The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Cattle => Topic started by: Sbom on January 13, 2015, 08:27:31 am
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Have had this breed recommended but know nothing about them. Anyone here got any? What sort of temperament do they have?
And lastly has anyone a Welsh black cow for sale?
Thanks
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BH used to have Welsh Blacks years ago, and still had one when I first came here.
He was loathe to give an opinion, saying that it's been such a long time since he had them, they could have changed since then.
One thing he says you used to have to watch out for was 'big teats' - they'd develop such large teats the little calves couldn't get their mouths around them. (Swaledale ewes get a similar thing. You have to catch them and set the lambs on, sometimes you have to milk some off for the first few days to get the teat to be less engorged.)
Hopefully they'll have bred that problem out of them by now.
When he used to have them they were quiet, hardy, milky, good mothers, long-lived. Hopefully none of that has been bred out of them!
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Thanks, That goes with what I've been told by others, I have a ewe like that but she usually has two big lambs so only have to plug them on for a day or two.
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We used to cull our 'big teat Swaleys' but mark and keep a couple, who we'd keep track of and either lamb indoors or bring in when they lambed - we could get a couple of litres of colostrum out of them when they did lamb! The problem didn't seem to pass to Mule offspring, so if we tupped them with the Leicester we didn't have to keep track of their daughters.
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The welsh blacks I know of are good at running off and not running back, they jump fences and like to think they are deer, walk into a field and they bounce off the fences at the back
If you ask on thefarmingforum the farmers on there will all say the same!
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Oh heck! Definitely don't want a fence jumper.....whatever we get needs to be placid, we had a mental dexter bullock once who jumped everything in sight, he ended up breaking his leg jumping a metal fence and it took 5 of us to restrain him even then.
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Shetlands :innocent:
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Not sure they're many round here, never seen one advertised locally anyhow....
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Hereford then :) :love: :cow:
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Hereford then :) :love: :cow:
herefords are lovely, and they are usually readily available
My friend breeds the traditional type, not sure what the difference is apart from size, perhaps they are just the unimproved version
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We used to keep suckler cows---120 in total, most Welsh Blacks , some Herefords and a few Shorthorns
Welsh Blacks would no be the most docile but they can overwinter on very little outdoors on top of the downs
Some (that come from milking lines--WB used to be a dual purpose cow) have big teats but we culled heavily . We also performance recorded them and only kept polled animals. Overall an economical breed to keep with a supportive breed society ---best bred to a fast growing terminal sire though IMO
Herefords were very dozy and hence easy to work with ---but needed more maintenance (larger cows)
Shorthorns I liked as they were somewhere in the middle---very milky and good mums, decent growth rates and fairly trouble free
I did visit some WB herds that were very docile ---these were animals that overwintered inside and had plenty of human contact
If I thought hard enough and knew where you were based I may be able to recommend a herd to visit?
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I've often got a few Welsh Black I want to sell at this time of year. They aren't mine of course.... :innocent:
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Not sure they're many round here, never seen one advertised locally anyhow....
If you want Shetlands or want to see some, best thing to do is contact the breed society www.shetlandcattle.org (http://www.shetlandcattle.org)
They are rarely advertised in the press or sold through the ring. Two for sale on TAS thsi morning though :-)
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We keep a small herd of Welsh Black and Belted Welsh. If you put the time in with them they are quiet enough, give their rump a scratch and they love it! Problem is getting them too tame and then they don't shift when you want them to.
We outwinter ours, and they cope well with our wet rushy pastures. Produce a cracking calf to a Simmental or Charolais and they are very milky and attentive mothers. The only hassle I've had has been getting between a mother and very young calf, and we got rid of that cow
Might have a heiffer with calf at foot for sale come June :thinking:
Mike
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Thanks...where abouts are you Barcud? We are near Stafford, Staffordshire. Not in a rush to replace her.....June could be good :-)
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We're in Llandeilo just north of Carmarthen, W Wales.
Probably too far away from you.
If you are on Facebook have a look at the Welsh Black page and get in touch with Sally who is the breed promotions officer. She'll be able to put you in touch with some more local options.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Welsh-Black-Cattle-Society/365305913550243?fref=ts (https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Welsh-Black-Cattle-Society/365305913550243?fref=ts)
Photo of Welsh Black cow with her Charolais X calf at 14 months
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If you fancy something a bit more interesting how about a coloured Welsh :idea:
http://ancientcattleofwales.org/ (http://ancientcattleofwales.org/)
these are the old colour varieties before the WB Society would only allow black animals to be registered. They are a Welsh Black in conformation, temperament, qualities etc but with the added bonus of the different colours. Even the old established Welsh Black herds still throw the odd coloured animal.
The RBST hold straws for a belted bull "Rhidian", but we (Ancient Catlle of Wales) are looking into getting semen from the purest line of bulls in the ACW membership. Or you could AI to a Welsh Black bull through Genus and the chances are you'd get a belted/colured calf, or cross-breed.
The Powell's near Worcester have some nice Belted stock, or Mike Lewis-Reddy near Llandrindod has some nice Welsh Whites.
Regards
Mike