although back breaking they need to be pulled just prior to going to seed and leaving no leaves at all this will drain the reserves in the roots and they will die off. Having said that if I don't ...

They are creeping thistles and it is only when they are pulled that they eat them. I am vary wary of ragwort, especially when I tend to collect it in old feed bags I cannot turn my back or they will be in there. I tend try to do any ragwort when they are not on the field and take the bag straight ho...

I have one area of a field, which used to be an orchard that has a lot of nettles and thistles. As the land has previously been registered organic I am loathed to spray. The Dexters avoid grazing the dense patches, but as I go around pulling the weeds they are equally happy munching the pulled weeds...

No simple answers, much depends where you live and who you are selling to. Where you are going to have your beef cut and how they are going to pack and label it (if indeed they are). What are your competition selling it for - not just those with Dexter? My pricing starts around the £10.50 mark, but...

Same here I'm going to be more ruthless and not looking to add to the herd until I am sure of my fodder situation.

Sale report in last Friday's Farmers Guardian http://www.farmersguardian.com/shows-an ... 73.article

Mark, did you get a feel for whether the linear assessment scores had an affect on the prices obtained?

Clive / Duncan,

Thank you both for your responses.

I will get a second opinion and if positive I will keep him intact then.

I have a 9 month old bull calf which I failed to castrate at birth and is still currently running with his mother and grandmother. My original plan was to get the vet in to castrate him and estrumate his mother (but not his grandmother). However, he is exceptionally good natured and I think he is lo...

Same here I had to fill up all the water containers yesterday and normally they would not have needed doing until today or tomorrow morning.