The magnificent black bull from Schleich 2013, - a small walk around :-))))

Roger wrote:

The curious point is that in some of the several shops selling Schleich in Portugal, I found the Papo Spanish bull because the figure was not present in Schleich range.

That happened to me last year in Malaga (Spain). Everywhere only Schleich and also this Papo Bull and Papo Andalusian Princess on shelves with Schleich.

Roger wrote:

Portuguese distributor absolutly hates it.

That is really interesting Roger (your whole comment, not just the part I quoted above). But I wasn't sure what you meant when you wrote "the Portuguese distributor absolutely hates it." What does the distributor hate? That the Papo is being sold with the Schleich? Or does the distributor hate the Papo figure itself? Or something else? I'm just really curious.

That is fascinating that it is often the lone Papo with a bunch of Schleich figures. But it makes perfect sense, of course, just as you point out. Clearly some people want a figure that brings with it an association to bullfighting. I have the same mixed reaction you expressed. I was looking at pictures of breeds of Bulls using for fighting and really admiring many of the pictures and mainly admiring the bulls themselves, but at the same time trying not to think of the context of all those photographs.

scot(t) wrote:

Roger wrote:

Portuguese distributor absolutly hates it.

That is really interesting Roger (your whole comment, not just the part I quoted above). But I wasn't sure what you meant when you wrote "the Portuguese distributor absolutely hates it." What does the distributor hate? That the Papo is being sold with the Schleich? Or does the distributor hate the Papo figure itself? Or something else? I'm just really curious.

That is fascinating that it is often the lone Papo with a bunch of Schleich figures. But it makes perfect sense, of course, just as you point out. Clearly some people want a figure that brings with it an association to bullfighting. I have the same mixed reaction you expressed. I was looking at pictures of breeds of Bulls using for fighting and really admiring many of the pictures and mainly admiring the bulls themselves, but at the same time trying not to think of the context of all those photographs.

Scott, the answer is the first one, distributor hates to see other brands being sold together with Schleich figures, even Maia&Borges, that are distributed for the same company as Schleich, is not mixed and is only available online.
It was also interesting reading Bojan commenting about Malaga, a Spanish city, in Andalusia, with a huge bull fighting tradition. Fortunately both Schleich and Papo are free of lances (picas)!

Roger wrote:

Scott, the answer is the first one, distributor hates to see other brands being sold together with Schleich figures, even Maia&Borges, that are distributed for the same company as Schleich, is not mixed and is only available online.

Interesting. Thanks Roger. (It's not a surprise. Those Schleich folks seem very keen on crowding out competition.)

Roger wrote:

It was also interesting reading Bojan commenting about Malaga, a Spanish city, in Andalusia, with a huge bull fighting tradition. Fortunately both Schleich and Papo are free of lances (picas)!

Very true, on both counts!

Congrats Susanne! Very fine piece!

Still prefer the Papo Spanish Bull.

baltimore zoo wrote:

Still prefer the Papo Spanish Bull.

I LOVE that one also !! It was the only Papo I had for many years

I also like Papo's Texas bull and Simmental bull(Look forward to getting the new Papo Longhorn) as well! However, when I saw the new Schleich Spanish bull pic I thought it looked pretty good, but then I saw the walk around pics and was not impressed by it's detail and overall appearance.

Congrats! Congrats!

Nice figure! But I don't like the ring on its muzzle.

Congrats! He is handsome and so perfectly toned!

donny ong wrote:

Congrats! Congrats!

Nice figure! But I don't like the ring on its muzzle.

The ring is neccesary, if the bull has to be handeled, - which i a good thing ( He is not going to suffer a cruel death in an arena).
I have known people who handle bulls, and even the most docile, hand-reared bull can turn enormously dangerous in split seconds. The only way is to hold the ring.

But it is not so bad. I have seen it done, it looks like it is not mor painfull than when people get a ring in the ear  

I find it much worse that all cattle in EU must have these horrible, yellow plastic things in their ears  
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SUSANNE wrote:

donny ong wrote:

Congrats! Congrats!

Nice figure! But I don't like the ring on its muzzle.

The ring is neccesary, if the bull has to be handeled, - which i a good thing ( He is not going to suffer a cruel death in an arena).
I have known people who handle bulls, and even the most docile, hand-reared bull can turn enormously dangerous in split seconds. The only way is to hold the ring.

But it is not so bad. I have seen it done, it looks like it is not mor painfull than when people get a ring in the ear

I find it much worse that all cattle in EU must have these horrible, yellow plastic things in their ears

I can totally relate to that. My grandpa had an orphaned bull calf one time, and hand raised him. By the age of two, he was as friendly as a dog. Then when he turned three, I went out to the barn to let the cows out, and he cornered me and would not let me out. He knocked me over, but I managed to get an empty milk bucket and hit him with it. It didn't hurt him, but it surprised him. Before that we had never ringed our bulls, but now we do. Especially the Holsteins, as they are the most aggressive.

Gosh ! How lucky you got hold of that bucket !!!! You could have been killed !!

cattlecollector wrote:

I can totally relate to that. My grandpa had an orphaned bull calf one time, and hand raised him. By the age of two, he was as friendly as a dog. Then when he turned three, I went out to the barn to let the cows out, and he cornered me and would not let me out. He knocked me over, but I managed to get an empty milk bucket and hit him with it. It didn't hurt him, but it surprised him. Before that we had never ringed our bulls, but now we do. Especially the Holsteins, as they are the most aggressive.

That's really interesting!

I also find it interesting that Holsteins are more aggressive (or that certain breeds are more aggressive than others). What types of cattle have you worked with?

Actually, I have worked with many different breeds. I volunteer at our local livestock auction every Wednesday, and see lots of breeds there. I do not know why Holsteins are more aggressive, but I know that dairy breeds in genral are usually more aggressive ( the bulls). This is because the bull is with the cows most of the time. It is also because a dairy bull is around people more,than a beef bull, who is running on the range. The bull gets over being scared of people, and then thinks that he can control the people. The black bulls aggressiveness only comes from its wild ancestry. These bulls are bred to be mean and aggressive. I hope that this info helps, I know that there is a lot of it.

The most crazy bull I have ever met was an Angus bull.
I worked as a guide on horseback one summer, over 40 years ago, and at the farm they also had angus cattle.
Back then Angus were small, light and very fast.
The bull had grown dangerous, so they wanted to have him slaughtered.
One afternoon when we came riding back to the farm, we could hear a strange, sceeming sound from far away.
They had somehow lured the bull into the barn, and he had gone completely berserk. He jumped so high, he broke windows 3 meters above ground. And SCREEMED !
At last they had to shoot him, because he was damaging himself !!!
I had nightmares over it for a long time after.

Both of the bulls arrived today. I love them. The black bull is amazing, and so is the longhorn, but something about the longhorns head bothered me. It seems kind of pointed on the end. The black bull is stunning.

Thank you Susanne for sharing the pics of the bull. I got the same bull yesterday, and I agree, the model it is beautiful. I am glad you did not wait to daylight to take the pictures.
Also thanks to scot(t) for pictures of real bulls an to both Susanne and cattlecollector for your scaring bull experiences.

I agree with Susanne, a ring in the nose is better than these ugly plastic thing all EU cattle have to have in their ears. I hope Schleich NEVER put these things on their models! (I think they will not). :) :)

He's a handsome guy, I almost bought him the other day, but still waiting for papo so I can save on postage.  Congratulations Susanne, thanks for the fantastic pictures  

SUSANNE wrote:

I find it much worse that all cattle in EU must have these horrible, yellow things

I agree Susanne,  the plastic ear things are disgusting, I've seen loads of cows with only half an ear because the plastic thing has worn the flesh away.

Unfortunately, we are required to put tags in our cows ears too. I do not really think that it bothers them though. It is kind of like getting their ears pierced, but instead of earrings, they get a little plastic button. After a little while though, they hardly seem to notice it at all. I wish that they didn't need to where them all together.

Thanks friends for the info.
There's a lot of thing we can learn from STS.
But I still wish Schleich didn't make the bull with a ring, although in real life the ring would be necessary sometimes. It's just the model with a ring that I don't like, not in the real life.

donny ong wrote:

Thanks friends for the info.
There's a lot of thing we can learn from STS.
But I still wish Schleich didn't make the bull with a ring, although in real life the ring would be necessary sometimes. It's just the model with a ring that I don't like, not in the real life.

I agree completely! If Schleich can make crocodiles with 10 toes, king penguins as parents of emperor penguins, seals with adoptive babies, badger kits orphaned, etc. Why not a beautiful bull like this without a ring?

donny ong wrote:

Thanks friends for the info.
There's a lot of thing we can learn from STS.
But I still wish Schleich didn't make the bull with a ring, although in real life the ring would be necessary sometimes. It's just the model with a ring that I don't like, not in the real life.

It may be possible to cut the ring off the figure with something like nail clippers and/or manicure scissors, which has worked in the past for removing unwanted "accessories" from animals such as Safari's Cape Buffalo. Perhaps it will not work with this figure, but may be worth a try.

sphyrna18 wrote:

donny ong wrote:

Thanks friends for the info.
There's a lot of thing we can learn from STS.
But I still wish Schleich didn't make the bull with a ring, although in real life the ring would be necessary sometimes. It's just the model with a ring that I don't like, not in the real life.

It may be possible to cut the ring off the figure with something like nail clippers and/or manicure scissors, which has worked in the past for removing unwanted "accessories" from animals such as Safari's Cape Buffalo. Perhaps it will not work with this figure, but may be worth a try.

I did that with my safari Cape buffalo,and a little added paint and you don't even notice. I think is will wait until I have two of the black bulls before I try to remove the ring.

cattlecollector wrote:

sphyrna18 wrote:

donny ong wrote:

Thanks friends for the info.
There's a lot of thing we can learn from STS.
But I still wish Schleich didn't make the bull with a ring, although in real life the ring would be necessary sometimes. It's just the model with a ring that I don't like, not in the real life.

It may be possible to cut the ring off the figure with something like nail clippers and/or manicure scissors, which has worked in the past for removing unwanted "accessories" from animals such as Safari's Cape Buffalo. Perhaps it will not work with this figure, but may be worth a try.

I did that with my safari Cape buffalo,and a little added paint and you don't even notice. I think is will wait until I have two of the black bulls before I try to remove the ring.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll consider it.