Dexters have no sense of humor

[genebo]

What a beautiful day this was. Warm and overcast, like you were wrapped in it.

I wasn't the only one enjoying the warm weather. The flies were, too. Where do they come from? Two days ago there were none. Now they are in your eyes, hair and ears when you walk among the Dexters.

It was time for my hat. It's a baseball cap with a logo from the feed store. It has a lerge blue cup sewn onto it, upside down. Each year, I smear the cup with Tanglefoot. As I walk, I disturb flies. They attack the highest point of movement nearby. That would be the cup on my hat. The sticky cup. It doesn't take long to fill the sides of the hat with flies.

Once, I wasn't paying close enough attention and a neighbor drove in without me seeing him in time to take the hat off. He laughed and laughed, then told everyone that would listen about the guy wearing the cup on his head.

Nothing like that happeded today, though. The Dexters failed to see the humor of it. They stood and waited to be scratched, rubbed and brushed. Not a one of them laughed.

Dexters are good.

[jamshundred]

Gene,

I think you are wrong.   I am just sure of it.  I am posiive I have heard a guffaw type sound when I've been outsmarted yet again!
Interesting cap.  What if it spills?  ugh.

Judy

[genebo]

Judy,

The cup is attached UPSIDE DOWN. The Tanglefoot is a sticky goo meant to stop webworms and inchworms from crawling up tree trunks. It is super sticky, like flypapar. When a fly lands on the coated cup, it sticks. While you are wearing the hat, you can hear the flies hitting the cup. After a while, the cup is completely coated. You have to add a new layer of Tanglefoot or replace the old cup with a new one, with new Tanglefoot.

A variation of the hat is a vertical stick attached to whatever equioment you are operating. On the top end of the stick, you loosely nail an upside down cup coated with Tanglefoot. The cup will rotate around the nail, making it more effective that when sewn to the hat. It keeps the deer flies, mayflies, black flies completely away and does a fair job with horse flies and face or horn flies.

It works so well that I can walk across my pasture with the hat on and charged and catch so many flies that I can turn around and walk back across the pasture in the same tracks without being hit by any flies.

You must have courage to wear the hat, for exposure can be rough.

[lonecowhand]

Yes, that is courageous! You can hear me not laughing!

So really, if the cup were attached by a nail to a short stick mounted to the hat, it would be even more effective in both ways , if you get my thinking!

Maybe I am laughing, but it would not stop me from wearing one!

[genebo]

You have hit the nail on the head!

[genebo]

This morning we were shrouded in fog. It rose from the pond and blocked the view of the pastures. I could tell the cattle were at the bunkers by the sounds they make. I could hear Eve talking to Cathy.

As I rounded the pond I could make out the dark shapes in the fog. Light was reflecting off of Eve's pure white horns. Cathy was easy to spot because her coat is still red and her short legs give her away. Bradan's legs are longer. I could make out the bull, McBrenn, before I could tell Bambi from Bambina. Mother and daughter have horns so similar you have to get a good look to tell.

Once we entered the gate, the cattle came to the bunker. Eve had to come around the long way. She was in a paddock, searching for new blades of grass. McBrenn stopped as he walked by me to sniff my hand. I guess he thought I might have a treat. I did have a bale of hay behind my back. McBrenn suck his nose in it and tore out a mouthful. I'll have to work on that, so he won't touch the bales until I put them down.

Bambi and Bambina ate their sweetfeed and minerals from one bunker while McBrenn and Eve cleaned up the other. Cathy and Bradan got theirs from buckets. As son as the feed was gone, they ambled to where I had placed the hay bale. Bambi leading and McBrenn lazily bringing up the rear. He is adopting the role of herd bull. Bambi tore into the bale as if she was a bull, tossing bits about with her horns. She stepped astraddle of the bale to defend it from the rest, until McBrenn arrived. Then she took up a position opposite him. The others circled around.

We drove off to the barn to feed the goats and turn loose the chickens. Many of the chickens were already out. They are crossed with Old English bantams, so they can fly. They fly up into the henhouse rafters and come out that way. Normally the cattle would arrive at the barn to clean up any feed the goats hadn't yet eaten, but today they were late. I had given them a bale of hay from a different cutting and it had a lot of clover in it. It kept them there a little longer. When I walked back across the pastures there was no sign of the bale. They cleaned it up.

When I got home I had a phone call from a man wanting some semen from Brenn to AI a Jersey cow. The Jersey is A1/A2 and he wanted to try for an A2/A2 Dexter/Jersey cross heifer.

Before the call, I was enjoying the Dexters again like I had when Brenn was leading them. I think it will all be OK before long. McBrenn inherited plenty of good mannerisms from Brenn. He just has a few teen-age rough edges that could use some training.

[Donlin Stud]

Hi Genebo

I think McBrenn needs to be a little rough around the edges until Brenn’s memories are no longer dominated with pain.

McBrenn needs his own special place in your heart which I am sure he will earn in time.

[genebo]

McBrenn is very quick to adapt. Last night I took the authority stick with me when I fed treats. He and Bambina had started getting too close when I would feed them. I used it to hold them back while I said "Stay back!". After just a couple of minutes, I gave my bride the stick. They stayed back!

This morning, while Babe was feeding the cattle at the bunkers, I walked into the pasture and put down a bale of hay. Then we sat in the Mule and watched. Sure enough, Bambi led the way to the hay bale. She stepped over the bale and began tearing it apart. McBrenn had ambled over and arrived last. Bambi moved to the side. McBrenn stepped over the bale and tore it apart with his horns. The rest of the herd began eating the scattered hay, while Bambi and McBrenn ate from the center.

He is rapidly taking over as herd bull. It's fun to watch. Just a month ago McBrenn was near the bottom of the pecking order, a calf. At only 10 months old, he is becoming the king!

Just 2.5 months old, Bradan will be reaching maturity before the summer is over. I'm slow having him tested. I'll take care of it this week. It's important because there's a chance that he is short legged, like his sire was. If he is, I won't keep him and Cathy. She is a shortie.

I really would like to keep Bradan if it turns out he is short-legged. McBrenn is not and neither is any one of my cows. That means I can never get a short legged calf except from Cathy. That would be disappointing. I depended upon getting some short legged calves, and my buyers insist upon them, too. I could never meet the demand with just one shortie cow.

It's too complicated to figure out without Bradan's test results. As soon as I get them it will all be simplified. I'll know right away which ones to allow to be sold and which to keep. I may have to buy another cow or heifer. I need to practice using all the features of the LDCR pedigree search. They are awesome if you know how.

[genebo]

Donna,

I have two different sets of memories of Brenn. The memories of the great times he and I had are wonderful, but they are intermingled with the memories of what a fine bull he was in all the physical ways.

All along, I took pride in his test results for tenderness. I also took pride in the compliments I got from those who ate his descendants. I paid a good price to buy Jackson as a steer because he was on of Brenn's sons. I would finally get to taste some of the beef that others complimented.

With Brenn's demise comes another opportunity to taste his beef. I could never let him be stuck in a hole in the ground and wasted. I decided to let him fulfill his final calling, to provide some fine beef. It will be shared with some very deserving people, to pay an obligation I had no other way to pay.

The butcher called me on Friday to cancel my scheduled pick-up of the processed beef. He said that in spite of Brenn's problems and the fact that he lost about 100 pounds, he still had good fat cover. He was scheduled to hang for 10 days, on the assumption that his fat cover would be low. The butcher said that now he was going to let him hang 14 days, then check him again. He said that the fat was not only thick enough, it was dense. He also complimented the marbling.

Brenn hasn't stopped excelling. A good bull is a good bull.

Does it sound like I'm getting over his loss? I hope so.

[wvdexters]

Gene, It is so good to hear your stories again. They always make me smile. Love the hat idea, and my mind's eye went right to putting little hats on little dexters. For the flies of course. Who knows maybe.... LOL

And you are right - A good bull is a good bull.

[jamshundred]

Little fly hats on little Dexters!  We could have a contest and guess whether it will take minutes or seconds before they are scratched off on the fence or a branch!  If I had ever been in contact with this substance Gene uses I could imagine all sorts of things but I have no clue. 

judy

[genebo]

I got Bradan's test results back. He is pure black, no dun, A2/A2 chondro carrier and PHA free. He's exactly what I'd hoped he would be.

Now the choice of which bull to keep gets serious. Bradan is too young to judge his conformation accurately. I'll have to give him time to develop.

Both bulls are Windridge line. The choice between McBrenn and Bradan hinges upon McBrenn being a long legged non-dwarf and Bradan being a short legged dwarf.

I want to continue to have short legged calves, as I did with Brenn. Since Caethru Inion is the only short legged female I have left, she would be the only one that could give me a shortie calf with McBrenn. Bradan could give me shortie calves with any of the 3 cows, but I would have to sell Cathy (Caethru Inion).

Decisions, decisions! I'm torn. I have half a mind to offer both bulls for sale and let that make up my mind.

The longer each of them is here, the harder it is to see either of them go. McBrenn is learning how to be a herd bull so quickly. He has already begun babysitting the two younger calves. The rest of the herd has accepted him. He's only 10 months old. I think he has bred all the adult cows. However, this morning I caught him nursing! It was a shock to be reminded that he is still just a big calf.

[wvdexters]

Congratulations on the test results. Just what you were hoping for. And now decisions, decisions.... LOL. Oh, how I wish we could keep them all.

[lonecowhand]

Hey Genebo , I have an Idea!
 Rock , Paper Scissors, and send the winner out here! Happy cows in California and all that!

[Donlin Stud]

I wouldn't make the decision - I would keep both, even with only four cows.
McBrenn for your [now]short girl and the future arrivals and Bradan to keep those shorties coming

[lakeportfarms]

That little Caethru Inion should come stay with us, she'd have a lot of friends just her size    We'll be in Virginia this June, with an empty spot on the trailer coming home.

[genebo]

Here is the Paradise Farms Fly Hat: