Skip to main content

The Dexter show!

A few weeks ago we went to the local show grounds to have a look at a Dexter show.  There were probably 100 animals there, with some lovely examples of both black and red Dexters.  

At first we were a little worried that our recently-purchased little Dexter bull, Donald (introduced here), was quite small compared to some of the Dexters on show, but after chatting to some of the owners, we were told that some of the Dexters were probably getting a bit larger than the original intention of the breed, and getting closer and closer to Angus cattle.  We also thought that Donald looks a bit rougher than the ones on show, until we realised that they had all been clipped, washed and brushed before the show!  I don't think Donald would put up with that kind of treatment!  

It is now over 6 weeks since Donald spent a few days with Molly (our Jersey heifer) while she was on heat, and she hasn't come back into heat yet, so fingers crossed that he has done the job he was hired for, which is much more important than worrying about what he looks like.  My conclusion is, don't worry about buying a pure-bred animal, you will be paying for their looks, and not necessarily their function.  We didn't find anyone at the show who was milking their Dexter, so if you want a milker, make sure you buy from someone who does breed for milking ability.  If you are just looking for beef breeding, buy one that has a nice beefy bottom.  Unless you want to breed Dexters for showing or to set up a stud, its cheaper to find a "second-hand" Dexter than buy straight from a breeder, and there seem to always be a few advertised by people who thought they were a nice idea and have changed their mind.  And here's some photos from the show....


the calves are very cute!

a big-ish bull

a cow

Donald for comparison

and Bella posing nicely

me trying to get a nice photo with Donald and him trying to head but me...

Labels:

Comments

  1. Thats a shame that it appears most of the breeding effort is on beef production.

    I like that last photo ;-)

    ReplyDelete

  2. Good post - I value your insights as we want to eventually get a bull and a couple cows that can breed.

    ReplyDelete

  3. Tricia, the sad fact is that they are not even bred for beef, just for showing. Most of the breeders we talked to hadn't eaten one of their animals either!

    ReplyDelete

  4. I think Donald looks good! We wouldn't want his ego to suffer if he heard what the breeders were saying - he might not want to perform his manly duties! And good luck with the cow....

    ReplyDelete

  5. yikes! I didn't even know this thing was on, and would have been a great way for us to meet some breeders I'd guess. I need to stop being such an introvert here on my little farm and keep track when there are things like this going on :P

    ReplyDelete

  6. Oh that is sad Liz. Bred just for looks rather than function :-(

    Sounds like a good way to ruin a breed.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks, I appreciate all your comments, suggestions and questions, but I don't always get time to reply right away. If you need me to reply personally to a question, please leave your email address in the comment or in your profile, or email me directly on eight.acres.liz at gmail.com

Popular posts from this blog

What to do with eight acres

Behind the scenes of my blog I can see the search terms that led people to find my blog.  It can be quite interesting to look through them occasionally and see what people are looking for.  Most of them involve chicken tractors, but another question that comes up regularly is “what can you do with eight acres?” or “how much land is eight acres?”.  Today I will try to answer this question.

Of course it is a very broad question, there are lots and lots of things you can do with eight acres, but I’m going to assume that you want to live there, feed your family and maybe make a little extra money.  I make that assumption because that’s what I know about, if you want to do something else with your eight acres, you will need to look somewhere else.

If you haven’t chosen your land yet, here a few things to look for.  Focus on the things you can’t change and try to choose the best property you can find in your price range.  Look for clean water in dams, bores or wells, either on the property …
8 comments
Read more

We don't have any cling wrap either

Last week I wrote about how we don't have a microwave and I really don't miss it.  So continuing the theme of "weird things about my kitchen", we also don't have any plastic cling wrap or paper towels.  And we haven't had them for so long I can hardly remember why we ever needed them.


I always thought that cling wrap was wasteful.  Not just from an environmental perspective, but I also didn't like spending money on something that I only used once.  When I was at uni and took sandwiches for lunch, I used to bring home the cling wrap and use it again until it didn't stick anymore.  One year when we did Plastic Free July (I can't remember when exactly - here's what I wrote last year) we decided to stop using cling wrap.  I used up the last of it recently when we were painting (its really hard to renovate without creating waste) - its handy for wrapping up paintbrushes and sealing paint temporarily, however I do not use it in the kitchen.

The pape…
3 comments
Read more

Getting started with chickens - Tanya from Lovely Greens

Sign up for my weekly email updates here, you will find out more about soap and our farmlife, straight to your inbox, never miss a post!  New soap website and shop opening soon....

Farmer Liz: You will remember Tanya from Lovely Greens from the first series, she lives on the Isle of Mann and added chickens to her garden about a year ago.  You can leave comments for this post on Tanya's blog.



How many chickens (and other fowl) do you keep, what breed and what do you use them for (meat, eggs, slug control etc)?
Tanya: Around the same time that we were initially thinking about having hens another friend beat us to the punch. She went to the local pet store and bought a flat-pack hen house and chicken run combo and found a local farmer who had dozens of semi-feral chickens running around his property. One night he pulled three down from the trees and my friend took them home in a pet carrier. She named them Miracel, Carmen, and Geraldine and though they’re probably related they were all…
Read more