Monster Cattle or Incorrect Passports ?

[willie waver]

And what about those that sell Simmental or Charolais cross calves with a named Angus sire on the passport.

tbf, i've got a few charlieX cows that genuinely run with angus bulls, and they throw out charlie coloured calves every year without fail

also my hereford cows with the angus bulls will have 10-20% white faced or part white faced calves

 

[Agrivator]

tbf, i've got a few charlieX cows that genuinely run with angus bulls, and they throw out charlie coloured calves every year without fail

also my hereford cows with the angus bulls will have 10-20% white faced or part white faced calves

Yes, of course the calf can take after its mother. But should any of them have horns or have signs of having been dehorned?

Unless the Angus sire has a bit of American or Canadian Holstein ancestry.

 

[steveR]

I know I’ve got one. I’m not gathering all our lot in just too tag one calf that will happily wait a bit longer. Got his passport here but I’m not risking hurting anything through unnecessary handling of the herd!

I think we all do this... I prefer to apply for a passport at the same time as I tag, just to double check sex etc, but am happy to register and tag when the stock come in for work. Might be more of a problem with a lot of cows all calving at the same time?

 

[michael N123]

I was once fortunate enough to be asked to an evening meeting where the "men from the ministry" were keen to hear the views of the guys with sh*t on their boots as to how things could be improved. A that time I had a few sucklers and made the point that a one man band type guy could sometime struggle to SAFELY tag a calf "in the field" within 28 days (for example a late born one), and wondered if maybe some flexibility or a longer window (for example 6 weeks max age) might be a good idea.
Long story cut short... A smartarse wealthy farmers son just cra*ped on me big time by telling us all how easy it was with this system and that equipment,etc.,etc, etc.....What a merchant banker...... No wonder we get landed with all this big brother regulation.

Register for the tag take a photo of cow and calf together to avoid confusion if there’s a few in the batch and just stick the tags in when they come in for winter

 

[Werzle]

Went to store sale at Leek on Saturday, couldn’t help but notice a run of cattle that were meant to be from 5 - 8 months old that looked more like 14 months. Am I missing a trick, is there some miracle feed out there ? Or maybe a miracle breed? Or do people just get their dates muddle up ?

I dont see these type of cattle as much now as i used to 5+ yrs ago in markets, random inspections have stopped alot of it and farmers do not want the hassle of being caught out. Block calving dairy herds can have 25-30 calve p/day and i have had 9 in 24hrs in the past too . Genetics in modern Cattle are making them finish quicker too so fiddling DOB isnt needed. Alot of farmers moaning they didnt get around to tagging calfs/registering them is a joke really, they need to pull their fingers out.

 

[Cowmansam]

If there out on a fell or a massive tract of moorland fair enough I can see how it could happen but otherwise it’s just laziness

 

[jendan]

Register for the tag take a photo of cow and calf together to avoid confusion if there’s a few in the batch and just stick the tags in when they come in for winter

How does that work when all the calves look the same?......................and other than them being a bull or heifer calf.

 

[michael N123]

How does that work when all the calves look the same?......................and other than them being a bull or heifer calf.

Well it should just be the odd one you can’t tag not the whole herd lol

 

[jendan]

Well it should just be the odd one you can’t tag not the whole herd lol

I thought you had found a new, failsafe way of registering and tagging. I think many more people have problems with this than anyone would care to admit. And usually just gets swept under the carpet,on the assumption that Trading Standards cant creep up on folk and check everyone all of the time.

 

[som farmer]

got a cow springing hard, to calve, bought in, due date 6th dec, with that date, a calving index of 299 days, looks like it will be 230 ! have had a few similar as well.
At least bcms give you a warning your calf is over 28 days old
Farmer close by, was accused of tampering with tags, animals born on his farm, sold as stores, and age queried at abattoir, as 'to young'. Trading standards, checked his records, and his shitty calving book, and decided he must have tampered with the tags, as, wait for it, they didn't register as a replacement tag, and they (plastic) were impossible to remove/reuse. 2 days in court over it, and the farmer had someone demonstrate how it could be done, case over, costs awarded to farmer. They had actually been bought locally, that farmer, stopped skittling, and has kept a very low profile, nor could he be taken to court, as he was a witness for t/standards. They, were very bitter, it was meant to be a 'headline case', cost them a small fortune, and they lost, the 'bitterness' was against the the farmer who won, why, no idea, as it was very obviously not him.