Sold In Utero!

In 2004 I saw an ad in a Dexter magazine of semen for sale from a bull named Brambledel Redberry Prince. He is a gorgeous red Irish Dexter bull from England. The Brambledel web site is very impressive. It has multiple pages, professional photos of their Dexter herd, and cites notable numbers in regards to show stats, pedigrees, breeding program, and the like.

Brambledel Redberry Prince

The advertisment was actually from a lady in Virginia who had purchased several straws from overseas and was reselling them in the United States. The straws cost more than average but I felt like it was still a good deal.

Although Irish Dexters are no longer on the endangered list (they have been upgraded to "recovering" status--www.albc-usa.org) the gene pool in the U.S. is still fairly limited. Outstanding foreign semen is very welcome.

When I called the owner of the American straws she enthusiastically reported on her personal first crop of calves with the imported semen. I made arrangements to buy three straws.

Everything went as planned and my cow, GRR Ladysmith, became pregnant with my first straw of Brambledel Redberry Prince's genetic material. Cows are preg-checked at two months, and when my cow vet declared Ladysmith pregnant, I was overjoyed. I just had seven months now to await the arrival of this special calf.

Just a few months later a lady called asking about my cow. My husband had answered the phone and he handed the call to me, explaining that the cows were "my wife's thing." The lady on the phone introduced herself as Debbie. She went on to say she was here from Nevada visiting her dad. She and her husband had a Dexter herd and when she looked in her Dexter breeder directory on a lark she saw my name and address in Bakersfield. Would I mind if she came over to look at my cow?

Realizing a potential sale I naturally invited her to come on over. When Debbie and a friend arrived I took them to the back to look at Ladysmith.

She seemed to like Ladysmith just fine and when I told her who she was bred to she seemed to like her a lot better. She took a few pictures to show her husband.

Later that evening Debbie called me back. Would I be willing to sell the calf to her and her husband? They would give me a couple hundred dollars to hold the calf and as a down payment. They liked Ladysmith and were excited about the prospect of having a Redberry Prince baby to infuse new blood into their herd. They were really hoping for a bull calf, but would be happy with a heifer too.

Well, that's never happened before. Did I feel special or what? I actually sold a calf before it was born! I "modestly" had to tell anyone who would listen that my cow's unborn calf was already sold, to people from Nevada. That's out of state, you know. I was very impressed with myself.

The deal was struck and we all eagerly awaited the October due date. As the date drew closer the e-mails became for frequent. Nothing yet...

Then came the nights of getting up to check. 11 pm, nothing. 2 am, nothing. I don't usually wear pj's to bed, so I would grab the sofa blanket around me, slip on my flip flops, grab the flashlight and head out the door. I sure hope none of the neighbors has insomnia. 4:30 am, nothing. 7:30 am, nothing.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

Sunday, October 23, 2005 was no different. I was getting tired from the frequent nightly cow checks. I knew it had to be soon. She was three days over her due date. I had checked her several times the previous night and early morning and it still seemed like there was no change. The last time I checked her was at about 8:30 that morning when I got up. Debbie called me and I had to tell her again. Nothing.

I settled on the sofa (I had my clothes on now) and started reading the Sunday newspaper and drinking my morning coffee. At about 9:30 I heard Ladysmith's bell ringing. Ringing, ringing, ringing.

OH! I jumped up and looked out back. She was licking a black thing on the ground. The motion of her head bobbing up and down while licking was making the bell ring. I grabbed my camera and ran outside.

All she wanted was a little privacy and I had been trudging out almost once an hour to stare at her back end, her udder, and her breathing to check for any changes. She must have flopped down as soon as my back was turned the last time I had been out.

There was a brand new calf on the ground, sopping wet, with its ears still flopping, it was so new. I watched as it struggled to stand and then wobbled around a bit before collapsing to the sandy ground. More licking from mom and the calf stood again. It instinctively searched for nourishment, it's lips and tongue pursed. Ladysmith lowed softly to her new baby with encouragement. It found what it was looking for and started heartily nursing.

I could see then that the new calf was a girl. I snapped a few shots on my digital camera and ran in to call Debbie with the long awaited news. I hit the redial button on our phone and kept getting a busy signal. So I fired off a quick e-mail with some pictures attached.

Towards noon I thought I'd call again. I dialed the number directly instead of using the redial feature (which I found out I had not programmed correctly) and this time the phone rang and was picked up by one of the kids. Debbie and her husband were out with the cows right now.

Less than five minutes later Debbie called me back. She was just as excited as I was.

Over the next few months I would keep Debbie and her husband updated with frequent e-mail photos that chronicled the calf's growth. They visited her dad at least twice and came out to see the calf in person. They were pleased with her progress. Since they were happy I was ecstatic.

I let them decide on the name. The first part was easy because it is the farm or ranch name: Wilamar. The registry* they chose allows 23 letters and spaces so there were 16 spaces to make a name. They wanted part of the bull's name to be included also an we came up with WilamarBlkberryPrincess. Somehow though, the registry changed it to Wilamar BlkberyPrincess. Ah, details.

Wilamar BlkberyPrincess aka Princess

By the time Princess was ready to go to her new home Debbie and her husband and I made future plans. I sold them one of the two remaining straws, and a tentative agreement was made for them to buy Ladysmith's next calf. I was hoping for another heifer calf so I could keep it, they were really hoping for a bull calf to use as a new herd sire.

The future was looking bright!

*There are two Irish Dexter registries in the United States. The American Dexter Cattle Association, which allows 21 letters/spaces, and the newer Purebred Dexter Cattle Association of North America. A few years ago there were some major disagreements and one group split from the other. Don't you just love politics! PS-I'm a member of both organizations.