Dexters and brush

[Dirtslinger]

I read dexters are actually good brush hogs.
Is that true?
With an acre of scrub (mainly red twig dogwood, similar to pussy willow), would it be better to straight out clear the brush mechanically, or actually allow the cattle to manage it? There is pleanty of pasture forage growing throughout that acre as well, so they would be able to choose grass over the scrub.

Will they browse woody stems, if so how thick (1"+?)

I have someone coming to do a bit of clearing. Thinking if dexters are truly browsers I could save about half of the labour to be done by cattle. I don't want goats here!

Thanks!

[Jcran]

I put Rosie the Dexter out on our propery's front corner. Lots of wild berry vines and invasive crud in there. She had about 1/2 of it cleared pretty well when we had to move her to a pen due to inclement weather and no good shelter. I would say they are great brush hogs.

[genebo]

I had 3 acres of brush so thick I couldn't push my way in with a tractor. Honeysuckle, blackberries, roses, poison ivy and sweet gum saplings. Six Dexters and six goats cleared it in one season. It looks like a park, now. Nothing growing below the height they can stretch their necks up.

Once the brush is gone, they've kept eating. All the bark is gone off of the cedars and some other varieties. In a few years, it will all be pasture.

Genebo
Paradise Farm

[Dirtslinger]

That's great, thanks!

[Slev]

Genebo,

Do you by chance have any pictures of that field before & after shots?

sounds great!

[georgiarebel]

Same here. I had a place in the back of my property I couldn't see through full of kudzu and vines and they went through in like lawnmowers as high as they could reach.

[Dexter_Cattle]

We had lots of bushes and multiflora rose, and other small bushes in our "Driveway" pasture. We got 4 Dexters and within about 3 weeks in the 1 acre area, they had it clean as a wistle.