One More Good Thing!

This is a really big Good Thing!

We have bought a bull!

 As you read that, perhaps something like this comes to mind.

 Or something like this.

 Or maybe even this.

Wait a minute, remember that this is a Dexter!  And then let me tell you that this particular bull was born on June 11, so he's barely four months old.  And we don't even have him yet because he's too little to leave his mama!

See how you like this idea of a bull . . .  That's him cuddling with his mama, Electra.  (Just don't believe it when you read "This calf is available for purchase."  Sorry, he's taken!)

We're very excited about our little guy, and here's why:

• He has an excellent pedigree.  Both his grandfathers are very well-respected Dexter bulls.  His sire is an excellent bull, and his dam comes from a high milk production line and has an excellent udder.  He's not closely related to our cows, so he's a good match for them.  We believe he'll give us some really nice calves, and we're proud to have the Mrald name in our future calves' pedigrees.  
• He's heterozygous polled.  Since both our cows are, too, 75% of our calves should be polled.
• He's red, and since both our cows carry red, we have a chance of getting some red calves.  (Color isn't important to us, although it is to some people.)
• He's got a good temperament!  That's a huge thing for us.  His nickname is "Mr. Licker" because he has a long, giraffe-like tongue that he loves to lick people with.
• He's halter-broken and has gone to three shows with his mother, so he has been handled and exposed to different situations.
• Best of all, he's homozygous A2!  That means that bred to Ebony, he'll give us 100% A2 calves. Bred to Siobhan, he'll give us 50% A2 calves.  We believe that breeding for homozygous A2 milk cows is the way things are going nowadays.

I keep saying "our little guy" because "Mr. Licker" doesn't officially have a name and hasn't been registered yet.  We got the privilege of naming him, or rather I did since Herb doesn't care.  After much reflection, I decided to go with the name that his breeder Stefani Millman had planned on using: "Mrald Crown Royal."  That's what he'll be registered under with the ADCA.

Get it?  Licker . . . Crown Royal whiskey?

It's a name with a story (which I love), it sounds elegant, and I've already thought of over 100 possible names for his progeny using either "ZH Royal-this" or "ZH Crown-that."  Our bull is going to have a great life trying to use them all up!

Since I don't think we want to keep calling our herd sire "Mr. Licker," as cute as it is, he needs a name we can call him around here, and I know the perfect name . . . "Royal!"