# Young heifers in a dexter family herd



## Dexter (Sep 27, 2008)

I ask this as I have heard dexter heifers may have their first heat earlier than other cattle breeds?

I have been keeping several cows with calves running fulltime with my bull for several years now. Seems like a very healthy situation, it is amazing to watch the group behaviour. There is a lot of wildlife here as well and it seems safer. 

But I generally sell calves after 4-5 months. I now have a heifer calf born in April (6 months old). I separated her with cow today. Of course it's a moo fest, splitting the herd!

Could she possibly be bred so young already? Should I even lute her just in case??

Thanks for any ideas- or even sources where to look this up!


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## PJM (Feb 5, 2003)

I have a similiar situation to you. My Jersey calved her Dexter heifer in April. The bull runs with the herd because the only time he destroyed the fence - a bull-panel steel fence - twice, was when we put him in it. There was no one in heat, he just refuses to be locked up. The heifer calf doesn't run with herd on a daily basis, but it is only a very old wooden fence betweeen her and the bull. He sniffs at her, but has not attempted to get at her. So going from my experience, I would say you are alright and your heifer is still open if she has cycled at all. I would add that the bull tends to sniff at her before the angus/dexter heifer which we also have.

I think we are still o.k., but am avoiding thinking about that heat cycle until I absolutly have to. I will put the heifers in the barn where the bull cannot get them at the first sign of him being a little too attentive. Hope this puts your mind to rest a little!


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## Dexter (Sep 27, 2008)

Thank you for adding your experience. Have you considered a solid panel enclosure for the bull just for temp fencing as required? Or a really hot pen (which he is trained to first? Might be worth a shot. 

is there a standard age that is safe to run dexter heifers with a bull until?


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

if i am mistaken sorry but i think Agman keeps all his retained heifers in the herd with the bull all the time, no problems, they breed when they are ready and birth with out problem, if they have problem they are culled, 

have you been graining this heifer? how well has she grown? if she is almost as big as her mother and growing it wouldnt probably hurt anything especially if your not graining her just to leave her with the herd, pushing grain to heifers seems to make them cycle sooner than their body is ready in addition to the fact that they are being grained the whole pregnancy which makes a bigger calf for delivery problems,


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## Dexter (Sep 27, 2008)

No grain... Yes I had read letting nature take its course is feasible, BUT seems pretty drastic at the same time!

I'd need to talk with more than one Dexter owners to confirm it would be feasible here. The risk is too great to experiment in my opinion but I am interested in the topic.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

no grain, so they will grow naturally and not sped up by the added UNnatural nutrition, they already have the relaxed herd mentality (mostly the bulls issue) the dexter is a more compact low input breed anyway, this set up is not a breed specific issue, and no more drastic than the Intensive scientific commercial set ups, 

how much growth does she have? is she on track? she will be fine, pulling her out of the herd structure may be more of an issue than just leaveing her in, she will attract more attention that way when you put her back,


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## copperhead46 (Jan 25, 2008)

A lot if different breeds will breed too early. I've seen a lot of them trying to have a calf at 19 and 20 months of age. I don't like to pull calves so I keep my heifers away from the bull till they are 15 months old. Sometimes leaving it to nature leads to a dead calf and/or cow. Dexters are well known for their early heats, but you're probably OK for now, just watch her, the bull will let you know when it's time to put her up.
P.J.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

but how many of these cows were on grain pushing early developments and large calfs?


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