Dexter or Highland

[doulanobles]

Hi all. I've been researching which breed to start with when we move to Spokane and have narroed it down to these 2. We're looking for a dual purpose, low maintenance, small-ish animal that can survive mostly on pasture. These 2 seem to fit the bill. Any thoughts, advice?

[bqz]

Sorry friend I haven't had experience with either one ,but the highlands seem to have a mess of hair to deal with and their horns are longer as well.
I guess I would take that into consideration when choosing,all that hair could help in the cold but really be a bummer in the heat, rain and mud.
Let us know what you end up choosing and why.

[Tiffin]

I have Dexters, for beef (not milk). Here in NY, 100% pasture is out of the question; have to supplement with hay for the winter. I give hay during the summer too for a balance food. A little grain mainly as a treat. I have them dehorned for safety on my part as I like to be up close and personal with my animals. I like the size and docile personality.

[Sher]

Hi..we have Dexters. Mostly meat..although two could be milked and have really nice bags.

They really do seem to eat less. And during a bad dry spell..actually gained weight on pasture that was pretty well spent.

We keep them horned. There are naturally polled dexters out there..

I really love their attitudes toward us, each other and our other livestock. I love the easy birthing and sturdy, hardy little calves.

But I think a warning should come with Dexters...WARNING: DEXTERS CAN BE ADDICTIVE!!!

Good luck on your choice.

[NWMO]

Have you done any looking at Galloways....I have 3 belteds, but am considering some solids....they have done extremely well on "poor" pasture......and will eat just about anything.....

I don't milk, but have been told they are considered "dual" purpose.....mine are a little "edgy," but I do know some people have been known to milk the Galloway. Very lean beef.

[65284]

My vet once tended a herd of Highlands, he calls them those (*^)*T&*% cattle with all of the hair, horns, and attitude. But, I suspect like all cattle there are good ones and bad ones. We looked at Highlands before settling on Dexters, the main deciding factor was that every herd of Highlands we looked seemed to be wild/spooky. Dexters are smaller, and I think, better dispositioned, mature faster, and if you are interested in milking you don't have all of the hair to contend with.

[doulanobles]

Thanks for all the advice. I think we're going to go with dexters. Is purchasing a cow/calf pair a good way tostart? If I'm starting from scratch pasture-wise, what should be planted?

[Timberline]

We have Dexters, milk them and raise beef, both products are wonderful. My neighbor has Highlands. They are quite a bit larger than my Dexters and wild as deer (they probably don't work with them much). Everytime I go near the fence and their Highlands can see me they run like they are terrified. My Dexters are with me (they follow me where ever I go in their pastures) and the Highlands still run. My vet tells me she hates to work on the Highlands because they "are on the fight" most of the time. If you want to milk I would definitely go with Dexters, I'd hate to have to fight all that hair when milking a cow.

I started with two Dexter heifers and a bull, but a cow/calf is also a great way to start. Even better if the cow is bred back.

Good Luck!

[OregonGuys]

Back when, our farm made a similar decision. We loved the wild look of Highlands, but the appeal of the Dexter personalities won us over. We're still very happy with our decision to go with Dexters after several years.

We started with a mix of de-horned and polled young heifers and obtained a young polled red bull. We understand the appeal of horns, but we chose polled to put some of our family members with small children more at ease. We've had some amazing Dexter beef (everyone who tries it including my brother-in-law who is a barbecue fanatic swears it's the best beef ever). We have several cows that are very easy to milk due to their very friendly personalities, but we don't milk much due to having goats too.

Each animal in our herd has a distinct and interesting personality and it's very enjoyable to just hang out with the cows on a nice afternoon. I've been known to catch a nap with them in a sunny pasture awakened by calves licking my head. We've raised 8 polled calves so far and have 8 more polled calves on the way soon, mostly red and some black. Here's a picture of a very nice polled black bull calf (standing next to a half sister) both out of our red homo-polled bull. This registered Dexter bull calf (Cascade's Heatwave) is a real teddy bear and his sire and dam are very gentle too.



Hope this information helps you with your decision.

cascademeadowsfarm.com

[Laura Workman]

Holy Moly, OregonGuys! That calf has some seriously nice bloodlines!

[doulanobles]

How much should I expect to pay for a cow/calf pair or bred cow? Is registration necessary?

[OregonGuys]

Originally Posted by doulanobles

How much should I expect to pay for a cow/calf pair or bred cow? Is registration necessary?

Prices vary wildly based on pedigree quality, individual conformation, individual behavior (friendly vs. distant), color (red being most expensive), horn status (polled being most expensive), and neck of the woods (some areas have more supply than demand and some areas have better animals on average). A pregnant cow can even vary based on the qualities of the bull that impregnated her and her chances of producing a more expensive calf and hidden genes can add to the cost (a black carrying recessive red is usually priced higher than one not carrying red). Also those free of chondrodysplasia (dwarf gene) usually cost more than those with the gene.

Some animals are still so rare that you would have a hard time buying them at most any price, for example, a red polled heifer calf is very hard to find for sale and you would probably break your bank trying to buy one, and red homozygously polled bulls are very rare and costly. A black polled heifer might go for around $2500, while a high quality black horned heifer might go for around $1500 in some parts of the country. If you ask around and shop around you'll get a good idea of prices. We bought the best we could afford and we we're happy we did so. The quality of all of our resulting calves is outstanding. We get a lot of enjoyment from working with high quality animals.

Registration is very important if you plan on having calves and selling them. Unregistered animals aren't worth much other than their meat value. If you just want an animal or two for beef and milk and never plan on selling any, you could probably pick up a cross, or an unregistered animal of moderate to low quality for perhaps $500.

Are you leaning toward horns, dehorned, or polled?

[doulanobles]

I'd rather do without the horns, I think. We 're not made of money so everything is negotiable at this point! We're going to be in Eastern Wa. and we'll have probably no more than 15-20 acres and we're not sure how many the land could support. Our goal is beef and milk for the family (4 adults and 2 kids) but if I could sell a calf or 2 here and there, that would be great. It's really uncharted water for me but I fell in love with the Dexters at our local fair and their sweet tempermant. Our overall hope is for all the animals to 'earn ' their keep, ya know?

I appreciate all the info. Are there any estmates out there for how much hay per animal needed...I'm wondering how much I'll need on average for the year

[longshadowfarms]

Either Type should serve you well. Do not let the anecdotal evidence about the highlands scare you off. If you are just going to start out with large animals. I would suggest a polled breed. Dexters are very small and that is why many people like them. I have what I consider mid-size cattle. I have a highland and herefords, I love the highland and we are out with the cattle at least twice a day and she is very gentle, but so are all the herefords. I would reccomend polled herefords to you for the following reasons:
1) If you do not want registered the cost of initial purchase should be less.
2)Because it is an established breed it easy to find an outcross(unrelated bloodline)
3)Ease of care, Do well on less then perfect pasture.
4) get a little jersey if you really want to milk. they are easy to hand milk.

R W

[OregonGuys]

Originally Posted by doulanobles

Are there any estmates out there for how much hay per animal needed...I'm wondering how much I'll need on average for the year

We're feeding 10 pregnant (but dry) cows and a bull a total of about 2 of the large, heavy small bales per day. I would describe these bales as being small, but as large as a single person can handle with some very good effort (about 4ft by 2ft by 2ft ), and very compressed, probably weighing about 20 bales to the ton (perhaps 110 lbs each). A ton of very good hay west of the Cascades in the northwest is rather expensive because we bring it in from the dry side of the mountains where they grow very nice hay (we grow great grass here due to the rain, but the hay isn't great). Also, well funded horse lovers drive the price of hay up around here.

A ton of great hay is costing us around $180, or a bale is around $9. (Fertilizer is the culprit, hay producer's fertilizer costs have tripled due to energy prices going up). So during hay feeding months, it's costing us about $2 per day (in hay) per cow (perhaps $1 per day for weaned calves). Luckily for us, we have a very long grass season with little inputs during much of the year. We could probably get by with lessor quality hay with older dry cows, but with younger growing heifers we need quality hay. I'm guessing good hay is cheaper where you will be living.

Hope this helps.

[jerzeygurl]

my uncle in law raises highlands, they arent wild.

i was going to second a previous poster, a jersey wieghs a lot less than a dexter, and they are good eating. can also be bred to angus for a beefier product.

[doulanobles]

Ok, sorry to keep revealing what a rookie I am . So if I have say 4 dexters, or 3 dexters and a jersey, and I'm on the east side of wa., I could expect to go through about a ton a month at about $100/ton so they tell me. I guess that depending on the year, I could have to feed anywhere from all year to 6 months of the year. So, here's the question. How do I set things up so these animals 'pay' for their feed? I know I'll save on what I was spending on dairy at the store and beef in the freezer. I just don't want to end up with expensive pets!

So, if i buy registered animals, I may be able to sell calves at some profit? If not, they would only be worth the price as beef animals?

Also, I thought jersey's were bigger than dexters?

I don;t mind paying more up front if it's worth it down the line. The plan is to keep out enough $ from the sale fo our house to purchase 2 horses, 2-3 cattle, various fowl, and good fencing.

Does anyone know any dexter breeders in the Spokane area?

Also, can they be trained to pull, etc?

Sorry for the million questions! I really appreciate all the input!

[Laura Workman]

I keep meaning to post this for you. I ran across an ad for a small Jersey heifer, 14 months old, on the Seattle Craigslist. The heifer is in Port Orchard. The owner is asking a whopping $550 for her. If I could have a cow at this point, she would NOT be available, but since I can't . . . here's the link: http://seattle.craigslist.org/kit/pet/280376613.html .

[OregonGuys]

Originally Posted by jerzeygurl

my uncle in law raises highlands, they arent wild.

i was going to second a previous poster, a jersey wieghs a lot less than a dexter, and they are good eating. can also be bred to angus for a beefier product.

We also considered jersey's in our decision making process (we really love jersey cows) but jersey bulls are another thing. One of the very cool things about Dexters is that keeping your own bull is rather cool and interesting while with Jerseys, a bull can be very very dangerous. If you have 10 acres or more, you might be tempted to build a small herd of cows with a bull. Out of highlands, jerseys, and dexters, the dexter bulls are by far the most easily managed for beginners, with Jersey bulls best left to those with reinforced concrete bunkers and a large life insurance policy.

[Laura Workman]

I have to say I LOVED my Dexter bull. What a great guy! He wouldn't voluntarily let me touch him, but no matter how hard he was pressured, his solution was to move away. Never the slightest sign of aggression, and we pressured him pretty hard a couple times. I think Jersey cows have it over Dexters in terms of cute, but that's just me. When I get cows again, I'll probably start with a Jersey and breed it to my Dexter bull (I retained rights to a couple of breedings). The Jersey/Dexter heifers are very nice homestead cows, and the bull calves would make great freezer fillers. If I got a second cow, it would likely be a Dexter, and then . . . and then . . . I'd keep heifers . . . and . . . oh, I can so easily see myself winding up with way too many cows!!