jersey dexter crosses

Judy,

They are chunky, but not as chunky as they look, they are in winter coat and fuzzy.

I really don't know what kind of milk production to expect. I've milked only one of the dams, the dark dun cow on the right side of the first picture that seems to be looking at my shadow. With a very small amount of extra feed (1/2 scoop) at milking time she is an honest 1 1/2 - 2 gallon a day cow, pretty good for a Dexter.

My hope is that with the Jersey influence these crossbreeds will be at least 3 gallon a day milkers with little or no decrease in meat quantity or quality.

Absolutely there's interest,I'd sure like to have one..Charles

my little cross bull looks like a small jersey, though he is now taking on his dam's (dexter) black coloring.

Here's a different looking Dexter/Jersey heifer. She was red and white when born, but the Dexter black eventually took over. She always showed red in her undercoat.



When she matured, she became a 2 gallon milker. Very calm and serene. A dream to milk.

Genebo
Paradise Farm

I am getting pretty excited about this cross - sounds like a small homesteaders dream come true!

Cathleenc,

Before you get too excited, notice the different types of cattle you get from this cross. A pedigreed animal carries an inherent guarantee as to what the calf will look like. Cross-breeds do not. You might get one like mine, that is built like a Jersey, you might get a stocky one, that resembles a Dexter, or something in between. It gets worse as you breed them together. No one can predict what you'll get. Most people would tell you that mine looks like a holstein. It's not.

So, if you are buying someone else's cross, you're in pretty good shape. You can look and pick one you like. If you're breeding your own, you get whatever comes, good bad or ugly.

Notice that mine grew to give 2 gallons a day. An average Dexter gives that much. So while she inherited the shape of a Jersey, she didn't inherit the milk production. It's all a gamble.

I now raise only pure Dexters. I've established lines that are true dual purpose, giving good quantities of milk and providing the world's best tasting beef. Plus the calves are very predictable.

I think that the dual purpose (milk and beef) Dexter is the small homesteader's dream come true.

Gentle, hardy, trouble free cattle with at least two other purposes: draft and pet. With their intelligent, friendly natures, they can provide many hours of pleasant companionship.

Go visit some Dexters and Jerseys before you make up your mind. There's plenty of each in your state. Come back and tell us what you find.

Genebo
Paradise Farm

Genebo,
thank you for the heads up warning. For me, it's all theory at the moment but it sure is fun to think and dream!

and - if both parents were from milk lines (jersey and dexter) wouldn't you be pretty much guaranteed of getting milkier results than just the dexter? Genetics are interesting.

thanks
Cathy

It seems like every year there are a couple threads on here about Dexter vs. Jersey, ...and the debate goes on, and on. The one thing I noticed was, (of course) breed favoritism with folks offering sworn testimony about one or the other, but it seemed to me that VERY few commenting actually had experience with BOTH breeds. I'm glad to see this thread where we are looking at crossing them. I have been a Dexter guy for a long time, but when I thought my Dexter wasn't bred, I went and bought myself a little Jersey calf. (Then the Dexter gave birth,...isn't that always the way it goes?) I did cross my Dexter to a Jersey, but can't offer any thoughts as the little guy was still born. We did however milk our Dexter for a bit, not real happy with the amount of milk we got, but it was our first time, (and hers).

To be honest, I'm real happy with the temperament of our little Jersey, she's always looking into what we're doing. But then, my Dexter is THE NOSIEST think on the planet, (she will come check things out, but then run off a bit from me if I go to her) not far mind you, just enough to tick me off. When I mentioned getting rid of her, my wife spout up and said she didn't want to, because the Dexter lets her pet her. (Guess, I'd chased and cussed after her too many times when she's got out..!)

I guess in the long run, I do like them both for now. And I know you can't judge an entire breed by just one or two cows of that breed. Plus, not to mention, what makes the "Best Homestead Cow?" -when there are so many factors that make up that equation, more than just the amount of milk coming out, it's what all is going in to get that milk out, as well as other factors. Since my Jersey is too young to breed yet, I can't offer much, other than perhaps if a person gets the best of both, then maybe they have something, but as Genebo suggests, gee, I guess a person might get the worst of both sometimes too? genetics are an odd duck, ya know...

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A good dog may be hard to find, ...but a hard dog usually means it's been dead for a while

Many Dexters don't give a lot of milk the first lactation, mine didn't. But with the second lactation production really picks up. I have noticed that my Dexter does slack off a lot towards the end of her lactation, whereas a Jersey will keep on pumping it out.

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linn, I've notice that with most of my dairy heifers that become nurse cows.(jersey and jersey/holstein X) While they aren't getting fed like a dairy cow in production. They just seem to do better during their second and subsequent lactations. For the first lactation, I try to keep only about two and maximum of three calves on them at a time. After that, when they really bloom, I load them up to what they're able to handle while still maintaining good body condition on the marginal grasses I have to offer with a little grain 2x per day.

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Francismilker

"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" James 5:16

Here is my Quinn the Cross as we used to call him, lol

So, let me get this straight. If you breed a 50/50 jersey/dexter cross to a 50/50 jersey/dexter cross, don't you get a 100% belfair? And if you breed two 100% belfairs together, don't you get a belfair?

The genetic thing is puzzling to me because there are so many breeds out there such as the beefmaster, brangus, and the braford that have been bred into an established breed with calves being born possessing pretty standard traits. How long would it be before you would generally standardize your Belfair offspring? I realize that occasionally black angus cows bred to black angus bulls have red calves and we recognize the fact that there is an ancestor called a red angus, but it's not that often.
Could a person effectively get a couple of really high quality, dual-purpose, grass-based genetic belfairs and use them as the core of their breeding program to establish a standardized appearance of offspring?

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Francismilker

"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" James 5:16

You could probably call them a Belfair, but the offspring could have a wide variation in looks as some went back more to the Dexter and some went back more to the Jersey.

If you are going to try and establish a new breed, my guess is you are talking at least 7 or 8 generations before things started to settle down.

Jennifer

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-Northern NYS

You've seen how much the first cross can vary in looks. The second cross canvary much more. I've seen second crosses that were indistinguishable from a pure Dexter. Others could look more like a Jersey. Some could look like neither.

Belfair is just a name for a Dexter/Jersey cross. There's no such thing as a "pure" belfair. They're all crosses between the two breeds.

Genebo
Paradise Farm