Dexter cross cows

Mirabella, the Dexter/Jersey cross heifer just had her first calf, Sat., AM 2/17.  I was just leaving for Farmer's Market when I noticed her standing off to the side of the pasture and figured she was in labor, so I missed FM.  This picture was snapped when the new calf was minutes old, and only partially dried off.  Weight about 45#, normal range for a Dexter/Jersey cross.  Mirabella is a few weeks away from her two year birthday.  

Later she was eating the afterbirth, which many mammals do, as it cleans up anything which might attract predators and gives them some hormones/nutrients they can use at the time.
I went in the house but decided I needed to check on them again.  As I came to the pasture gate, I saw Mirabella swinging her head violently and staggering backward.  I knew immediately she had choked on it.  I kept trying to get into her mouth with my hand, but she would not allow it.  As she went down, eyes rolling back in her head, she fell over on her back, all four legs straight up in the air.  (I previously thought that was only in the cartoons).  She wasn't breathing!  I threw her legs to one side with one hand as I reached around and grabbed her jaws, pried them apart and reached in up to my elbow, searching for the obstruction.  Found it and pulled out an 18” strand of the afterbirth, which is tough and fibrous.  She couldn't chew it up well and it lodged over the epiglottis, preventing her from breathing.  She just lay there, still not breathing, so I pressed in on her rib cage, pushing it in, trying to move her around, trying to get the lungs working, and rubbing her in the face to wake her up.  

Then her calf bawled with the most plaintive sound you could imagine, as by now it had sensed something was seriously wrong with mom.  Mom slightly opened her eyes and took a shallow breath.  The maternal bond between them is incredible, and her baby is her whole world.  That got her attention and she arched her neck back to turn enough she could see her baby.  She took a deeper breath and struggled to her feet.  The calf came over and nursed, and nursed and nursed some more.  They were doing their bonding moment.  It was a close call.  If I had gotten there a minute later, I think she would have died.  When I saw her stop breathing, I panicked, but it just made me work faster to get her breathing again.  If she had been fully conscious, she would never have allowed me to put my hand in her mouth and down her throat.  It was all a blur, but I think everything happened within seconds.  Even a few hours later she is still having some labored breathing and tongue hanging out now and then, so I'm sure she has a really sore throat, the epiglottis may have been damaged and/or is swollen.  I think I'll give her some slippery elm bark with honey.  

Mirabella has a kid glove soft udder, with great let down, so is very easy to milk, and she patiently just stands there and lets me take as much as I want, without any feed or treats at all.   She has never had grain (except for the breakout when they all got into a deer bait station someone had left up).  Her condition is not rolling in fat, but in very good flesh and her calf was quite muscled and filled out when it was born.   That's on just pasture, and winter pasture at that, so not much at all, and hay.  On summer pasture, she is rolling in fat.  I can't say enough good about Dexter cattle, they are so hardy, efficient and gentle and affectionate to boot.  I like it that they are a small breed too, so don't need so much barn space, if indeed they even go in a barn.  In Ireland where they hail from, they rarely have any shelter and winter over in woodland areas or leeward of hills out of the wind.  Their milk is primarily A2, naturally homogenized and high in butterfat, tasting much like Jersey cow whole milk, rich, creamy and sweet.  Her calf's sire is a high production Registered Jersey bull from a dairy, so the calf should be a great milk cow.  Both parents are naturally polled, so no horns on the baby to worry about later.  

Mirabella is a helicopter mom, hovering over the new baby, over mothering, over nurturing.  I knew she would be, or at least suspected it when I saw how she helped clean up the baby goats as they were born.  She would go over as they got older, and greet them often in the pasture, giving that big cow lick with her tongue, which lifted them off the ground.  They would sometimes jump up, standing on their hind legs, trying to reach her udder to nurse.  She would have let them too, but they weren't tall enough, and she wasn't milking at that time.  She lets me run alongside her as she is grazing, with my milk jar in hand, milking her a little at the time.  I need to build a stanchion, or at least a headstall, to restrain her, to make it easier on me.  Seems it gets pre-empted by trees on fences every time, or lately, several broken corner posts.  End result is the same, fences down and stock getting out.  One crisis after another.  Every now and then she looks back at me while I'm milking, and gives me a lick on the arm, full acceptance as if I'm her “other calf”, and she loves me too.  Farm life is just amazing, with the dynamics of the herd, the pecking order, the family units, and deep friendships among multi-species.   They each have their diverse personalities, just as much as people do.  

Every time a new baby is born, I have to make changes in stall arrangements, allowing for time to milk additional animals, etc., so it constantly changes the dynamics for me too.  Due to heavy predator pressure (and errant neighborhood dogs) I've been afraid to let the new baby goats out on the large pastures, so keep them during days in the fenced pear orchard with the 8 foot high fences.  They are happy, can graze ad lib, and run like the wind, so they are getting strong with all the exercise.  At night they stay in the stalls with their individual moms, in a secure and closed barn, so nothing can get in.  I milk in the evenings before turning them back in together.  

I plan to halter and leash break the new calf, and train her to backpack and pull loads.  At one day old, I already have a halter on her, and she allows me to touch her or sit next to her without moving away.  I need help dragging big trees out of the woods and packing in the firewood.  Mirabella would do it, but she isn't leash broken and an animal wandering around with packs on their back, tend to brush them off on trees as they pass, and generally get tangled up.  Years ago I had a wonderful Nubian buck I raised on a bottle from birth, so he thought I was his mom.  I'll never forget Red Cloud, he was my favorite.  He would help me anyway he could and I often used him to snake medium sized trees down the hill.  It was a comedy of errors as he and I frequently got tangled up in the ropes as we were both pulling them.
I spent more time laughing than working.    But as strong as he was, there were many that were just too big.  A cow will make a big difference in weight load and strength bearing.  

I've been at this location 18 years now and it has been organic/biodynamic for that long.  I use a mix of ag lime, gypsum, Eco Pure Coral Mineral, selenium, boron, wood ash, azomite, kelp, and soft rock phosphate on all my cropland, orchards and pastures.  For pastures, I increase the ag lime/soft rock phosphate and a little more wood ash, but still the rest in trace amounts so it has everything.  It shows in the animals grazing this mineral rich land.  Makes the forage plants very high protein and digestible.  Lespedeza was planted for the goats on the back pasture (I have 9 pastures and paddocks used in rotation), along with Forage Feast Chicory which they love and stimulates rapid weight gain and milk production.  They get acorn mast in the fall from the numerous oaks interspersed in the forest which they get limited access to.  Bamboo was planted on the bottom land, out of the pasture and this winter when hay ran short, I cut some every day and the cow and goats relished it.  (15% protein and lots of minerals).  Fescue was already growing here but I overplanted with Ladino clover, birdsfoot trefoil (they don't particularly like it), French giant dandelion, Kentucky bluegrass, Italian ryegrass, and several other grasses.  Bidens bipinnata grows wild and is a strong medicine plant for them.  Also the wild roses, which can prevent bloat and clear up diarrhea from too much green too fast.  I planted it outside the pasture fence, next to the driveway coming in so they can graze it when it grows over the fence and it makes a perpetual fence.  

When the pasture is short, and high in calcium/magnesium, it favors clover growth, and when high the clover gets crowded out.  I do stockpile pastures in late summer (Joel Salatin method), and let it grow high and then use it instead of hay in winter.  I don't have to cut it, they self harvest as needed.  Now in this spring/summer like February we've just had, the pasture is making rampant springlike growth due to the warm temps and all the rain.  With the standing dry tall grass, they can't eat a bite of the lush growth without some of the old growth.  Keeps them from foundering on lush pasture.  Saves a ton of money on hay too.  I got through the winter with two big round rolls and a few square bales until mid Feb., and now hay is in very short supply.  (Five adult milk goats and one cow/calf on not more than 2 acres total).  I've used the bamboo as backup and they are getting a lot from the pastures.  However, weather turning colder and will for a while.  Our last frost date is May 8, so winter is not nearly over.  

2/19/18:  I heard Bongo do his mournful howl, but sometimes he does that when he hears an ambulance.  His howl always ends with a matching crescendo like the ambulance then.  Not this night. This was coyotes, or actually coy-wolves, which is what we have here and they sometimes hunt in packs and take down large livestock.   I stepped out on the porch, dusk dark, as he immediately was frantically barking and Bongo rarely barks, only when there is a reason.  I heard the coyotes howl, nearby, then in another direction, and another, and they were coming in closer.  The goats were securely locked in their big barn. I rushed out to put the day old calf and her mom in the 8 foot high fenced area for protection, the calf being recalcitrant and not wanting to go, but finally got her in.  Full darkness had descended by then, and I had not had time to get a flashlight or anything else.  I carried in my hand the small halter off the calf, as it had pulled off while I wrestled with her, trying to get her in the pen. I heard a howl a few yards away, behind the canning jar room and as I called Bongo to come with me, he jumped between me and a clump of bushes immediately behind the building. His hair bristled and he ferociously growled and barked, protecting me.  I gripped the little halter, wishing it were a baseball bat or something more substantial. My brain was racing. No limbs on the ground nearby, only a big rotten one that fell off the oak tree, which was essentially worthless. Bongo kept looking in that direction, vigilant as always, still ferociously growling.  I moved sideways after screaming and yelling and waving my arms. The coyote was only a few feet away and it never budged or backed down. My loyal and protective dog would not follow me until I was halfway to the house, several hundred yards away. I made him come in the house with me for tonight.  They are all around the goat barn, but hopefully those locked doors will hold and everyone is safe.  When I put those doors on the barn, I laid a row of the largest stones I could carry, into cement as a threshold, so nothing could dig under it. Bongo got a few extra, grateful hugs that night.  

How much milk is Mirabella giving?  I've milked six or seven Dexters over the past few years and have gotten a pretty consistent half gallon per cow.  That's milking once a day, with the calf nursing the other half day, on grass only (and enough alfalfa pellets in the barn to keep them busy while I milk).  I've not really experienced spikes or lulls in production over the lactation cycle; they seem to just grind it out, giving me half a gallon a day.  

I'd like to eventually source a couple more dairy-type Dexters to add to the herd, but that's a project a few years away yet.  I did have one cow that would give right around three quarts per day.  As an increase of one quart it's not a huge difference, but as an increase of 50% it's significant.  And heck, that extra quart adds up to another gallon and a half (and then some) per week.  But her udder was funny, with teats sticking out all over the place, and she was eventually sold to make way for a Jersey.

I, too, have a couple Jersey-Dexter cross heifers that I'm excited about, though they're from Jersey cows with a Dexter sire.  I'm hoping they'll have the hardiness and constitution of the Dexters while still maintaining a moderate milk supply.  One heifer ought to calve this spring, the other a year from now.

Wes Hunter wrote:How much milk is Mirabella giving?  I've milked six or seven Dexters over the past few years and have gotten a pretty consistent half gallon per cow.  That's milking once a day, with the calf nursing the other half day, on grass only (and enough alfalfa pellets in the barn to keep them busy while I milk).  I've not really experienced spikes or lulls in production over the lactation cycle; they seem to just grind it out, giving me half a gallon a day.  

I'd like to eventually source a couple more dairy-type Dexters to add to the herd, but that's a project a few years away yet.  I did have one cow that would give right around three quarts per day.  As an increase of one quart it's not a huge difference, but as an increase of 50% it's significant.  And heck, that extra quart adds up to another gallon and a half (and then some) per week.  But her udder was funny, with teats sticking out all over the place, and she was eventually sold to make way for a Jersey.

I, too, have a couple Jersey-Dexter cross heifers that I'm excited about, though they're from Jersey cows with a Dexter sire.  I'm hoping they'll have the hardiness and constitution of the Dexters while still maintaining a moderate milk supply.  One heifer ought to calve this spring, the other a year from now.

Wes,
  I've not separated her calf yet and I've been getting about 2 quarts per day, but as the calf gets older, 12 days now, she is taking a bit more.  She has a beautiful udder and perfect teats, with great let-down, but keep in mind she is half Jersey.  Her Jersey mom gave 4 gallons a day, so the great udder probably came from her.  Her milk is incredibly sweet and creamy, on just pasture with no grain supplement at all, and a little hay just to keep her from getting bloated, as it seems to rain here most of the time.  I'm thinking she is probably about 6 quarts a day, perhaps a bit more.   I was looking for an animal to give milk without the grain, which I might not always be able to get, and I felt she was more sustainable than my goats who seem to require a lot of grain, supplemental hay input to produce much milk.  

 I'm also clearing trees and expanding pasture, because the stockpiling of pastures for winter feed works great to save on bought in hay, I just don't have enough of it.  However, I have plenty of land here and need the firewood, so that works.  It just takes a lot of expensive minerals and seed to get new pasture started.  

  From research I've done, the Belle Forche bloodlines are heavy on the milk, but might be a bit pricey.  

Wonderful thread Faye, thank you for posting this, I would love to be able to get a Dexter cross like Mirabella some day.

Redhawk

Bryant RedHawk wrote:Wonderful thread Faye, thank you for posting this, I would love to be able to get a Dexter cross like Mirabella some day.

Redhawk

Bryant,  

  Thank you!  I don't even have a stanchion to milk her in, but she stands in the field (without treats or feed) and allows me to milk her.  I did handle her a lot as she grew up, so we are closely bonded.  She frequently turns around while I'm milking and licks my arm.  

I don't need a huge quantity of milk and the main reason I got the Dexter cross heifer was to keep the grass eaten down so snakes are not such a problem, especially on the long driveway coming in.  My house sits at the back side of the property, so I put a gate in near the entrance and another near the house and the enclosed fenced area there, and use it as part of the pasture rotation.  Works very well.  I only have to mow my tiny courtyard, which I use a manual rotary mower for.  

Faye Corbett wrote:I've not separated her calf yet and I've been getting about 2 quarts per day, but as the calf gets older, 12 days now, she is taking a bit more.  She has a beautiful udder and perfect teats, with great let-down, but keep in mind she is half Jersey.  Her Jersey mom gave 4 gallons a day, so the great udder probably came from her.  Her milk is incredibly sweet and creamy, on just pasture with no grain supplement at all, and a little hay just to keep her from getting bloated, as it seems to rain here most of the time.  I'm thinking she is probably about 6 quarts a day, perhaps a bit more.

Ah, I evidently entirely overlooked the fact that the cow is a cross.  I saw the reference to the calf being sired by a Jersey and thought it was the 50/50 cross.

Milking only once per day at the moment?  When our Jersey freshened last June, I kept the calf on 24/7, milked twice per day, and still got 3 gallons a day for the first couple months.  Once there was a noticeable decline in yield, I started separating the calf for the night and milking in the morning.  That entailed a bit more work for those first two months, milking twice per day, but I enjoy milking and it was nice to allow the calf unfettered access to her mama for an extended period.

I heard the coyotes howl, nearby, then in another direction, and another, and they were coming in closer.... The coyote was only a few feet away and it never budged or backed down.

Faye, close call  the other night with those coyotes!  I would have been too scared to save anything but myself! We have coyotes and occasional wolves but only chickens, which they have ignored; we want to get other small livestock but haven't put up fences or shelter.  Besides locking them in the barn at night and the limited 8-foot fenced area for the goats, what else do you do or plan to do to prevent coyote attacks?

Cd Greier wrote:

I heard the coyotes howl, nearby, then in another direction, and another, and they were coming in closer.... The coyote was only a few feet away and it never budged or backed down.

Faye, close call  the other night with those coyotes!  I would have been too scared to save anything but myself! We have coyotes and occasional wolves but only chickens, which they have ignored; we want to get other small livestock but haven't put up fences or shelter.  Besides locking them in the barn at night and the limited 8-foot fenced area for the goats, what else do you do or plan to do to prevent coyote attacks?

I hope to get two guardian dogs.  My present dog is very elderly and would not fare well in a fight, and besides, I don't want him fighting anyway, to protect me or anything else.  He might get hurt.  One dog alone is no match, but they will usually leave two alone.  My neighbor also has several large, aggressive dogs and they keep everything run off from that direction, but I back up to National Forest on one side and other deep forest on two other sides, that are undeveloped.  Not practical to build coyote proof fences, with all the fencing I have here.  Good guardian dogs are worth their weight in gold.  I'm just trying to figure out what breed to get.  I've had Pyrenees in the past, but they suffer from the heat in summer,  with their heavy coats.  Any suggestions?

A ranch not far from me has both pyr/akbash crosses and a pure kangal for flock guardians. They run a flock of over a 1000 goats. The kangal is by far the more diligent, suspicious, alert protector. The pyr/akbashes tend to protect by barking and chasing, while the kangal will run a feral dog down and engage it if it catches it. The pyr/akbashes seem to protect better working as a team. The kangal doesn't look for a back up, it just attacks on its own. Now these traits may be just individual dogs, rather than a tendency for the entire breed. I don't know since I don't have firsthand experience with them. I have had a German Shepherd/pyr cross for the past 11 years and he's a great watchdog but not an attacker. He just chases, plus looks and sounds aggressive. He's chased off plenty of feral pigs and nosey people. The only thing he ever ran down and killed was a feral turkey that kept annoying him. He's a nice general farm guard dog but not the dog  to protect my sheep flock.

Su Ba wrote:A ranch not far from me has both pyr/akbash crosses and a pure kangal for flock guardians. They run a flock of over a 1000 goats. The kangal is by far the more diligent, suspicious, alert protector. The pyr/akbashes tend to protect by barking and chasing, while the kangal will run a feral dog down and engage it if it catches it. The pyr/akbashes seem to protect better working as a team. The kangal doesn't look for a back up, it just attacks on its own. Now these traits may be just individual dogs, rather than a tendency for the entire breed. I don't know since I don't have firsthand experience with them. I have had a German Shepherd/pyr cross for the past 11 years and he's a great watchdog but not an attacker. He just chases, plus looks and sounds aggressive. He's chased off plenty of feral pigs and nosey people. The only thing he ever ran down and killed was a feral turkey that kept annoying him. He's a nice general farm guard dog but not the dog  to protect my sheep flock.

Thank you for this great information!

Thank you for your story Faye!

I have a female great pyr/akbash, she protects my small herd of cows, she is very loyal to the stock, entirely fearless, and friendly to humans (and has a short coat for the California heat). My goat neighbor (he has 250 goats on land which he doesn't even pay rent for) has three german shepherds to watch his flock too though..We have bears, coyotes, mountain lions. Lots of cattle herds around though.

I have gir cattle (dairy/draft breed from india) but the other week i got a dexter cow who had a 4 month heifer calf on her, half belted galloway. It was her first calf. I got this fresh cow because my cow is not making milk yet, and i figured it was a good price for a cow/calf pair and i could start milking right away. She would not let me near her. She scarred my cows all over with her horns, she tore up any somewhat weak spot in my fencing. she screamed day and night. Poor girl was traumatized to high heaven! Luckily my friend came and took her off me finally last week. Reminds me why I got the gir cows. They never make a peep, they love people, they have utmost respect for my fence. I am excited to see how the milk turns out! Gona share with the calf, and will only feed a tiny bit of grains or no grains at all.

Dairy farming is amazing! Thanks again for sharing. Here's some pics of my herd: https://www.facebook.com/MotherNatureRanchGardens/

Faye, I don't know exactly where you are, but in anticipation of our move to Kentucky (leaving in just over two weeks now), I've been watching Craigslist in the area we are moving to, and have seen quite a few litters of livestock guardian dog pups.  Most of them seem to be mixes of different LGD breeds, and some appear to have shorter coats than the Pyrs.  I'm taking my current LGD with me; she's six years old and half Maremma and half Akbash, so she also has a long coat, though not usually quite as heavy as a Pyr's coat (I've had them before, too).  I plan to get an LGD puppy soon after we get there, and am also looking for one that won't have quite so much coat; I was glad to see that they are out there.  

I have a friend in New York who has Dexters, and a Jersey/Dexter cross milker.  She and her husband used to have a commercial dairy, but are semi-retired now and have gotten rid of the dairy herd.  She has some amazing stories about the intelligence of their Dexters.  If our new place was a little bigger (it's a little over 2 1/2 acres) I would be looking for a Dexter cow or a Jersey/Dexter cross for us.  As it is, I think I'd better stick with goats; I've had Kinder goats in the past and will be getting some more this year.

Kathleen

So glad that Mirabella and her calf are well! Happy, too, that Bongo is okay! I found myself holding my breath while reading both stories, worried about the outcome... you should write a book! They are wonderful stories, well written, and worthy of sharing!

Short haired mixes with Pyrenees should be a good bet for a LGD in the warmer climes, but the mix probably should be something with enough bite to back up that thunderous bark when necessary  Our Pyrenees / Anatolian Shepard mix is not overloaded with fur so handles the 90s with high humidity in the summer without issue, and she definitely engages the coyotes and feral dogs that have come snooping around when given the chance. She's come home from the chase with blood around the mouth and bib, but no wounds, several times over the last couple of years - definitely a good mix that has all the right instincts and is still as gentle as can be with her flock (so far that's her ducks, cats and people). If only she could do something more about the hawks!

Annie Collins wrote:So glad that Mirabella and her calf are well! Happy, too, that Bongo is okay! I found myself holding my breath while reading both stories, worried about the outcome... you should write a book! They are wonderful stories, well written, and worthy of sharing!

I do write books, but haven't written one about the farm.  Currently working on my fourth book, which is my family's history of civil war days, when they lost the plantation, barely survived, and learned the only thing that really matters is their love for each other.  Three years in the works, and hope to have it finished this winter.  Name of it is Secret in the Well, because one of my ancestors hid her son there in a cavern, when he deserted near the end of the war, so the marauders would not kill him.