Dexter Cattle For Sale Discussion Board

I agree Margaret, on both counts. As far as wholesale testing in large herds in Canada, the same concern as yours, Clive, was raised over here. But testing doesn't necessarily mean the entire herd needs to be done but rather establishing the status of the bull used and then looking at family lines ...

OH boy, I have no idea Clive. Here is the link to the ADCA PHA fact sheet http://www.dextercattle.org/genPHA.htm Maybe someone there would be more qualified to answer that but I think we only hear about the full term ones. I mean when you think about it the gene was only identified in December '08 ...

Well I guess the answer to that Clive is that we didn't notice either, perhaps because, as I said, first trimester abortions of pha afflicted fetuses are more the norm than full term pregnancies. This is probably fortunate for the cow since full term PHA calves often mean her death. We aren't testi...

PHA does occur in other breeds, Marie-Anjou and Shorthorn for instance but the Dexter mutation is unique to Dexters. So far the 'first' proven source was Aldebaron Priapus, a a widely used Canadian AI bull, from Trillium Cluny, another AI bull and Woodmagic Wheatear. Cluny tested negative for the m...

Sorry Marc but I don't think that it is if's or but's, please corect me if I am mistaken but wasn't it found in the Cavanaugh Study that there was aproximately 5" shortened cannon bone in a carrier cow and 8" in a carrier bull? Perhaps I am a little off with the numbers and if so excuse m...

But Marc I think the question really is that if you buy a 44" carrier bull, who would conform to Canadian standards he could theoretically be a 52" non-carrier who would not conform to our standards. Do my 40" non-carrier cows conform to the standards if they were 35" carriers? ...

Well Louisa, that is the 'spice' that a lot of us around the world must be thinking of; height standards and carrier vs non. Raising the general height standard of the breed, as in a bull of 48", as long as it is one standard for both carrier and non will allow for Dexters to keep getting bigg...

No and on our veal calves there is a larger percentage loss, 50 -55%. We have only sent one steer at twelve monts but I think that it was closer to 50% loss from live to 'dressed' weight or carcass hanging weight; sorry Canadian term. Which would support the 'growing frame not meat' theory to me :)...

Well this is probably a little off topic but we have 'vealed' one dexter, usually we do dairy bull calves, and I was really impressed by the percentage weight gain of the Dexter to the black and white. The dexter was born about the third of the weight of most of the dairy calves we get, off dam and...

While we don't have the TB problem in Canada, (knock on wood!), the same thing that makes milk a perfect growing medium for good bacteria (lactic) also makes it a perfect medium for bad bacteria. If you know that your cow and her udder are healthy and you are careful about cleanliness with your mil...