Archived News

23rd October 2012

We woke to another wet and murky day but that didn't seem to bother the eighteen heifers and steers which we brought off the downs, weighed and divided into two groups; heavier and lighter cattle.

It will be easier to manage the yearlings in two groups during the winter as they can graze seperate fields whilst there's much less grass about.  Also as they grow in stature it becomes even harder work for the dogs to round up the cattle.

One group were transported by trailer to the big field on Ranmore whilst the others will move to an adjacent field by foot via the coach road, that will have to be in a few days.

Having mentioned a genetic throw back causing Spastic Paresis and most likely from the bull, we also have a genetic throw back which caused a number of the same group of yearlings to be mis-marked.  We have three totally black cattle, whilst others have white feet or black splodges on their white belts.  Having spoken to the Belted Galloway Society there were a few herds that experienced this problem in 2011 and the common denominator seems to be a bull some generations back.

Although some of the heifers do have a perfect belt I cannot  breed from any of the cattled sired by Park Pheonix without the risk of the throw back genes appearing in the future. I want to reduce the risk of mismarked calves and worst still, Spastic Peresis so I won't be keeping any of last years calves which will affect the progress of the herd.