Kerry Cows

grizzlybear

any one know anything about keeping kerry cows , am thinking of getting a couple any advice will be appreciated

leg wax

jesus its a cow, because its from kerry you dont have to put a nappy on it and feed it shamrock.a cow is a cow.

djmc

They are a supposed to be a very hardy little cow easly outwintered good milkers and great at football :D:D

Bitten & Hisses

djmc wrote: »

They are a supposed to be a very hardy little cow easly outwintered good milkers and great at football :D:D

But absolutely useless at hurling

eamon11

Have never had one. Are they a good cow? Do they fatten? Re selling value or factory?

Farmer Pudsey

eamon11 wrote: »

Have never had one. Are they a good cow? Do they fatten? Re selling value or factory?

Kerry cows have a very small frame and they are also a dairy breed they will fatten but do not expect miricles. I'd imagine yhey would kill a bit with 250 kgs but not sure.

honky101

eamon11 wrote: »

Have never had one. Are they a good cow? Do they fatten? Re selling value or factory?

Hi, did you end up getting a Kerry cow. I am thinking about getting one myself so would love to know what you ended up finding out

The man in red and black

Bitten & Hisses wrote: »

But absolutely useless at hurling

Not so useless at hurling now up in division 1B!

Think there are grants for keeping Kerry cattle? Or at least they can be claimed as a heritage breed under the new version of REPS unless I am mistaken?

dohc turbo2

The man in red and black wrote: »

Not so useless at hurling now up in division 1B!

Think there are grants for keeping Kerry cattle? Or at least they can be claimed as a heritage breed under the new version of REPS unless I am mistaken?

That's right but u must own them for a few years , they are handy size and are legal with the horns on for marts etc ,

Farmer Pudsey

Kerry cows are an interesting breed. It is unusual that no attempt has been made to commercialize them. The reason being is there milk as similar to goats milk as the fat(cream) is in smaller form that other modern breeds. This makes it suitable for people with allergies and those with digestive issues.

I often wonder if one of the co-op tried to develop a branded product with it because of this however we still seem to go down the route of mass produced products. The Kerry cow has another advantage in that it is a good converter of poorer quality forage however with modern nitrate where a cow is a cow any such project would be up against it.

Bellview

honky101 wrote: »

Hi, did you end up getting a Kerry cow. I am thinking about getting one myself so would love to know what you ended up finding out

If you are near Killarney, it would be worth giving the national park a call as they would be helpful.

pawrick

Bellview wrote: »

If you are near Killarney, it would be worth giving the national park a call as they would be helpful.

Yep Killarney National Park manages a herd to help preserve the breed and would have a good deal of knowledge on them I'd say.

larrymiller

Somehow my uncle ended up getting a Kerry heifer of a dealer he knows and got it for free, Jesus there worse than jersey for beef. He tried to horse nuts into her and she wasn't interested in them.
Got 1000 for her in 2013 in the factory it was the worst graded animal he ever had

cmac

dohc turbo2 wrote: »

That's right but u must own them for a few years , they are handy size and are legal with the horns on for marts etc ,

Are all marts accepting purebreed Kerrys with horns? Just cows, or bulls and bullocks also?

Bellview

cmac wrote: »

Are all marts accepting purebreed Kerrys with horns? Just cows, or bulls and bullocks also?

National park used to sell in castle island.

Base price

cmac wrote: »

Are all marts accepting purebreed Kerrys with horns? Just cows, or bulls and bullocks also?

If the card is stamped KE or KEx then the show/mart/factory has to accept cattle for sale/slaughter with or without horns.

dohc turbo2

cmac wrote: »

Are all marts accepting purebreed Kerrys with horns? Just cows, or bulls and bullocks also?

Don't know , saw some at a btap meeting and the owner was using them to get into glas it was just mentioned that they were fine as the were to go trough the Marts with there horns

cmac

Base price wrote: »

If the card is stamped KE or KEx then the show/mart/factory has to accept cattle for sale/slaughter with or without horns.

dohc turbo2 wrote: »

Don't know , saw some at a btap meeting and the owner was using them to get into glas it was just mentioned that they were fine as the were to go trough the Marts with there horns

Thanks folks, and apologies for hi-jacking the thread. I've always worked on the (incorrect) assumption that we couldn't sell our horned Kerrys at mart. Great news indeed.

MacraPat

grizzlybear wrote: »

any one know anything about keeping kerry cows , am thinking of getting a couple any advice will be appreciated

Ment to be a great animal for rough land.

I was thinking if a lad had a few acres of rough ground he wanted to be kept clean. With the minimum 5 registered cows he can register for the Kerry cow subsidy - an extra €90 a head on top of the GLAS rare breed payment.
Put the cows to a Kerry bull (necessary for the payment), double suckle the cows with a few continental dairy cross bull calves.

All going well at years end you'll have 5 Kerry weanlings , 5 continentals after bein rared on the best of milk. All off Rough/wet/scrubby land that wouldn't yield much any other way.