Silly question about dexters

[Reed77]

I'm thinking about getting a dexter cow/heifer for milk and meat (offspring) for my family. It would be kept with my horse that I ride, and it made me wonder, is a dexter big enough to ride? could it support the weight or a rider? in a horse forum I go to, they said a bovine is better equipped to carry a rider then a horse, but they were talking about average sized cattle.

Also what are the differences between long legged and short legged dexters?

[G. Seddon]

Reed, go to the ADCA website (www.dextercattle.org) and click on Handbook for New Members, scroll down to page 11, and you can read all about Chondrodysplasia. It is a dwarfing gene and those Dexters that carry it are commonly called short-leg; those without it are called long-leg. The only way to be positive if your animal carries it is to test with tail hair. It's best not to breed carrier to carrier.

Yes, you could ride a Dexter, but why? You probably wouldn't want to put any weight on its back until the age of 3 or 4 (same as horses).

[Reed77]

Are the short legged dexter effected physically by this disorder, or are they just short w/o problems?

[Reed77]

Originally Posted by G. Seddon

Yes, you could ride a Dexter, but why?

Just a funny project I guess

[Mickey]

One of our members, Rogo, posted a picture once of herself on a Dexter steer that she used to ride. If I recall correctly she said she even used to ride him in parades

[FoxyWench]

its my undestanding that a short legged dexter from a carrier to long legged breeding is typically healthy...

however breeding 2 short legs together can cause serious health problems and birth defects.

[MullersLaneFarm]

Why a dexter and not a jersey? jersey meat is wonderful and AI semen is easier to get.

[DJ in WA]

Originally Posted by MullersLaneFarm

Why a dexter and not a jersey? jersey meat is wonderful and AI semen is easier to get.

I'm sure jersey meat is wonderful, but you don't get as much as an animal bred for meat.

Also, many of us do not need or want several gallons of milk a day. More milk takes more feed and makes milking harder. And more problems if you miss a milking.

And then there's possible milk fever, etc.

I prefer a jersey/beef cross to reduce these problems.

[genebo]

Neat answer, DJ!

I like a Dexter because it solves each of the problems you mention, plus it's smaller size means it eats even less. A dual purpose Dexter is sort of like a Jersey/beef cross, except smaller.

[Reed77]

Originally Posted by DJ in WA

I'm sure jersey meat is wonderful, but you don't get as much as an animal bred for meat.

Also, many of us do not need or want several gallons of milk a day. More milk takes more feed and makes milking harder. And more problems if you miss a milking.

And then there's possible milk fever, etc.

I prefer a jersey/beef cross to reduce these problems.

exactly! If it was free my family would go threw about a gallon a day, but it's not so 1 gallon every 2 days (about). plus I have limited land, and I dexter would be more suited I think.

(plus I think riding on the back of a jersey might be a little uncomfortable ) lol

[Oxankle]

You are going to have to show me a better Dexter than I've seen online before I'll think of them as meat animals. I have an English book that shows a beef-type Dexter that would work as dual purpose, but the ones I've seen pictures of here look pretty scrubby.

The picture I saw of English Dexter was in "Know Your Cattle", Oldpond Publishing, Ipswich, UK. That cow looked like a miniature, short-legged Angus with a good udder. "About the size of a St. Bernard".

Book said the foundation cattle were bred by a Mr. Dexter in County Tipperary, Ireland sometime after 1750.

[Reed77]

Originally Posted by Oxankle

You are going to have to show me a better Dexter than I've seen online before I'll think of them as meat animals.

The meat will only be used my me, family, friends. I won't be selling it. So I don't need a huge quantity.

[G. Seddon]

Oxankle, how about this one (a bull)?



Or this one (steer)?

[Reed77]

^ Wish there was a like button/option on this forum!

[copperhead46]

Those are great looking animals, they are what the beef type should be,
P.J.

[G. Seddon]

Thank you, both. The steer is long gone, but the bull is still breeding.

[MullersLaneFarm]

Originally Posted by DJ in WA

I'm sure jersey meat is wonderful, but you don't get as much as an animal bred for meat.

Also, many of us do not need or want several gallons of milk a day. More milk takes more feed and makes milking harder. And more problems if you miss a milking.

And then there's possible milk fever, etc.

I prefer a jersey/beef cross to reduce these problems.

The OP mentioned milk & meat with no mention of how much milk they needed. Dexters are bred for either milk or meat. The animal will excel in one or the other (or neither).

Jerseys are not that much larger than a dexter and like I mentioned before are easier to find semen to AI. Jerseys are large enough to accommodate an angus calf, perhaps a dexter could handle one also.

Milk fever was never a problem for us. We made sure the freshened cow received the calcium supplement (CPM??) before and for a few weeks after calving. It's been a few years since we've had a milk cow.

We never grain fed our jersey and had just enough milk for the family with some left to sell (legal in IL). Of course, I also made cheese & butter and we fed some back to the pigs & poultry.

[genebo]

I must disagre with your statement about Dexters. Dexters will all give moderate amounts of milk and all will give excellent beef. The majority of all Dexters are true dual purpose cattle.

You are speaking of the practice of selecting for one or the other traits that is practiced by a few. Yet even the beefiest Dexters will still provide enough milk to raise a vigorous calf with some left over for the owner, and the highest production milk cows still have a body shape that is normally identified as beef, not dairy, and her calf will still provide the award-winning Dexter beef.

Dexters are an attractive breed mainly due to their small size. That size alone insures that they eat less than larger cattle. This is vital to the small landholder.

AI to an Angus to get a beef calf? That's a one-way solution. Breeding a Dexter to a Dexter will give you a calf you can choose what it's purpose will be. If it's a heifer, you can choose to milk her. If it's a bull, you can choose to eat it or keep it for breeding.

A better choice for breeding your Jersey is to use some good Dexter semen. The calf will inherit some of the dual purpose traits of the Dexter, with smaller size, blockier body, adequate milk output, gentler temperament, and better beef. Yes, better beef. Dexter beef consistently outscores Angus in contests.

Dexter semen is not hard to find. Simply go to a Dexter association web site for a list of available bulls. I'll sell you semen from an outstanding Dexter bull, A2/A2, for less than you can usually buy semen from a good Angus or Jersey bull.

I know you're [proud of how well your Jersey, which provided just enough milk for your family, handle the milk-related problems that are typical of the breed, and how little supplement you have to feed to keep her healthy. I've never had a case of mastitis or milk fever in my Dexters, and I don't have to provide any extra supplements to keep them healthy.

Think about how attractive it would be to keep a cow and raise a calf by milking her of a gallon, once a day, while she fattens the calf on the remainder of her milk. Think how good that calf's beef will be.

Think about how nice it would be to decide to skip a milkiing one day because you don't feel like it? With a Dexter cow in the situation I described in the previous paragraph, you not only can do it, it is a not uncommon occurrence.

Not far from me a family keeps some Dexters that they milk on cow shares. They not only provide enough milk for the family, they give enough to provide them with some income. Yet I have in my pasture right now, one of their calves, a steer, fattening and growing into a very nice beef steer. That's dual purpose.

Would you please tell your son and daughter-in-law that I said, "Thank you"?

Genebo
Paradise Farm
http://paradisedexters.com

[Skip]

Reed,

I presume a horse and cow could be pastured together, but don't know if it would be an ideal situation. I do have two dexter cows and a quarter horse, but do not pasture them together. One cow has a calf. Because of size difference and pecking orders, I do not think it would be ideal to have them all together. I may be wrong, but do not want to chance any of them being hurt.

We have butchered one young bull and were are very happy with the beef. I wish I would have went with my gut instincts and ground the round roasts into ground beef, as we like to cook with ground.

I personally enjoy the company of the cows over the horse. With time perhaps I could train a team of steers as ox. There is a gentleman that does driving with horses and has worked with ox in the past. He is the first person up here to be familiar with the dexter breed.

[Oxankle]

Seddon, I like the looks of the bull much more than I like the steer. How tall is that bull? What do his daughters look like?

If his daughters milk well you've got yourself a winner.

I am guessing that this is a "short Leg" and you have to breed him to a long leg?

Next question: Do you Dexter breeders EVER get a normal animal out of two short-legged parents?