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I spent some time with a vet college friend who worked for Hong Kong RSPCA - you don’t want to know what else goes on, with wild animals as well as domestic. Different culture..

The different preferences in different areas of UK have always mystified me. I think in the Hebrides they use a Limousin and Simmental on some sort of rotation. The cow in the picture above had a lovely Lim X calf last year. The crofters seem to like the Sim X females - the owner of the...

Yes it is. She’s going to be a lovely cow one day. That’s interesting- I’m wondering if I could find out the name or number of the bull. The owner didn’t know when I asked her unfortunately.

Yes.

That’s great. If you would like to DM me I can let you know what there is available and put you in touch with breeders.

Whereabouts are you? When are you wanting one? I hear about most that are available.

Yes both cows are in calf to one of our pedigree bulls. The heifer calf has gone to a crofter friend of the previous owner and he intends to breed from her. He’s also a musician and posts videos of himself playing his accordion in a cow shed - his latest has the calf in the background! See...

Sorry for slow reply - just seen your question. Do you mean the ones that were in the Hebrides? The one in the picture (born 2014) weighed about 520 kg just after that photo was taken in September 2023 (she has always been quite a small cow), the other one was 540kg (she had calved in February...

Haven’t you heard? Medical opinion is changing again (slowly). Fat isn’t bad anymore! Sugar is the enemy! In fact pasture fed fat is healthy - more omega 3s! Things will come full circle I believe!

True. But I’m not sure I agree on fat - yes if food is plentiful or if overfed they may put on too much fat but it’s that easy fattening trait that allows them to winter out on very little food in harsh climates. You’re correct that the Traditional Hereford breeders got rid of the ones that...

Yes you have. Just because it doesn’t interest you doesn’t mean it isn’t important. The problem with your point about semen and embryos is that semen only gives you male genes and not the mitochondrial DNA of the females, and there are only tiny numbers of embryos in storage currently from any...

Many good points I quite agree with, if there is such a thing as an easy calving continental. Why is the Bazadaise not more popular? They look amazing. I don’t know about the other OPs but, although heifers might not, I do know that plenty of Traditional Herefords are calving to continental...

So to answer your own question what have you decided is the right size of cow and where do you think animal agriculture is heading? All points of view are valid. Clearly large cattle are what you think your market demands and the small ones will have to wait (hopefully not go extinct) in niche...

There’s variation in all breeds of course but the difference is clear - from what you say it doesn’t matter that the Simmental is closer to the NAD than the HOP and I suppose next you’ll say “breeds don’t matter anyway” which is a valid point of view if you understand genetics. If you’re...

What do you mean by a blurred line? This is what I’m referring to.

Agree. This is my problem- I don’t see how you can reliably produce something big out of something small. As you say the Americans produce large numbers of identical medium sized animals - what they lack in size they make up for in numbers. A year or two ago I asked on an international forum...

Still different DNA though. I think some polled breeders are breeding them slightly smaller now but the show breeders aren’t.

Unfortunately in the eyes of governments it does. As usual you have missed my point about the genetic differences - we should be “bothered” about DNA. It’s far more important than “Kennel Club“ stuff. If the unique genes of our Traditional native breeds are lost ie become extinct, which is going...

I wish I knew - obviously we like small cows because they’re cheap to keep but we sell our own beef. It seems there is a lot of talk now about cows being too big, both on here and the “experts” (eg Liz Genever), because big cows eat more and produce more methane, yet in UK they still expect a...

You seem to know a lot about the decision making process- were you involved?