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Post by Clive on Jul 12, 2009 12:12:55 GMT -5
My best heifer has just given birth....to twins...I didn't want twins but never mind. I haven't seen any history of twins anywhere in her breeding but I haven't been right back in time. I don't know the sex yet. She' a brilliant mom, just popped them out unaided one straight after the other, and they are both trying to suckle almost immediately. Both were born in the field less than an hour ago.   |
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lsg
member
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Post by lsg on Jul 12, 2009 15:23:33 GMT -5
Beautiful mother and babies. I hope they are either both boys or both girls.
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Post by Clive on Jul 12, 2009 15:32:02 GMT -5
Nope...unfortunately not...one is a girl and one a boy. Never mind! The girl is almost certain to be a Freemartin and will not breed (4% chance apparently but I won't even try). The last time we had twins it was two girls and they went on to breed well and only had singles themselves. The dam that had the twin girls came from a farm that had never had twins even though they had 200 head of dexters for over 25 years.
It's funny that with sheep twins are perfection, but with cattle you have the problem of the hormones getting mixed up. It's quite exciting having twins and it should be good news, but it isn't. Shame.
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Post by rhonda on Jul 12, 2009 16:32:59 GMT -5
HOW CUTE!! That must be so exciting!! Best of luck with them.. Beautiful cow by the way..
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Post by legendrockranch on Jul 12, 2009 19:44:11 GMT -5
Lovely animals Clive, congratulations!
Here in the states they have a test to find out if a heifer is a freemartin. Might just want to consider testing her if it's available over there.
Barb
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Post by Clive on Jul 13, 2009 2:21:56 GMT -5
Does anyone know how heritable the trait for producing twins is?
I can see no records of the heifer or bulls descendants having had twins. I am wondering whether to keep the bull entire which was my original plan because she is my number 1 beef heifer. But I don't want a bull that produces loads of twins! Our sheep don't seem to follow much of a pattern. They produce triples one year, single the next.
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Post by Clive on Jul 14, 2009 1:54:06 GMT -5
Gene - So the mom carries a tendency to produce twins. I'm glad it's not the bull!!! Can you put figures on this? I have asked around and can't yet find anyone (yet) who's twin-bearing dexter has done it more than once. But with other breeds I have discovered much repetition. Here they are this morning...in terms of fun, I'd have twins every time   |
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Post by Clive on Jul 14, 2009 12:56:59 GMT -5
"I'd not condemn a cow for having twins once. If she's so good in other respects, I'd give her another chance."
Glad you said that Gene. She's my best cow from my best performing line, best dam, best granddam.
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Post by copperhead on Jul 15, 2009 15:24:08 GMT -5
Clive, I've just got to brag on that cow again, she's a real beauty. If you don't want to take a chance on her having twins again, just send her my way.............P.J.
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Post by Clive on Jul 19, 2009 10:01:21 GMT -5
Thanks PJ. She's scared of flying though.
Looking at Thomas' Dexters, I can't believe the size of the eartags. They're bigger than the ear!
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Post by jwneeley on Oct 20, 2009 14:32:15 GMT -5
Clive,
Are these calves out of that AWESOME bull Advocate that you have on your web site for sale? I would be very interested in seeing some of his offspring as they are ready for the butcher! Did this bull finish totally on grass? To me, he is what I would like my Dexter herd to look like. I think the meat flavor and quality is second to none and I have a few people here in Illinois thinking the same (hoping to work on and convince more). No dairys around here, just a lot of hungry Southern Illinoisans!
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Post by Clive on Oct 21, 2009 5:51:28 GMT -5
Thanks for the compliment, it's much appreciated. Yes, they are by him. He is the only red bull I have ever kept entire because all the others seemed to grow tall. He is nice but not perfect. He has a bit of a high tail set for a start. Yes, he is outdoors 24/7, 365 days a year and he's only ever grazed, and we put haylage out for them in the winter in a ring-feeder. He's never had an ounce of any feed, nor the heifers. HOWEVER, my grazing is all modern grasses and animals do very well on it.
I don't know yet what his calves will turn out like. Had 5 so far including the twins. I am trying for a regular frame and don't want very short and certainly not tall, just what I would call normal proportions.
His lineage on the male side is good, but on the female side it is the best I have. I have his grandam and all her offspring through 4 generations and there's not one that isn't a favourite. That is where the good genes are mainly coming from. It's pity you can't do semen from a female and distribute because that granddam would be worth the effort, even though to me she doesn't look anything special. I'm now line-breeding the whole family line, so it'll be interesting to see what comes pops up.
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