Silly question about dexters

Oxankle, that bull is appx. 47-48", a tested chondro non-carrier.

Most people no longer breed carrier to carrier. There's a 25% chance of a non-carrier calf from two carriers and a 25% chance of severely affected (bulldog). Fifty percent of the offspring will be carriers. One bulldog calf was enough for me (and that cow never did carry a calf to term after that). When we breed non-carrier (bull) to carrier (cow), it seems that most male offspring are non-carriers and most female offspring are carriers but I'd have to double check my records to be certain.

We have one of that bull's daughters; hope to see a calf from her next spring. Here are two of that bull's daughters:

Dun heifer pictured at 5 months:


Black heifer pictured at 22 months:

Is there such a thing as a short-legged non-carrier cow? Those heifers look pretty good. If you could find a polled bull in the breed you could soon make a darn good looking bunch of little cattle.

The term "short-legged" is a euphemism for a dwarf Dexter, or one that carries the dwarfing gene. The dwarf condition in Dexters is labeled chondrodysplasia. It is a condition most evidenced by short legs, wide heads and bodies, and deep chests.

It is possible to have a Dexter that is not a dwarf have short legs, too. There is a range for both types and the ranges may overlap.

Lots of breeders claim that they have solved the problem of selectively breeding to produce Dexters that are as short as the chondro carriers without actually having the gene for dwarfism. They've coined terms for their creations. They call them "Proportional", or "medium legged". Often it's no more than the difference that may exist between siblings.

I've actually bought heifers that appeared to be "proportional", but once I got them home and had them DNA tested, they proved to have gotten their small size the old fashioned way, through chondrodysplasia.

For all practical purposes, and by common usage, a short legged Dexter is a carrier of the chondro gene, a dwarf Dexter.

The horns on the Dexters pictured here are beautiful and distinctive. I doubt you'd make them better looking by taking their horns off.

Genebo
Paradise Farm
http://paradisedexters.com

Genebo, that "proportional" garbage is what got me in trouble years ago, and ultimately produced a bulldog calf; of course, then there was no test.

Oxankle, there are polled Dexters, but I happen to like the appearance of the horned cattle. May not suit everyone, but Dexters are (or were) a horned breed, and when we started with them, they were considered rare. They may, in fact, still be rare were it not for the fact that there are now two registries and the numbers are probably skewed.