Free Martin Sticky

[farmgirl6]

Hi, I know I have beat this subject to death but have developed quite an interest in it, and have found there is no significant collection of free martin photos I can find anywhere, wonder if we could start one? The pictures I have seen as far as hair on the vulva but it is distinct, patched and clumped and long like the public hair on a bull (again I have only seen a few pictures to be sure) testing is always the best of course but a resource page for folks to look at examples which may or may not send up a red flag? at least idiots like myself would avoid some obvious land minds anyway....

[Ken Scharabok]

I don't think it needs to be made a sticky. If you do a search on freemartin or free martin you will turn up numerous posts.

Couple of years ago I was at a sales barn and a guy bought a pair of holstein twins, one male and one female. I saw him loading them up and asked if he knew about free martins. He didn't, but said he was going to put them in the freezer anyway.

Anyone know where the term originated?

[farmgirl6]

I have read it was named after the scientist or dr who discovered the condition...

[farmgirl6]

It is often suggested that the term derives from the butchering of cattle around Martinmas (11 November) to preserve for the winter: these particular cattle, unsuitable for breeding or dairy production, would be prime candidates for not keeping throughout the lean months. This may, however, be purely coincidental, given that the word ‘martin’, a generic term for cattle, can be traced in variant forms back to the thirteenth century, and that ‘ferry’, ‘farrow’, and related words are found in both English and Scottish dialects to mean a barren or dry cow.



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