# Do Dexters eat half as much as reg. size?



## lorian (Sep 4, 2005)

Two questions about dexters, do they eat about half as much as their larger counterparts and also approx. how much milk do you get per day at peak production. We have about two acres of pasture. Would that be enough to keep two in grass for the season?


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

cattle need about 3% of their body weight per day of forage regardless of breed.


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

This is from an article in Mother Earth News 
http://tinyurl.com/2k9w8r

"Easy and economical to keep, a Dexter consumes about half of what an Angus or Hereford would under the same conditions. A half acre of good green grass per animal, or 12 to 15 pounds of hay and a little grain each day is enough in temperate climates. The cattle are ideal for grazing on older or overgrown pastures."


I believe this is close to the mark. A mature Dexter cow can weigh from 600 to 700 lbs. Three percent of that weight would be 21 lbs of hay. That is about half of a bale of hay. I don't ever remember my little Dexter eating that much when I was feeding her small bales of alfalfa. 
The quality of hay makes a difference. A cow won't need to consume as much good quality alfalfa as they will a poorer grade of hay. 

The members of The New Dexter Bulletin Board state that a mature Dexter will eat 2% to 3% of their body weight in hay fed with 2 to 3 pounds of corn/oats/barley mixture.

I don't think it will hurt your cow to eat all the good quality hay she can eat. We now feed big bales of hay free choice so our Dexters can eat as much as they like.

If you have two acres of good grazing, that should be enough grass for two Dexters unless you have a spell of dry weather.


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## genebo (Sep 12, 2004)

They're right. It takes a certain amount of grass or hay or grain to support a certain weight of cow. Since a Dexter is about 1/2 the weight of standard breeds, they will eat about 1/2 as much.

The same is true of milk. A cow that gives 4 gallons a day eats much more than a cow that gives 2 gallons a day. Don't pay for more than you need.

Everybody tends to think that they have "good" grass. Out west, good grass means it only takes 5 acres to feed a steer. In lush eastern valleys you can keep a Dexter on 1/2 and acre. Most of us are somewhere in between.

Grass is very seasonal, too. You'll have too much at some time and so much will be wasted. Then you'll have too little, and wish you had some left from before. Having enough grass to feed your cow during the worst times requires much more land than if you augment with hay during poor grass times.

If you had a way to do it economically, you could cut and bale your excess hay during plenty and feed it during times of want. Then you could truly keep a Dexter on very little pasture.

I have to buy hay for the winter. I'm running 8 Dexters on 7 acres of grass and 3 acres of trees in central Virginia. Right now I could feed three times as many on my spring grass. I have no way to bale the excess, but I'm cutting and raking and putting it into a haystack. We'll see how that works.

Genebo
Paradise Farm


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