Beryl Rutherford

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Beryl Rutherford

The founder of the famous Woodmagic Herd, Beryl passed away on 29th December 2009, 10 years ago.

She bred some wonderful cattle including the first ever excellent Dexter cow in the UK, Woodmagic Petrel Ex91 pictured below, classified after her death and according to Michael Parkinson, Head of HUK Classification team at the time, “the best udder he had ever seen on a Dexter”. What an accolade! Petrel is now heading for 22 years of age and has never needed to have her feet trimmed, they are naturally just right as are the feet of Wm Merlin 6th Ex92 who is the same age.

Beryl believed that a Dexter cow should be able to at least rear a second calf or supply the house with milk as well as rear their own beefy offspring. Her animals were small, short on the leg but without the recessive gene that causes dwarfism.

Her book “My Love Affair With The Dexter” details her Dexter keeping, some hard times, some wonderful times and how she milked them through a rotary parlour, a fantastic little book still available by post from Duncan MacIntyre.

Her cattle must have been a bit special, as there are several that still carry her prefix in herds today still breeding and rearing calves, many of which have scored very highly when classified. Examples include several members of The Burnside Herd which live out on the hill all year around, mine however here in South Wales are a bit more coddled at Duffryn as I house most of them in winter.

Here are a few more photographs of animals bred by Beryl for your interest.
The black 2nd calver below is Wm Penny- Pies, and the older dun cow is Wm Palm Chat, about 14 years when the picture was taken. The black cow facing you is Wm Moss Cheeper 4th, Wm Merlin 6th Ex92 and the bull is 10 year old Wm Hedgehog 4th.

I cannot persuade the pics to stay where they are put! I will try to load on the next post!

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This is Wm Penny Pies

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This is Wm Palmchat

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This is Wm Hedgehog 4th

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WM Moss Cheeper 4th

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Wm Merlin 6th Ex 92 pic taken on her 21st birthday.

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