# Don't want to ruffle any feathers but...



## TamiJoyFarm (Oct 18, 2012)

Okay, my BF's husband with 30 year's experience as a cattle foreman agrees that "pregnant cow with the large teats" will only continue to develop larger teats with each successive calf. (Not that I don't believe you all, I do, just want confirmation from someone I know. ) So, with that said, we discussed all of my options:

1. Take her and the calf to the livestock sale this spring (April)
2. Keep her and breed her back?
3. Sale them separately.
4. Keep them both.
5. Sale her and keep the bull calf, castrate and raise as a steer.

I've been attracted to Dexter cattle since the first time I read about them in Grit. Being of Irish descent, that only sweetend the idea! We have small acreage and the Dexters would be ideal for our setup; however, I have several questions:

1. Don't you have to dehorn them or are most polled?
2. Meat quality versus Angus meat quality, taste tests? My customers have been soooo happy with our angus meat these past three years...
3. I am a small woman, 5' 2 1/2" stretching it, so a smaller breed is attrative to me. My heifer that just calved is calm in nature but she is BIG and when she comes to me, I am a bit uncomfortable around her. 

I've also considered the belted galloways as they, too, are a great dual-purpose breed and very docile when raised from calves and handled properly.

THOUGHTS??


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

My angus girl who will be milked when she gives me a calf us up to almost my eyebrow. I'm 5 foot tall and built like a 12 year old. I say this is up to you. I would stick with her personally due to her ease of conceiving and delivery. Very big positives in my book. My Molly is trained to te word NO she knows she gets on warning then a crack o the head. I'm heard queen! She knows it. She is my baby too and spoiled. She is trained to load and unload. Wait and come. She even let's my children ride her while I'm next to them. Angus are great animals l plan to Breed her to a highland. Well if we move to north Dakota. Or else she is going to be bred to a hereford.


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## nosqrls (Jun 9, 2012)

On the teat issue my 2 cents sell when calf is ready to wean and she is bred back you will get more for her. Then raise him as a steer and beef or sell when ready. Use money to buy what you want. This is just rambling thoughts off the top of my head so bear with me. Been raising cattle for 12 years. For smaller breeds The list is dexter, galloway,low line angus, Scottish highland, piedmontese, and white parks. Dexters there is a dairy and beef variant. With any breed it is how you feed and take care of them that is the main factor on the beef quality. The smaller breeds take longer to mature. But you get more animals to the acre. So research each breed and find the one that best suits your climate and pasture conditions. I am partial to Highlands they are docile but the horns are intimidating. I have been hit across the hand once or twice it stings. Horns help cows protect their calf. AS long as you pay attention you should need not worry about them. Do not let them play with you like they do each other or you will get hurt.


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## WJMartin (Nov 2, 2011)

Tami, there are many things I like about my little Dexters, temperment, size, horns, less feed, hardy, good moms, pretty even when old, taste great. 

There are many things I don't like, some of them I could have avoided had I taken more time to look and learn before I bought so I have learned some things the hard way.

I have had to send one of my sweet girls down the road because of her udder swelling so large her calf couldn't nurse, I milked her out and bottle fed calf for about a month and then calf could handle things on his own but also had issues with this cow with mastisitis and she hated being milked. Yes, she got worse each year, alot. 

I did retain problem cow's heifer from last year and am preparing to breed her this spring. Hopeing for the best. I also have problem cow's dam and she is a wonderful cow, except at 7 yrs. she needs a hoof trimming but has no problems raising a lovely calf and has a good udder. Vet doesn't know why cow developed edema so bad, didn't think it was genetic since dam has good udder so I'm taking a chance with heifer, but, I don't want a herd of bad udders so if heifer has ANY issues she will be gone.

There are polled Dexters, I like the horns, mine have been very nice with their horns, not aggressive, however, they don't have typical horns, they curve inward instead of out and up.

There are a couple of genetic issues to be aware of when considering sires but testing is easily available so is easily managed. There is a nice selection of AI sires on the ADCA website.

So, in making your decision, will calf be able to nurse or will you have to milk out the cow a few times or alot of times? If you don't want a milk cow this gets old fast. Does your vet think this is genetic, do you want more cows with this problem. I hated having to watch for and treat mastisis. 

Good luck.


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

If you have limited acrage, have fewer cows, not many small ones. Dexters have horns. Not all Dexters are calm or even less than wild. The quality of meat varies within every breed. Diet is a big factor. Most folks believe Angus is best, so you don't have to convince them if you stick to Angus.


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## DJ in WA (Jan 28, 2005)

I have tried alot of different things, and to some extent it depends more on the individual animal than the breed. People don't usually sell their favorites.

But my favorite was a lowline angus/jersey cross that I bred to a mostly lowline bull. She could have handled smaller framed standard sized bulls such as those at Pharo Cattle company.

We took a gallon of milk daily for 11 months a year, while staying in good condition, and she raised good calves. She's the black cow I posted in this thread with her red steer calf.

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/livestock-forums/cattle/468954-cattle-art.html


I just saw this ad recently if you&#8217;re interested. She&#8217;s over in Idaho. I&#8217;d be interested myself but I have a Hereford/Jersey heifer calving this spring, though she&#8217;s getting bigger than I hoped.


http://lewiston.craigslist.org/grd/3517122514.html


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## ycanchu2 (Oct 21, 2011)

If the cow has 'bottle teats' as its referred to, the calf can't get them in their mouth. I had one like that....two were normal and two were bottle teats. She can raise a calf on two teats and she did for a couple of years. The vet advised me to sell her cause she would never get better so I did.


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## momagoat61 (Mar 30, 2008)

Tami when I first opened your earlier post with the picture of your heifer with her new born calf my first though was for a first time heifer her teats will just get bigger and bigger with future breedings. Don't know if you raised her from a family brood cow and her mother had large teats or not, or if you even know her mother and just bought her as a bred heifer, but as for your heifer she will only continue to get those larger and larger tests with future breedings. Sorry but that's what I see being the case there with your heifer. This being said by someone thats very experienced as well.


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## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

The best way to form an opinion about Dexters is to go look at them. There are quite a few breeders in Washington (go to www.dextercattle.org and click on the membership list, scroll down to Washington). You will also want to check out the Buyer's Guide here: http://www.dextercattle.org/PDF%20files/ADCA%20membership%20book.pdf.

For any breed, go see and talk to as many people as you can. Do your homework. Don't buy the first ones you see.


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## genebo (Sep 12, 2004)

That is the best advice you can get: Go visit before you buy.

You will be quite pleased with Dexter beef. I've put several in the freezer. Angus, too. Our comparison favors Dexter by a big margin.

There have been some head-to-head taste tests done in which Dexter beat Angus. On BBC television they had a contest of "Great Chefs" who chose Dexter beef #1.

The ALBC had a big blind taste test of all the rare breeds they could raise, plus Angus and Shorthorn for comparison. Lineback Randall, Galloway and Dexter finished 1,2,3 and were the only ones that got any first place votes. That was the old fashioned Galloway, not the Belted Galloway.

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2008/07/heritage-beef-b.html


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## JLMissouri (Dec 12, 2012)

Dexters come polled and horned. Most are horned. I have both, but my registered herd is all naturally polled. As stated not all Dexters are friendly, I have one cow who isn't friendly, although she is much friendlier than most cows. On average I would agree that Dexters are more docile than Angus. I don't have much experience with anything else, as Angus was all I knew before getting Dexters. My herd is so friendly they will come up to me and follow me all around. The Dexters are less intimidating for a lot of new owners because of there smaller size. 

There is more variety in taste among breeds than across breeds. More important is how an animal was cared for and treated. Dexters mature faster than most breeds, they just don't get as big.

I researched cattle for a long time before settling on Dexters. My aim is to produce a true dual purpose friendly herd that is naturally polled.


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## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

JLMissouri said:


> I have both, but my registered herd is all naturally polled.


I'm curious about this. Can you please explain? Why would you not register your Dexters that are horned?


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

There are some polled Dexter bulls available through AI. In fact I have a polled cow out of Circle H Frederick. You can remove the horns from Dexter calves without too much trouble. It is much more stressful on a mature animal. 
We have had a couple of beef cows with oversized teats, and yes they do get larger. If the cow is gentle and up where you can work with her calf when she calves then the calf will do OK. With this type of cow, the calf sometimes won't get that large teat it its mouth to nurse without some help. Once the cow has been fully milked out, then the teats aren't so large and the calf will usually keep her nursed down.


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## opportunity (Mar 31, 2012)

DJ in WA said:


> I have tried alot of different things, and to some extent it depends more on the individual animal than the breed. People don't usually sell their favorites.
> 
> But my favorite was a lowline angus/jersey cross that I bred to a mostly lowline bull. She could have handled smaller framed standard sized bulls such as those at Pharo Cattle company.
> 
> ...


 My favortie cow is a lowline/jersey cross she doesn't eat much to stay fat her calf is usually as tall as her and almost as heavy at 7 months. 
I also have Angus I don't like them but they are easy to sell. I have a few herfords they are far nicer then the angus and raside the same way. I have highlands I love how they protect all the calfs in the herd not just theirs they do hae horns but I have learned how to work around them. I have jerseys in my herd they are good milkers but hard to sell the calf. I use an Angus bull and a highland bull. 
The little lowline/jersey cow is breed by the big angus bull she is 13 just had her 12 calf today she has been a good cow.


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## Gabriel (Dec 2, 2008)

haypoint said:


> If you have limited acrage, have fewer cows, not many small ones.


I'd like to hear your reasoning for that. Personally, I'm in favor of smaller cattle. If you sell at the sale barn you can only go down to a certain point without being docked, but even then, 2,000Lb cows are not what you want. If you sell direct to the consumer, small becomes a big advantage as 95% of my customers don't want to go buy another deep freezer just to buy half a beef. They also don't want a steak the size of their plate! 



haypoint said:


> Dexters have horns.


_Some_ Dexters have horns.



haypoint said:


> Not all Dexters are calm or even less than wild.


Absolutely true! But... I had an Angus that also fit that description. You can't generalize about cattle any more than you can people. Not all white people who live in the south chew skoal, drive 80's Camaro's and live in trailer houses. It chaps my hide when people say that all Angus are wild, so don't think that I'm picking on you because you named Dexters. Handling is, imho, the single most important factor in the disposition of your cattle. 



haypoint said:


> The quality of meat varies within every breed. Diet is a big factor. Most folks believe Angus is best, so you don't have to convince them if you stick to Angus.


Generally true, but if you're selling to individuals what will really make the sale will be a taste test, so breed won't matter as long as you produce good beef.


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## TamiJoyFarm (Oct 18, 2012)

Gabriel said:


> I'd like to hear your reasoning for that. Personally, I'm in favor of smaller cattle. If you sell at the sale barn you can only go down to a certain point without being docked, but even then, 2,000Lb cows are not what you want. If you sell direct to the consumer, small becomes a big advantage as 95% of my customers don't want to go buy another deep freezer just to buy half a beef. They also don't want a steak the size of their plate!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


My DH and I were just discussing this fact this morning. Our customers love that our meat comes from pasture raised beef finished on a little bit of locally grown grains (and the occasional pumpkin). This, for us, seems to be what produces the higher quality meat.


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## JLMissouri (Dec 12, 2012)

The reason my horned Dexters are not registered is because there parents were not registered, nothing to do with horns. If you want a family cow or a small herd to keep the freezer full why worry about buying a registered animal. All my polled Dexters came from the same farm and are all registered.


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## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

Thanks for explaining. I thought perhaps it was because of the horns (that's the way it sounded in your previous post). 

I quite understand not registering beef steers (though some breeders do). I guess I'm a dedicated believer in the value of registering cattle when you decide to raise a registered breed...too many genetics are being lost. JMO.


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