Every breed of cow has its strengths and weaknesses. Every breed has its proponents and detractors. Popularity of breeds waxes and wanes like the tides, or the phases of the moon. In my lifetime, beef breeds have come and gone like the flavors of the month at Baskin Robbins. At one time, it was Herefords, then Charolais. For a while everyone who cared about beef wanted a mighty Simmental. These days, Angus are en vogue.
Dairy cows have pretty much gone the same route, with Milking Shorthorns, Brown Swiss and Guernseys having their day. Those who are big on butterfat, swear by Jerseys. For sheer volume, nothing beats a Holstein.
Across the country, there are dozens of other breeds who have a following; Brahman, Longhorn, Pineywoods, Murray Grey, Belted Galloway and many more have found a place in the pastures and barnyards of America.
There is one breed though, that stands head and shoulders above the crowd as the ideal family cow. The Irish Dexter has functioned for centuries as a beef, dairy and draft animal for small farmers, crofters and homesteaders in its native Ireland. For nearly a century and a half, the Dexter has served a similar purpose here in the USA.
Saying Dexters stand head and shoulders above other cattle, is a bit of a stretch as they are the smallest Heritage breed of cattle, standing only 36 to 44 inches or so tall. A mature female will top out at 600 – 800 lbs, while a bull might tip the scales at 1000 lbs.
Dexters are outstanding foragers and can thrive on the best or even the most marginal of pastures. They are a great choice for those who want to supply their families grass fed beef, but have only a few acres of pasture available. It is fairly easy to keep two Dexters plus their calves on a good acre of grass.
High producing Dexter dairy cows will give up to 2 gallons a day in sweet, rich milk. A 100% grass fed cow will provide ½ to 1 gallon a day; more than enough for most families to drink and to have extra for butter and cheese. The leftover whey and buttermilk will be a fantastic supplement for chickens or a feeder pig.
A family raising two cows can plan their breeding so that one of the cows calves early in the year and one late in the year so that milk is available year round. The calves can be raised as beeves or sold for extra cash.
Did I mention that I don’t think any breed of cattle comes close to matching the Dexter for temperament? They are easily trained to halter and rope. They enjoy being petted and handled. Ours will follow us anywhere as long as there is a treat at the end of the journey.
We are slowly building our herd of Dexters. For a while, we’ll still be buying feeder steers from the auction, but within a couple of years, we expect all our beef and dairy to come from Dexters. Whether you have just a couple acres and want to raise a cow, or have hundreds of acres and want to be an honest to goodness rancher, you should give Irish Dexters a serious look.
If you want to learn more, you might want to check out this website.
Fun post. How do you go about training them?
Damon, we do everything wrong. Apparently, the idea is to get them in a halter when they are very young and tie them to a gate, feed them and let them grow accustomed to the experience that way. We usually distract the girls with food and install the halter while they have a mouthful of treats. Then we lead them around with a treat bucket, stopping from time to time to let them have a taste. Don’t know if it helps with the halter training, but they truly follow us almost anywhere as long as we have a bucket.
I too have chosen the Dexter as my cow of choice. We started off with a Jersey but then we traded her for a Dexter heifer. She lived in a free ranging herd and had never been handled, catching her was quite the challenge. Now she’s getting used to being in close proximity to us but we still have yet to halter her, she does have horns you know. We are about to pick up an older cow who has been used as a family milk cow and is due to calve in March. We are super excited at the prospect of producing our own milk!
Daniel
Daniel, that’s awesome. The younger they are, the easier it is to get them in a halter. We rarely have to use one. Our two heifers will follow a feed bucket to the ends of the earth. Halters are valuable at milking time. Both of our girls should be with child. We are picking up a pregnant heifer and a bull calf next weekend. Ours happen to be polled.
My grandparents and great-grandparents (on opposite sides of the family) had dairies out West. They both had Jerseys and Guernseys and swore by their sweet brown cows.
Eventually, we’d like to have a cow or two. I’d love a Dexter, but there seem to be a surplus of Jerseys in our area. It might come down to what is more affordable at the time of purchase. But, if you have heifer calves you’d like to sell, keep me in mind!
We love Jerseys. Can’t beat em. Our choice came down to space. We don’t really have room to keep a lot of cattle, so a dual purpose breed made the most sense. Will keep you in mind at calving time.