The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Cattle => Topic started by: garden cottage on September 30, 2008, 11:39:40 pm
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greetings all, our 3 dexter cattle arrived on friday afternoon 1 heifer in calf, 1 heifer 18months old and a 12month old steer. they have settled in very well and have lovely nature seem easy to handle, 2 are short legged and the steer is long leg. all i need to do now is to build an ark! neil
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Lucky you. Are you planning to milk the cows for the house?
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Enjoy them garden cottage ;D I started of with 2, about 4 years ago ::) i've now got 23!!!!!! and thats after selling 13 calves last week :o
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long term would like to milk eventually, for now just like to start on some beef and expand the herd dandans do you have your own bull or bring one in, i only ask as previous owners had bull on loan and got stuck with it for months. neil
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weve got our own bull, hes a short red :) :)infact to tell you the truth hes the quietest of the lot!! :P
we've never had any trouble from him and hes left out all year with the cows, even when they are calving ;D
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many thanks dan youve been most helpful neil
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are you planning to get them in calf?
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2yr old heifer was bought in calf, she has been with the bull. other heifer is 15months and steer for beef is 1yr old.
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We've had dexters for about 4 years now; we chose them because they're about the only breed we can accomodate on our very small smallholding.
If I had my time over again, I'd choose to keep something a bit less demanding. Lions, maybe.
Dexters are escape artists, like goats. They can scramble up banks, wriggle through tiny gaps in hedges (they'll be big gaps by the time they've finished) and demolish any fence known to man. They walk through electric fences like they aren't there.
Because we've only got 3 cows and their offspring, they're very wary, practically wild; catching them up for TB tests, ear-tag checks, Bluetongue jabs &c can be something of a challenge. My only previous experience was with black-and-whites, so I wasn't at all prepared...
They're wonderful animals and the beef is superb, but I would suggest they're not for beginners. Wish I'd listened to my neighbour, who told me to get a Jersey.
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Jersey X would be my reommendation. Preferably a British Blue cross if you can find one. Best cows ever!
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hi lemming
escape artist i had i few i fond you have to teach them young with electric fence the only way
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Hi lemming, sorry to hear of your woes with the dexters, so far we havent had any major drama, theyve been pretty good with electric fence, only when the batterys go down theyve pushed thro it and on one occasion when a deer went thro the electric fence. the 2 heifers have lovely temperament, the steer has a bit of the devil in him and a good set of horns so im very wary of him at all times roll on the beef....neil