Dexter cows anyone have any ?

crzychicken

Exploring the pasture
Joined
Feb 9, 2009
Messages
30
Reaction score
0
Points
22
:frow I was looking into Highland cow for beef for my family, than my 12 year old wanted milk to make butter ect.. so know we are looking into Dexters dual purpose cow any input on this new to cows the fencing is up 2 1ac lots for now I have 2 more lots 3ac and a 2 ac I'm looking into 2 Dexter cow.

24X32 :celebrate barn with a separate milking area used only for milking building will be started in one week any input on the barn would be appreciated also it will have tree section 1 for the cows 1 for hay storage and the other for my small tractor and it's implements just 3 of them.

How big should the milking area be what should it have in it for say 1 to 2 cows hand milking

I live in upper New England cold winters hay storage ?

It will have water & electric in the barn
 

chook pen jen

Exploring the pasture
Joined
Mar 25, 2009
Messages
38
Reaction score
0
Points
22
Location
Collie W.Australia
{Hi I am new to Dexters{about 6 mths} I got a cow, a young heifer and the cow calved 3weeks ago. Now I am no expert, but I think I made a few mistakes,
1 . not all dexters are dual purpose,a lot are bred for meat, and are not calm by nature
2 . they are not all easy on fences
3 . when you buy, make sure you get ones that have been well handled, and have been milked or come from stock that has.
4 . its worth paying a bit more for suitable animals.
Having said that I still think they are a good bred
P1000390.jpg
dextersjokiwi005.jpg
dextersjokiwi003.jpg

Brooklyn had no trouble calving and is a good mum{pic 1},Brooklyn and Dodger when I first got them{pic 2 }and a better pic of Brooklyn{pic 3}
jen :frow
 

crzychicken

Exploring the pasture
Joined
Feb 9, 2009
Messages
30
Reaction score
0
Points
22
Well I bought 2 Dexters :ya :celebrate one is miking now and the other is 4 month old so I need to wait until October to get them because they don't take them from their mom's until they are 6 months old both are from milking Dexters . I did a complete 360 degree turn I was thinking i wanted highland for beef and the more I talked to people I also wanted to make butter. cheese, yogurt, ect.. but I also wanted beef I didn't want to tied to milking 2x a day or if I went away for a weekend having to have someone come and milk so read and read and talked and talk with people about their cows and just about every time Dexters came up, I called for one dexter that was advertised locally and they told me to get in-touch with the person I ended up buying my cows from. I also had a chance to get a 10 week old bull with great lines non carrier but have not made up my mind on that.

Why are they hard on fencing what would you recommend for them? :frow
Thanks for the info
Here's a picture of the 4 month old

www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/240_selke1.jpg
 

LavacaW

Chillin' with the herd
Joined
Jun 12, 2009
Messages
44
Reaction score
4
Points
26
I bought 4 cows/heifers in March and we had our first calf in July...another heifer. Once they got used to being in a different place, they have not been hard on fences but will go through any opening not secured. They also can walk a cattleguard fairly easily so we have to keep the gates on those closed too! The mama cow has become quite friendly but the others are still somewhat standoffish. I believe I could milk her if I wanted to. She allows me to touch her all over including checking her udders once the calf was born. She would not allow me to touch the calf for the first two weeks though. I kept her preoccupied while my husband checked to see what our calf was!
I am having them all dehorned, however. The pictures showing the horns close to the head are NOT what mine look like...they look more like a miniature longhorn!
Okay...I'm exaggerating, but you get the idea. I am already seeing small cuts from them playing around.
Good luck with yours.
 
Top