Hi Everyone
I'm new to the forum, I have a small farm in the West of Ireland of around 8 acres split into 6 paddocks. We were originally only looking for 3-4 for our two ponies and despite haymaking etc our "too much grass" situation has come to a head this year, four years in, as we had such a mild and dry winter and I've had to put the ponies onto a starvation paddock with hay due to a laminitis scare.
We've been toying with the idea of Dexter's for a while as a solution, for one thing I like the idea of having the original local cow back again (it is an old farm with lots of evidence of previous cattle keeping including a race and two stalled outbuildings). We've been procrastinating for around 2 years though, partly because of their initial cost.
Last weekend we went to see a farmer up on the north coast who keeps a herd of around 100 "ranch style" out on a mountain. Every year he cuts out those he doesn't think will make it another winter, and usually keeps them on the farm in the normal way until they pick up or don't. He's getting on himself though so this year he decided to try and sell them instead, obviously at a discount.
So we've bought two. One is 15 years old, very healthy looking but thin, with a 6 month old bull calf. The other is 10 years old, blind in one eye after an infection that appears to be fully cleared up, also a bit thin and a bit dirty around the back end but seemed sound and alert, with a 2 week old dun bull calf. Both are pure-bred and registered and very friendly. They've been running with the bull in a smallish herd of around 10 on about 20 acres of fairly decent grass for the last 3 weeks or so and apparently were a lot thinner when they were first put in there. The current owner is bringing them down to us in a week or so as he has a better set-up for the relatively long journey on steep, winding and bumpy roads.
Are we mad? Does anyone have any experience of taking on older cows, especially with such a change in environment? I'm not sure if they are going to be constantly trying to escape and feeling claustrophobic, or thrilled to have masses of grass to themselves and a field shelter in winter.
Is there anything I need to ask him when he delivers them? I've already thought of a few questions I forgot to ask, namely are they wormed and when, and have they ever seen electric fencing before.
Anything I should get from him except the registration certificates (I keep reading stuff about TB testing?)
I've already tackled the horrendous application form to get my equine premises number expanded to a herd number, so that's in hand.
Any additional advice is very welcome, I've a lot of experience and qualifications etc with horses from a previous career (which included grassland management stuff so we have that well in hand), but although I've lived and worked on a few farms years ago my cattle experience is pretty much limited to herding them about occasionally for people and reporting any issues I spotted when I was dealing with the horses.
We're not currently planning to attempt milking or anything and aren't looking to make a big profit (not that I would be against that of course), the priority is to have something to cross-graze that will hopefully pay its own way without too much input.
Thanks, and sorry for the essay!