Holy Cow!
- Thread starter Aldaniti
- Start date
Bar the Bull
At the Start
I have put on a bit of weight since that picture.
G
Griffin
Guest
:blink: Lovely hair cut they've given the poor beast 
Yes, Helen, they are indeed for real - that is a Belgian Blue bull.
We have a small pedigree herd of B B's (as Diminuendo will testify!) - and they are mainly bred here for crossing on UK dairy herds and also on suckler herds for beef production purposes. They possess a unique trait for double muscling on their hind quarters.
Honest Tom will not like this subject, of course and I know it puts me right at the head of the E Dead disposal list but if you draw a line from the bull's shoulder back to his hock, then all the meat from that point back makes up the more expensive cuts of meat that you buy. So when crossed on the black and white dairy animals, you get a better carcase. You also find them as stock bulls on sukler herds containing a lot of the smaller but high quality native breeds (Hereford/Devons/Angus etc).
In addition to all that, they are also the quietest and most easily handled of all the beef breeds and, as Krizon will confirm, are a truly delightful breed of cattle !
I am currently on sitting up duty for a pedigree heifer about to calve (due Jan 14th) and am yawning a bit as I type this! Luckily I've infra red cameras so I don't physically have to schlep out there during the night but it does make for broken nights!!
If all goes well, I'll post some pictures of the calf on here but this is one of Dim's beautiful photos of a few of 'the girls'....
We have a small pedigree herd of B B's (as Diminuendo will testify!) - and they are mainly bred here for crossing on UK dairy herds and also on suckler herds for beef production purposes. They possess a unique trait for double muscling on their hind quarters.
Honest Tom will not like this subject, of course and I know it puts me right at the head of the E Dead disposal list but if you draw a line from the bull's shoulder back to his hock, then all the meat from that point back makes up the more expensive cuts of meat that you buy. So when crossed on the black and white dairy animals, you get a better carcase. You also find them as stock bulls on sukler herds containing a lot of the smaller but high quality native breeds (Hereford/Devons/Angus etc).
In addition to all that, they are also the quietest and most easily handled of all the beef breeds and, as Krizon will confirm, are a truly delightful breed of cattle !
I am currently on sitting up duty for a pedigree heifer about to calve (due Jan 14th) and am yawning a bit as I type this! Luckily I've infra red cameras so I don't physically have to schlep out there during the night but it does make for broken nights!!
If all goes well, I'll post some pictures of the calf on here but this is one of Dim's beautiful photos of a few of 'the girls'....
what sort of weight are they compared to a Freisian? a friend of mine has a few Dexters but they are tiny :blink:
Our pedigree females would range between 650 - 800 kg and the bulls can hit the 1300kg mark !
I would guess at a British Friesian cow being about 400kg - a Holstein Friesian would be about 450 - 500kg
That picture would be of a Belgian Belgian Blue (rather than a British Belgian Blue!!) - and they do indeed clip them out over their quarters to show off the double muscling. The Belgian BB's are more extreme than the British BBs - we have a Belgian BB cow and she's more exaggerated but she's also pretty mobile, has a great temperament and thrown us a lovely daughter, Ab Fab. The highlight for my young nephews is to come on the farm and ride Ab Fab !
I would guess at a British Friesian cow being about 400kg - a Holstein Friesian would be about 450 - 500kg
That picture would be of a Belgian Belgian Blue (rather than a British Belgian Blue!!) - and they do indeed clip them out over their quarters to show off the double muscling. The Belgian BB's are more extreme than the British BBs - we have a Belgian BB cow and she's more exaggerated but she's also pretty mobile, has a great temperament and thrown us a lovely daughter, Ab Fab. The highlight for my young nephews is to come on the farm and ride Ab Fab !
Irish Stamp
Forum Moderator
Our cows are lightweight's 
Like BB's, Charollais cattle are classed under the 'Continental' beef breed banner - along with Limousin, Simmental and a few other less popular breeds. It's beef from these crosses that in the main ends up in the supermarket. There's nothing wrong with the quality of the beef per se but it will lack flavour simply because it won't have been hung and also because it lacks the traditional marbling of fat through the meat that the native UK breeds have (and which I personally think it 'proper' beef!).
The BB/Charollais or Limmy cross produces a very good carcase and the cross breds have a lot of hybrid vigour and, in the main, are not a lot of bother. The one problem can be that you have to keep an eye on the cows when they're calving, as they sometimes have difficulty and you need to be around to pull the odd one off or, at worst, get a c-section done on the cow.
The BB/Charollais or Limmy cross produces a very good carcase and the cross breds have a lot of hybrid vigour and, in the main, are not a lot of bother. The one problem can be that you have to keep an eye on the cows when they're calving, as they sometimes have difficulty and you need to be around to pull the odd one off or, at worst, get a c-section done on the cow.
They are stunning creatures - their hooves aren't appreciably any bigger than 'ordinary' cows' hooves, though, so they look like they're standing on tip-toe. All of Songsheet's are very quiet, friendly, and adore having their withers scratched.
Spoons
At the Start
They are really lovely looking Songsheet.Can sympathise with you at the moment as I'm back on sitting up duty as of tonight waiting for mares to foal.
Yup, am starting to yawn quite a bit during the day now and am sure I will start dozing over my keyboard and dribbling... :lol:
I've also got a camera on BARRANTES just to be safe even though she's not due until Feb 7th. Last few nights she's been very quiet but I was a bit puzzled last night as she had her head over the door all night, half the time looking alert and watching something going on in the yard.
They're both audio cameras on opposite sides of the yard but it was so windy last night all you could hear was rattling and banging of the various gates etc. Or so I thought..
On going into the yard first thing, it looked like a real party had been going on - nice piles of poo here and there (horse), all the feed buckets outside their doors tipped over, rugs pulled about, etc etc but all the stable doors shut that I could see - except for the one I couldn't see, which is at 90 degrees to the main yard and, of course, was empty. RUNS IN THE FAMILY was snoozing very happily next to the new barn, having demolished everyone else's breakfast and a wheelbarrow of hay...... No wonder Pants was so interested last night!!
I've also got a camera on BARRANTES just to be safe even though she's not due until Feb 7th. Last few nights she's been very quiet but I was a bit puzzled last night as she had her head over the door all night, half the time looking alert and watching something going on in the yard.
They're both audio cameras on opposite sides of the yard but it was so windy last night all you could hear was rattling and banging of the various gates etc. Or so I thought..
On going into the yard first thing, it looked like a real party had been going on - nice piles of poo here and there (horse), all the feed buckets outside their doors tipped over, rugs pulled about, etc etc but all the stable doors shut that I could see - except for the one I couldn't see, which is at 90 degrees to the main yard and, of course, was empty. RUNS IN THE FAMILY was snoozing very happily next to the new barn, having demolished everyone else's breakfast and a wheelbarrow of hay...... No wonder Pants was so interested last night!!
Spoons
At the Start
Sounds an interesting night round yours!Thankfully we got cameras last year and have mini tv for them so I can watch tv during night,not that theres much on after about 3 in morning.Worst mistake I make is going to pub and then trying to stay up all night,end up setting alarm to go off every 15 minutes to wake me up! -_-
K
Kathy
Guest
Please keep us posted of any patter of little hooves. B)