Horns - Horns

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 12:41 am

Duncan, you can get natural polling in dairy animals. We had one family line in our Pedigree Friesian herd of 120 cows, that was polled. The original cow came from another herd, but all her offspring were all polled. They were good milkers too. So it is possible to find polling turning up, albeit rarely.

Inger.

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 8:24 pm

Andy, you should see some of the New Zealand publications. The Chondrodyplasia problem is in almost every issue of anything to do with Dexters. Interestingly though, the 'International version' of the C gene (or type 1) isn't all that common in NZ I don't think. I've tested all our breeding age cows (11) and haven't it in them although 2 of them carry the NZ version (type 2). Kathleen you are probably more informed about the prevalence of type 1 in NZ, is it fairly rare?

Kathy Millar · Post by **Kathy Millar** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 5:33 pm

Hi, Duncan, have you considered disbudding when the horns are about the size of a thumb? That's when my vet does it and it does a beautiful job. The calf hardly bothers at all with it and he uses a local although once he also used a general and the poor calf slept for abuot 6 hours!! The calves are about 3 months old and I have this done all year around even in fly season. If there are flies about, the wounds are kept covered by the blue-coloured boron spray. I found I had to reapply every few hours for the first day after which the wound had dried off. I think my vet, Leo, actually enjoys this as he takes such pride in his dehorning and genuinely likes cattle ,even my little guys.

Kathy Millar

Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:35 pm

Hello Kathy,
Strangely enough in 30 years as a vet in mixed practice there are few methods of dehorning which I have not tried and even fewer which I have not seen.
You seem to be fortunate with your relationship with your vet, and he is obviously making a good job of dehorning/disbudding. Having dehorned a large number of a great variety of breeds, and my own Dexters over almost 20 years, and seen many badly dehorned at shows and sales I stand by my original comments in relation to dehorning and Dexters
There is no doubt whatsoever that they can be properly done, but they do need care. Perhaps the average Dexter handling facilities in UK are not of the best which will make the problem worse.

Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:42 pm

Hello Inger,
I wonder if your cow was a pure bred mutation or an unsuspected cross? The sad thing is that though there have probably been several good dairy cows turned out polled over the generations the only serious attempts at getting polled dairy cattle have fallen by the wayside. As far as I know the reason has been that it was difficult to get enough milk out of them and keep them polled. Given the reliance on AI and high finance breeding these days I should think the chance of good polled holstein/friesians being marketed is about nil, as the main benefit would be to the welfare of the calves rather than a serious benefit to the dairy farmers bank account. Isn't it dreadful to be so cynical. But thanks for the info.
Duncan

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 10:27 pm

This line were actually good milkers, which is why my Dad kept her heifers. A bull calf from her line was sent to an A.I centre here in NZ for testing. Unfortunately he failed because of a weakness in his front feet (a injury sustained during birth). I don't know what happened to the decendants. My Dad fell ill and we had to sell the herd and the farm. But there we are.