Dexter Cattle
 

Does any one on here raise Dexter cattle? Are they good milkers?

Emily

They give about about 1 gal a milkin with butter fat 4% to 5%.

The milk yield depends a lot on the ancestry of the individual cow. There are several good milking lines. Unfortunately, many Dexter breeders of late, have bred for beef qualities and neglected the milking qualities.
My little cow gives about 2 gallons per milking during the peak of her lactation. She slacks off in the winter months.

Dexters have a place with the household that doesn't need a lot of milk and doesn't want to pay for it. The more milk a cow gives, the more feed she takes to make it.

It makes sense to choose a cow that will give you the amount you need.

Almost any Dexter will give you a gallon a day while still raising a calf. That's what dual purpose is all about. Dexter milk is very high quality and the beef is the best.

Dexter milk has smaller fat globules and may be easier to digest.

Dexters have less trouble calving than othjer dairy breeds. They have less milk related trouble, such as milk fever and mastitis. Those are problems associated with heavier milk production.

Dexters are browsers, meaning they will readily eat a variety of food, including leaves and shoots. They will seek out rough areas that others may shun. It's like they're half goat or something.

A Dexter can be milked once a day while raising a calf. Heavier producing breeds need to be milked twice a day.

If you need more milk, get two Dexters and time their pregnancies so you always have one in milk.

Genebo
Paradise Farm

When you say "good milker", what are you looking for?

in general, what price would a person expect to pay for a home milker? something that gives that gallon a day, plus caring for her own calf. and how much meat can you expect from one? how long does it take to raise up the calf to butcher size?

I'm also interested in Dexters-- what lines should I be looking at for not being overly meat-oriented, as I know some lines are? Any recommended breeders with websites I can look at?

We're heading towards our own homestead and I already know I want to do Dexters :)

Any line that is heavy on Woodmagic would probably be a good milking line. Lucifer of Knotting, Hillview Morris, Saturn of Knotting, & Brambledel Redberry Prince are all good bulls for a milking line.

thanks! I'll look them up!

Check out the Americian Dexters Breeders Assoc website. It will give you lots of info and a breeders registry, so that you can find people in your area. I'd love for you to look at my website, just cause I like for people to see it, :)
http://www.dextercattle.org/
P.J.

copperhead, my dh and i might be contacting later on towards summer, because we are looking to start some dexters, both for meat and for milk. good to see we are in the same area :) off to check out your blog.

Okiemomof3, anytime you'd like to come by and see the girls, feel free. We love showing them off.
P.J.

I have a Lucifer of Knotting grandson. Have had him for several years. He really puts nice udders on them. Nice looking bull too. Wonderful disposition as well, he walks around with goats sheep horses and their babies, also dogs and cats, never bothers anything.
We brought him to the little home farm recently so we could put a polled bull with the cow herd. I've brought a couple cows here that I'd still like to breed to him. He's just so nice I'm having a hard time thinking of selling him :(
Have had a couple offers and know one day I will have to break down and do it. So far people have settled for buying his sons.
The funny thing about this bull is we got him for about 150.00 from an auction a past dexter guy who called himself "dollarless bill" ran on the dexter board. He was a scrawny little thing, about 3 month old and weaned from his dam too soon (Bill didn't do it.) Took him a year to catch up and fill out. Wish Bill could see him now, he's one of the nicest Dexter bulls I've seen.

Hi Emily, Dexters are great and I would recommend them to anyone looking for cattle. They are as hardy as beef cattle, having enough fat on their back to weather the worst of Canadian winters with only a wind lean and good hay/mineral. Given the right conditions, groceries and genetics, they can be quite long lived with most still calving in their early teens and some at 18! They have absolutely the best beef, our customers pick it every time over the the same age, same grass fed Hereford and the milk is phenomenal; easy to work with making cheese, easier to digest, creamy .... yum!

Unfortunately Dexters, like many beef breeds are all over the map as far as 'milkyness'. I have a cow who at a mature height of 40", 600lbs, (Chondro free) whose milk output is 25.5 lbs which is 2/3 of what my Jersey, 49" and 1000lbs produces. I have also bought cows whose milk output was 13lbs/day! Some breeders have been selecting for beef traits over the years, without looking to the udder and milk and there are so few breeders that actually milk their cows that unfortunately many Dexters cows only produce enough milk to feed their calves.

If you are looking for a milking Dexter, my advise to you is to buy a cow, trained to milk, whose breeder knows for sure her milk amount, or a bred heifer, from a line currently being milked, bred to a bull known for passing 'milky' qualities to his daughters. Talk to the breeder about the udder, length of lactation and obviously the milking temperament of the cow. Talk to the breeder also about any genetic abnormalities and testing. Don't look for the 'bargain' cow but the one that fits into your family as far as milk needs and temperament. Good luck! Liz

The knock on bulls from the Lucifer line is that he had to be put down due to being mean and there are a lot of stories about Lucifer descendent bulls going ballistic with no warning.

Search through the Yahoo Dextercattle groups for Lucifer and mean.

Not far from me there was a 3 year old Lucifer bull, as nice as can be, that went off one day. He went plain crazy. It took several people a long time to get him in the trailer to go to the processor. He nearly tore the trailer up. The meat turned out great, though. He must have tenderized himself pounding on the trailer.

One lady told of having a Lucifer cow that went off like that.

That puts Lucifer bulls in the same category as Jersey bulls. Notoriously untrustworthy.

There are plenty of good milking lines that don't have that reputation.

Celestial Farms is offering Dexter milk cows for sale on another thread on this group. I don't know their lineage.

By the way, Dollarless Bill just started posting again, on the dextercattleonly group.

Copperhead has great Dexters. I have one of hers and she is an excellent breeder.

If Copperhead doesn't have what you need/want, let me know. I have a bull calf and 2 heifers (from Copperhead's heifer) available later this spring.

Our Lucifer grandson is 7. No indication of any problems in any way. He's mature and runs with the cows who we are always in the middle of fooling with. We would've seen any indication of trouble by now. This isn't our first rodeo. We watch all young bulls for attitude/potential for trouble. When it's there you know with Dexters. Too much eye contact, too much attn to what you're about, uncomfortable with you fooling with the cows, etc.
It wasn't all Lucifer bulls causing problems, there have been a select few only, and less in each successive generation.

Genebo, care to share the name of that bull? You can PM me if you prefer. Thanks!

I wish everyone weren't so far from me... makes getting my starter critters difficult!

I don't know the name of the bull. He belonged to Judy. She had loaned him to a farm in Quinton. She and I had just taken Ms. Fermoy to be flushed when she got the call that the bull had gone berserk. She left me and drove straight to Quinton.

She posted all the details on one of the groups, but I can't find it. It may have been on the group that shut down late last year.

Anyway, she took it to Faquiers Finest Meats to be processed. Then she donated the meat to charity. I got a single steak from the charity. I took them some ducks and they insisted I take a steak. It was a good steak.

Genebo
Paradise Farm

I communicated with the owner of Lucifer, Judy Moseley, before I ordered his semen. She told me that he was not at all mean or hard to handle. That story has been circulated along with stories about a couple of other bulls. I have also communicated with several others who have bulls from the Lucifer line and they have had no problems, Dan Butterfield for one. I have a Lucifer daughter that is gentle, so I think a lot of that is just hype. Lucifer throws heifers that milk well and have good udders. The poster was looking for a family cow. I haven't heard of any Lucifer cows going suddenly berserk and this is the first time I have heard of any Lucifer bulls going suddenly berserk, without prior warning. I have Judy's e-mail, if anyone would like to check with her concerning Lucifer. Just pm me and I will give it to you.

Well as Cliff says, any time you don't cull for temperament, Lucifer line or not, you are in for problems.

For every anecdote about bad behaviour, there are breeders, like Cliff who have stories about descendants with really good temperaments. I think reputable breeders cull for temperament, no matter the colour, udder or conformation. Many people have been working with Lucifer lines with beautifully tempered stock, but it does seem that all of the problems of temperament in Dexters boils down to the fault of one bull.... in some people's opinion.

To misquote Shakespear " Would a Lucifer of any other name be so bad????"

By the way genbo, check out their foundation sire page. You might be in for a little surprise. There are really not all that many good milking lines either, when it comes to Dexters. Most of them go back to Woodmagic, the Knotting line or Brambledel Redberry Prince. There has been a lot of argument back and forth about Lucifer and a couple of other bulls. It seems there is an element in the registered Dexter community who would like to see these bulls discredited.

Sorry for not getting back sooner. Thank you all for all of the great information! :)
We are looking for a family milk cow. We have been considering the Dexters because they are small and easier to handle. We may just get a larger milk cow and a Dexter bull though.

Emily

Silver Marten,
If you're in Northern Louisianna, you shouldn't be too far from Sulphur Springs, TX. The cattle there are selling fairly cheap right now if you're looking to get started with a cow. I know that buying from an auction isn't the most ideal thing for several reasons, but the market's right for the gamble at this time. There were some might fine looking springing heifers there last week selling in the 650-850$ range.

Don't know where you are in AZ, but someone in Prescott has 2 bred Dexters and an open heifer for sale on Craigslist at very good prices. The older cow has been milked.

Ha ha yes, twould be rather foolish to keep a bull around who can lift and flip a 1200 lb round bale with one horn, had he any intention of using that horn for anything else, eh?
Only thing I've seen the good boy put a horn to was a crazy huge angus bull who broke into our cow pasture with lust in his eye. Willie put him on the road real quick with a few well-placed jabs. Didn't even break the skin as I recall, but he put the hurt on him. Willie is half the angus bulls size but it only took a second to find out who was in charge. No bully intruders in the 4 or 5 yrs since.
I truly will be sad to see him go when I eventually work up to it. A gentle giant (by smaller animal standards lol) who will let baby goats and pups frolic under his feet and chickens stand on his back.
Not trying to imply he's a pet, for he is in no way that. IMO it's not safe to make pets of bulls. He's never even had a halter on. He just allows himself to be herded (respectfully) about, or onto the trailer when needed.

Although I haven't had too much experience with cattle (other than helping a friend out in a automated milking parlor a couple times), I do have experience with other animals.

As with horses, I'm sure everything is linked to the sire of the line without consideration to the traits the mother passes on. Both animals should be of sound temperament, as well as the other desired characteristics.

In the case of the milking dexters, I would assume that there are people like myself who are possibly in the market for a family cow. Dexters are appealing because of their smaller size, and dual-purpose. Just enough milk, and an opportunity to raise your own beef.

I'm sure there are people that start off with a family cow, then decide they are going to breed the animals, yet when they do, they don't consider the temperment of the animals they are breeding. They may have an unruly cow that they have to think up gadgets or tricks in order to milk, or may have given up on milking and are just going to breed.

In the case of a milk line, I think that's foolish, because people in the market for family cows are going to want a gentle cow since most family cows are going to be hand-milked.

Temperament is especially important in a hand milked cow. You're going to spend a lot of time with the side of your face pressed into her flank. It's a close relationship.

Genebo
Paradise Farm