| RAA's Dexter Cattle Our Farm is also home to a small group of Dexter Cattle, a delightful little breed of cattle known for its friendliness, hardiness, disease resistance and its very good meat and milking quality. The Dexter is a small breed of dual-purpose cattle originating in Ireland. They are thrifty and hardy, raised in mountainous regions. Today, the Dexter is known for its hardiness, docility, thriftiness and calving ease. They are a true dual purpose breed. Their meat is well marbled and tender, and an average Dexter cow can produce two or more gallons of milk per day. Dexters do well in all climates and pasture types. Given proper feed and shelter they can survive just about anywhere. The size of the Dexter makes them ideally suited to the small property owner. The Dexter's calm, gentle nature and natural curiosity have given them the honor of being labelled the idea family cows. Women often enjoy the Dexter breed due to their smaller stature; they are less intimidating than traditional beef breeds. Dexter bulls make excellent crosses on traditional beef breeds since they reduce the stress on first calving heifers. Calving problems are virtually eliminated and the crossed calf is vigorous when born due to no calving problems. The cross-bred calf usually grows to 7/8 the size of the dam. Traits of Dexter Cattle Size Cows: 38 to 42 inches, weight approx. 750 lbs. Bulls: 38 to 44 inches, weight approx. 1000 lbs. Colour: Black, Dun, Red Milk Dexter cows produce rich, easily digested, small-fat-globule milk recommended for infants or people with digestive problems. An exceptional cow can produce five gallons (23 L) per day of 4% butterfat milk, average cows yield 2-3 gallons per day (9 to 13 litres). Meat Beef from Dexters is of excellent quality with a high dress-out percentage, providing greater yield of lean, tender, tasty meat. Our Dexters We currently have a small herd consisting of 3 Cows and 1 Bull. Daphido, our lead cow is 30+ yrs old and not reproducing anymore, but she is the best lead cow we ever owned and earned her retirement with her excellent calves over the years and ability to keep the peace in the group. Abigail(6 yrs) and Red(3 yrs) are our current breeding girls. Both very mild mannered cows, who enjoy being spoiled with brushing and scratches in hard to reach areas. Show them a brush and they come over demanding attention. Red I milk a couple months each year, she produces so much milk 1 quarter of her utter gives us up to 3.5 litres a day, so we leave the calf on and pick the teat the calf doesn't use(usually they pick a side and rarely use the other). We milk on the pasture, Red is great with this method. She patiently waits and pauses her grazing until I'm finished. To me that just proves the wonderful calm and relaxed character of this breed. She is the only one we milk since she meets our dairy requirements fully. Henry -our Bull, is very mild mannered, he really has not a mean bone in his body. He is a short, stocky little bull. We call him our little buffalo because of how beefy he looks. This trait he passes onto his calves, they are born with great muscle tone which only improves with age. Here are some pictures of our Dexters(click to enlarge): |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| What'cha doin' down there????? Red could not contain her curiosity and had to see what I am doing kneeling in the dirt....... gotta love these cows! |
