Cross Breds

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CROSS BREEDING DEXTER'S???

Our cross breeding program started in 2007 with a little Hereford cow. She was to small for their bulls and friends didn't want to lose her to a calving problem so we used our Dexter bull. Here she is as

a youngster. What I learned from

her was not only beef contributions.

I milked her as well and sent the

milk in for butterfat and protein

content tests. I think the most I

learned though is about conformation

and disposition. She was so quiet and

accepting. This is ideal for training,

calving, vetting and growing. I also

learned what a good foot and strong

legs should look like and regardless

of how tight up the udder is, there's

still milk in there, they don't have

to be big and swinging. Her first

calf for us was a heifer. We appropriately named her

Half-Cast. Thick and muscled

with a pretty hip. She has

plenty of Dexter influence as

she is full of pep and fun.

Here she is at 3 weeks of age.

Cassy has now had her first

calf. We can see Dexter

influence in her udder

compared to mom, definitely

larger. Her milking results

are posted on our dairy page.

Her butterfat, protein and quantity has all increased over her mother.

Below is our second calf and last calf from that little Hereford. He is pictured here at 7 months. Again 1/2 Dexter like his sister and take a look at the muscle development. I say the last calf because we

lost that sweet Hereford mamma

from prolapse. A plus for the

Dexter breed, not likely to

have that problem. We hope to

have eliminated that nasty

Hereford trait. We have

butchered our first Hereford/

Dexter cross. No, not this

guy yet, another one. To

experiment we did him at 18

months of age. He hung a bit

larger than my 26 - 29 month

old purebreds. The meat was

tender and tasty like the purebreds but had more fat on the outside than the purebreds have. This boy pictured above will go at 20 months.

Cassy in the mean time has

had a 3/4 Dexter calf. Here

he is at 3 weeks of age. His

growth rate is impressive.

At 5 months he is as tall and

nearly as wide as our 10

month old purebreds.

We also experimented with

Lowline Angus. We raised

and bred four different

mother cows. We have

butchered, but I have

not tried to milk one. We

showed them and did well,

again learning about strong

legs and feet but now about

lack of bend to the hocks.

These girls

were good in

the hind but

many are not.

Look at those

powerful

loins and

fantastic

hoof angles.

I can say I

also learned

more about

disposition

and calving ease and do not own Lowline brood cows any longer. I will try the semen on my Hereford cross bred mothers. They do have an impressive food conversion which makes us look a bit harder at our Dexter's bloodlines for ability to gain weight. We will be butchering our first Dexter/Lowline cross fall of 2012.

We are on to a new cross bred adventure for 2012. We were lucky to run across two small Hereford/Pinzguar heifers.

Thelma and Louise were bred to our Dexter bull, Ringo Fire. The Pinzguar is also a dual purpose breed and what's even more cool is it carries the tenderness gene. This is something we haven't played with yet. Many are homozygous for it. These girls are new to us and have never been handled but are quiet and docile and have been very easy so far.

This is our resulting heifer. Meet Prius -- definition of a hybrid bringing the best of two thing together. Well in this case three. She is 1/4 Hereford x 1/4 Pinzguar x 1/2 Dexter. A pretty bodied, deep, well balanced heifer. She has great feed utilization and a calm disposition. What a fun heifer to play with.

The main purpose for my cross bred program is to learn about my Dexter's through other breeds. No more "Those are nice hooves...for a Dexter. That's a nice udder....for a Dexter. That's a decent hip....for a Dexter." It's impossible to improve your stock when you are barn blind. The Dexter is not a "beefier" model or a "milkier" model, they are a dual purpose model and that's what we shoot for in our breeding program at Emerald Park farm.

A perfect example of our cross-bred program:

Cassy' s Lowline Moderator Plus heifer. She is solid black out of a red white faced mom. Not a white mark on her -- hence the name "Natia". Natia is registered as a Lowline Moderator Plus. She is out of the esteemed Lowline bull Fairwyn's Machine. Natia did well on our show string, was easy to train and a pleasure to work around. She took Champion Senior Heifer Calf at the Evergreen State Fair. She moved on to southern California as part of a breeding program for an Angus breeder of long ago who has a passion for Dexter's.