Dexter cattle

Did You Know?

• The Dexter is a dual-purpose breed, reared for both milk and beef.
• In flavour and texture the meat is often less good than that of other breeds, especially if it is from a very short-legged animal.
• Milk yields average about per lactation, although some farms may reach an average of.

History

The Dexter breed of cattle traces back to 18th-century County Kerry in southwestern Ireland. Its name likely comes from a man named Dexter, who managed the estates of Lord Hawarden on Valentia Island. By the late 1700s, records mention short-legged, rotund Kerry cattle. In 1842, Scottish writer David Low noted that locals called any unusually round and short-legged Kerry cow a "Dexter." For much of the 1800s, the Dexter was seen as a variation of the Kerry breed, not a separate one. That changed in 1863, when the Royal Dublin Society began offering a distinct class for Dexters at its shows. A combined herd book, The Kerry and Dexter Herd Book, appeared in 1890, followed by the Kerry and Dexter Cattle Society of Ireland in 1917. Two years later, the society shortened its name to the Kerry Cattle Society of Ireland. The breed reached England in 1882. Over time, Dexters nearly vanished from Ireland, but small purebred herds survived in England and the United States. As of 2023, sixteen countries across Africa, the Americas, Europe, and Oceania reported Dexters to DAD-IS, with the largest numbers in Denmark and the United Kingdom. Globally, the breed is considered "not at risk," but in Ireland its status is listed as "at risk/critical."

Characteristics

The cattle are small; heights at the withers for bulls are usually in the range, for cows about less; the average weight of a cow is approximately. The coat is usually solid black, but may also be red or dun. The cattle were formerly always horned; in the twenty-first century some polled examples are seen, but the mechanism of introduction of this characteristic has not been identified. Some Dexter cattle carry a gene for chondrodysplasia (a semilethal gene), which is a form of dwarfism that results in shorter legs than unaffected cattle. Chondrodysplasia-affected Dexters are typically 6–8 in shorter in height than unaffected ones. Breeding two chondrodysplasia-affected Dexters together results in a 25% chance that the foetus can abort prematurely. A DNA test is available to test for the chondrodysplasia gene, using tail hairs from the animal. The aborted foetus is commonly called a bulldog, a stillborn calf that has a bulging head, compressed nose, protruding lower jaw, and swollen tongue, as well as extremely short limbs. The occurrence of bulldog foetuses is higher in calves born with a black coat than a red coat, because black coat colour is more common. Short-legged Dexter cattle are considered to be heterozygous, while bulldog foetuses are homozygous for chondrodysplasia genes. Dexters can also be affected with pulmonary hypoplasia with anasarca (PHA), which is an incomplete formation of the lungs with accumulation of a serum fluid in various parts of the tissue of the foetus. Unlike chondrodysplasia, which has many physical signs, PHA shows no outward signs and is only detectable through DNA testing. As with Chondrodysplasia, PHA-affected Dexters should not be bred together. Dexter cattle have short legs compared to other breeds; increased shortness is displayed from the knee to the fetlock. Dexter cattle are very hardy, efficient grazers and are able to thrive on poor land.