Author Topic: Just a photo of our newest calf. (Read 2809 times)

Cowgirl · « **on:** November 06, 2014, 12:28:55 am »

We have called him Merlin.

Steph Hen · « **Reply #1 on:** November 06, 2014, 03:20:50 am »

Lovely!

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #2 on:** November 06, 2014, 03:31:47 am »

What a little stonker! (Which, for the avoidance of misunderstanding, means solid & strong!)

Mammyshaz · « **Reply #3 on:** November 06, 2014, 07:19:01 am »

Wow, a handsome little chap

sabrina · « **Reply #4 on:** November 06, 2014, 08:36:45 am »

Looking good and strong.

waterbuffalofarmer · « **Reply #5 on:** November 06, 2014, 10:42:08 am »

Congrats! Is he a traditional hereford?

Cowgirl · « **Reply #6 on:** November 06, 2014, 05:54:37 pm »

Thanks for your interest. Yes he is a Traditional Hereford. This photo was taken at about 4 days and he is a stonker! He weighed 44.5 kg at 24 hours, which is a bit more than we hope for but there were no problems - he was born with our house sitter and capable neighbour in charge when we were away in Devon for a week! i hoped she would wait till we got home but she didn't. Actually his story is quite unusual. His mother calved last year on October 28th and since the rest calve in the spring we kept her away from the bull as we intended to AI her in the spring. However she had other ideas! When our local vet came to put a CIDR in she scanned her first (fortunately) and said "Well you won't be AIing this one - she's already in calf!" After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I remembered that there had been one bull calf in the shed with her. I really liked him and tried to sell him as a bull but in the end we decided to castrate him - we did it on Jan 14th 2014. So Merlin is his one and only calf - and he's beautiful! I don't think we'll be castrating this one!

nutterly_uts · « **Reply #7 on:** November 06, 2014, 06:54:44 pm »

Traditional herefords are lovely

Friend had a gorgeous bull and some girls - lovely cows

trish.farm · « **Reply #8 on:** November 06, 2014, 10:15:30 pm »

Wow, he is gorgeous!!!!!!

Carse Goodlifers · « **Reply #9 on:** November 07, 2014, 06:00:47 pm »

Can I ask what the difference is between a traditional Hereford and a non traditional Hereford?

Cowgirl · « **Reply #10 on:** November 07, 2014, 08:28:52 pm »

Hello Carse Goodlifers! A Traditional Hereford is one with pure English bloodlines - the original population. It has been shown by the Food Standards Agency (when they were DNA testing meat because of the horse meat scandal I think) that the Original Population were completely genetically distinct from the modern commercial Hereford whose DNA standard came from North America - why this is so is not clear but is being investigated further by the Traditional Hereford Breeders Club. The results should be interesting! The Traditional Hereford is recognised by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust as a category 5 rare breed with only about 750 breeding cows left in the world. Tragic isn't it when they used to be so popular! They are somewhat smaller than the modern commercial Hereford with shorter legs - big enough for us though. They have wonderful docile natures and survive on practically nothing, like the true native breed they are.