Looking for a dexter cow.

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Grendelshooter

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We’re doing pretty well this year with our preps-we’re working on having 100 chickens (around 30 in various stages now and hatching more), we have a (very) small flock of blackbelly sheep, and the garden is coming up really well. When we finish our root cellar the wife unit will start canning what we’re growing.

So all told I’m feeling pretty good about our preps, but we need a dairy cow. Black bellies wouldn’t be worth the trouble to milk, and I don’t want goats. A dexter cow seems just about perfect for our cream/cheese/milk needs-with three kids under 10 we go through a lot of milk.

So that said does anyone have a lead on where I might acquire a dexter/mini dexter? Anyone here raise them and care to comment on them? Looking to learn as much as I can before jumping in head first.
 

SoonerP226

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Anyone here raise them and care to comment on them?
I don't, but check out the "Just A Few Acres Farm" channel on YouTube. They raise dexters, and he talks a lot about everything related to running a small farm--including the business aspects of making a small farm economically viable. Also, dad jokes.
 

retrieverman

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There’s Dexter breeder pages on FB, and you may be surprised and find one on Craigslist. I thought at one point I might want to try Dexters, but I ended up buying more Brahmans.
 

Grendelshooter

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if you are wanting milk then a jersey of small frame would probably be better than a dexter. summers are pretty hard on dexters in oklahoma also.
Ok this is the sort of stuff I need to know!
So are jerseys better suited to warm weather?
I like the idea of dexters for milk, but also meat and as a draft animal (hey we’re all peepers right? If the grid goes down I don’t get diesel for my tractor, an Ox would be handy!). If they’re going to keep over and die from the heat though I’ll look elsewhere.
 

cowadle

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heat won't kill them but they will suffer loss of production and possible other health problems etc. any male can be steered early and made into a draft but you should start very early with them. any dairy type cow will be better and more efficient at milking and a jersey is one of the smallest dairy cows out there. a dairy type will give less meat but nothing wrong with the quality. jersey are more problematic to milk fever than others especially when they get older but this can be no problem with good nutrition.
 

turkeyrun

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Meat ratio is lower on a Jersey, than other breeds.
BUT, for TASTE, Jersey is #1.
The cattle I raise for my meat is Angus/Jersey or Hereford/Jersey cross.
A large dairy, south of me, uses Angus bulls to need his Jersey milk cows.
 

cowadle

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the reason he uses angus bulls is to improve the market on the calves not as replacements into the herd. there are vast differences between beef cows and dairy cows. if milk is your goal then get a dairy cow. if beef is your goal then get a beef cow. all cows give milk so it is possible to milk a beef type cow but be aware that the milk volume will be drastically less and her milk will dry up at a steady rate unlike a dairy cow. so to be helpful in giving advice if you narrow down your expectations. i have milked angus cows many times as my home milk supply but i had much pasture for her and didn't need much milk.
 

Grendelshooter

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Hmmm…well now that’s a question isn’t it? Specifics…
Primary purpose is as a dairy cow. Secondary will be for meat. Now there’s a voice in my head that screams “GET ONE THAT CAN PULL YOUR PLOW!!!” But that’s my own personal autism. My view of prepping is to prep for a world without electricity, so use as a draft animal would be a HUGE plus.
Whatever we end up with will have 2.5 acres immediately around the house to graze on. If needed we could let it into the 2.5 acre sheep pasture. My 9 black bellies don’t even begin to put a dent in the pasture grasses there so there would be plenty for a cow if needed.
 

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