Bancyboblen Non-Short Dexters
Our prefix, Bancyboblen, derives from a smallholding owned by our forebearers several decades ago. We owned a lovely herd of pedigree non-short Dexters whilst we were up in the Midlands; however we chose, purely due to the logistics of moving such a long way, to sell our herd and start again once we got back home. Two months after arriving, our new cattle joined us...
Our first calf to be born at Cilwg - Bancyboblen Angharad - was born on 5th March 2010. She was a lovely black heifer, shown below, and at days old was already chasing magpies off 'her' field. She grew up to be a wonderful, friendly cow and provided us with fine calves, rearing them very well. We are fortunate enough that, touch wood, we have never had to intervene or assist in any calvings.
Although none, to date, have been halter-trained, they are used to being fussed and are perfectly relaxed with both people and dogs, which makes life and management so much easier. None of our fields are overly large, so moving our cattle around is a common occurence - this works well as they are therefore very used to coming when called, meaning it's an easy one-person job and stress is non-existant for either human or animal.
Previously, we used Artificial Insemination with our herd in the Midlands, with above-average results. However, our herd at Cilwg are visited each year by a bull, to be served 'au naturale'. Our bulls are provided by a wonderful couple over in Newcastle Emlyn who work to the same ethos as us. All their bulls are magnificent beasts, are handled well and haven't got a nasty bone in them - although they will always be bulls, therefore must be handled with caution!
We don't currently send our youngstock to be butchered and sell the meat direct to the public ourselves, although we may look at doing that in the future.
However, we regularly have young steers and breeding heifers and cows available if you're looking to grow or start a herd of these fabulous animals.