permaculture

[Mark <mpludwig@facstaff.wisc.edu>]

The author is a seasonal dairy farmer in NY state, very knowledgeable.
M
> Date: Wed, 04 Dec 2002 10:38:03 -0500
> From: Linda Graves <gravesfarm@madbbs.com>
> Subject: Re: [grazersedge] Re: Dexter calf
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> At 03:54 AM 12/4/2002 +0000, you wrote:
> >Linda, she is adorable!  Doesn't look like 47#!!!  How many Dexters
> >do you have?  Do you milk them?  I would be interested in knowing
> >more about how you incorporate the Dexters into your herd,
> >comparisons, etc.  I know you're busy, but anything you care to share
> >would be appreciated.  I think they're great cows, but I've never had
> >any other breed really.  We don't milk ours, but their calves sure do
> >well on them.  Thanks for posting the photo!
>
> Gale- so far, they're an experiment! I'm sure you *could* milk them, but
> I'd have to be pretty desperate to do it! My back doesn't bend that far
> easily ;-)
>      We got interested them through conversations I had with an "internet
> friend" I'd never heard of them before that, or seen one. They held the
> National Show and Sale  about 300 miles from us in June of 2000, and we
> went. Fell in love with the dun cow who has more personality than any cow
> I've ever seen, and bought her. An old friend of DH's was at the sale and
> happened to have 4 Dexters for sale at his farm. We picked the best of
> them, a springing 2 year old out of a 14 year old cow which was still
> there, and was also springing. Unfortunately, they were all bred to a Texas
> Longhorn bull :-(
>      So far we've seen no evidence that this breed produces bull calves <g>
> What amazes me about them is their incredible growth rate for the first 6
> months. The older calf in that pic wasn't a lot bigger than this newborn at
> birth. The Longhorn cross heifer we had born in June of 2000 was the same
> way- we thought that she was going to be huge (partly because she was
> crossed) and she was as tall as her mother at 6 months. Now, at 18 months,
> she's still just as tall as her mother! And they do this strictly on good
> pasture.
>       Our interest in them is for potential "boutique beef" sales at
> sometime in the future. If a hanging half can be produced at 150# or even
> less, and it is top quality beef for flavor and tenderness, I believe that
> there will be a market for the halves. Our vet, upon spotting that first
> dun cow (she's VERY beef type, as you can probably see in some of the
> pics), spent an hour extolling her virtues, almost all of which he saw as
> "portion control"! Since he'd just lost almost 40 pounds by using "portion
> control" in his diet, he had a great interest in a cow which would produce
> a sirloin steak that didn't weigh 1 1/2#.
>       Their main drawbacks so far seem to be needing to renovate all our
> fences to add another wire on the bottom, and replacing all our single wire
> and slinky wire gates, as they walk right under them. It's not a great
> problem, as they seemingly figured out the entire farm in the first week,
> and never actually GO anywhere when they get "loose". They just find the
> closest lush patch of feed and enjoy themselves. When they're full, they'll
> either go back to where they were supposed to be, or walk down to the barn
> and lay in the driveway in front of the doors until someone lets them in.
>      We weren't real sure about keeping horned cattle, especially at first.
> In fact, part of our reason for trying the Dexters as compared to Scotch
> Highlands was the fact that polled or dehorned cattle aren't discriminated
> against in the Dexter breed. However, they've proven to be very docile, and
> although they USE the horns, they don't ABUSE them. And since we do have
> coyotes, I feel better knowing that the mothers of those dinky little
> calves have something to protect them with.
>       We'll see where they take us. At the moment we're just enjoying
> playing with the little herd while we make a living off the dairy.
>
> Linda Graves
> Western NY
>
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Mark P. Ludwig
Poultry Research Lab
University of Wisconsin -Madison
608-262-1730 WK
608-846-7125 HM