[SallyintNorth]

At last!  Finally I have a Red Devon x Jersey heifer.  I know it's a long way to her first lactation - but finally I am on the journey

[Brandi]

Congratulations, she is beautiful, lovely time of year with the spring and summer on the horizon hopefully!the months and next couple of years will fly by.  Best wishes to you and yours including Cherry

[Rosemary]

Any reason for the name "Cherry"? Thinking back to "Two's plenty" 

She's just beautiful - I think she'll be a stunner when she's grown.

[SallyintNorth]

Rosemary, she's the Cherry on Top 

Plus she's cherry red, a jolly good sucker (groan) and a cheery little person.

And yes, I think she will be very striking.  She's a friendly wee soul too 

[Rosemary]

Rosemary, she's the Cherry on Top 

Plus she's cherry red, a jolly good sucker (groan) and a cheery little person.

And yes, I think she will be very striking.  She's a friendly wee soul too 

Love it 

[Louise Gaunt]

She looks gorgeous ! You and her mum must be very proud of her!

[Factotum]

She is beautiful - lovely colour, great name.

Got any pics of the sire?

Sue

[Mammyshaz]

Congratulations, Sally. She is gorgeous     
Love the idea behind her name 

[Anke]

I love the colour!

What's so special about this cross? Good house cow? (I am almost totally ignorant about cows/cattle...)

[SallyintNorth]

I love the colour!

What's so special about this cross? Good house cow? (I am almost totally ignorant about cows/cattle...)

I have a bee in my bonnet about this cross being a superb house cow, yes.  The Red Devon used to be triple purpose - meat milk work - but in recent decades has been more and more a beef only animal.  Still a milky suckler though, and a laid-back temperament.  A good do-er, very hardy. 

I think there's no doubt she'll be a grand addition to the suckler herd - in fact BH is rather annoyed that she'll be in my herd not his!      I think that with a more beefy conformation, and a bit hardier than the straight Jersey, not quite such high performance, she could be an easy-to-manage smallholder / house cow.  And good for crossing for a beef calf of course.  (Yes, I know - they could just get a Shetland!  Probably right there, but I have wanted one of these for ever. )

[SallyintNorth]

Got any pics of the sire?

Dad

Sorry, couldn't resist.   At the time of writing, her dad is the top bull on this page

[sokel]

She is gorgeous Sally  and I love the name

[Factotum]

Like it - the pic of Atlas is nice - a good straight back and a lovely bully hump and that great curly bit on the face.

As a Shetland breeder - another multi purpose breed  -  I can see where you're going here.

One of the commercial cattle breeders here has admired our Shetland cows milkiness and wonderfully broad pelvises. He wondered if we wanted to cross with a commercial bull to breed good suckler replacement heifer which would probably make good money at the mart.

At the moment we're sticking with pure bred - we can get a reasonable price for the beef - but making the heifers more acceptable to the wider market could tempt us in the future.

Good luck with your 'house cow' project - it's great to follow your dreams.

Sue

[SallyintNorth]

Thank you everyone 

Sue, as I understand it the Shetland is such a fab crosser that that's how come they nearly lost the breed!  So for the moment, the breed soc is very much against crossing for breeding.  Which is completely understandable while numbers are so low - but hopefully the breed will recover to such a point that using them to produce good crossbreed suckler cows is again on the agenda  .

[bizzielizzie66]

She's beautiful !!