[marka]

Hi there,

We are thinking of getting a few heifers soon, what paperwork do we need to be mindful of and because we are in Scotland, is there any special paperwork needed if buying from England ?

Regards

Mark

[Rosemary]

Speak to your vet about testing and quarantine - when we bought our bull, he was tested for a number of things, including TB and he was quarantined for four weeks when he got here.

[Factotum]

You need to consider TB - all cattle coming into Scotland from England should have a clear pre-movement TB test 60 days before the movement - this applies to all areas of England & Wales.

After moving to Scotland, there has to be another TB test done, between 60-120 days after move, if the beast came from an area of High Incidence of TB.

See for more info:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/farmingrural/Agriculture/animal-welfare/Diseases/disease/tuberculosis/guidance/control

You can find which are the areas of High Incidence using the info on here:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/ahvla-en/disease-control/bovine-tb/tb-testing-intervals-2014/

HTH

Sue

[marka]

Thanks Rosemary & Sue

[shygirl]

what sort of cattle are you hoping for? buying from scotland does attract fewer visits from AH. plenty of good heifers here.

[marka]

Hi Shygirl,

We've always fancied Dexters but there seems to be a shortage of ones for sale in Scotland and have just spotted a small starter herd for sale in Yorkshire which is an LIA for TB which does seem to make it less onerous in terms of testing both pre and post movement.

Getting a haulier though to come this far north is proving to be tricky !!

Regards

Mark

[shygirl]

there are often dexters at thainstone and dingwall and im sure theres a breeder near fraserburgh.

[HappyHippy]

And there's a fairly active Scottish Dexter Society 
I'm sure if you get in touch they'll be able to point you in the direction of good stock 
Good luck and keep us posted
Karen

[Rosemary]

we did consider Shetlands but we prefer the Dexters

I'm gutted. My  are gutted.

Try Robin Walker robin.art@btinternet.com - he's chair of the Scottish branch of the Dexter Cattle Society, so he's the man in the know.

Been a big demand for them recently - including from the Wagyu man 

[domsmith]

i could fill you a wagon and send them up to you . i need rid of 8 dexter cows!

plenty of dexters out there, cows are too cheap at the moment.

d

[shygirl]

thats an offer for you 

[Nina]

Don't do it - Not dexters, you'll regret it!! 

[marka]

Nina - why's that ?

[landroverroy]

Dexters are ok if you cross them with something commercial and get a saleable calf.
I've just got £919 for a Dexter x Hereford bull, at 21 months and weighing 550kg.
You wouldn't  get half that for a pure dexter bull.
If you keep them pure you get next to nothing for them unless they are of superb breeding, and even then the market is very limited, because you can still get registered ones of unheard of breeding very cheap.
 The last ones I bought at market cost me between £55 and £90 and they were all decent, pedigree cows.  I put them to my Hereford bull and the resultant calves were worth up to 3x what I paid for the mothers before they were even weaned. (Obviously I didn't sell them at that age, as they were worth considerably more fattened.)
Dexters are a smallholders' cow because they are small and cheap, and you can fit a whole one in a single freezer. But there's a limit to what you can eat yourself or sell to friends.
They are a useful animal to learn with, but you'll soon move on to something more profitable.
 

[marka]

Thanks for the info - we're not looking to make any money out of them, we just want to raise enough to keep our freezer full and to have the satisfaction of knowing exactly where our food is coming from and how it was raised.