dexters

newman10

Hi All

We have 10 acres of very swampy land and were thinking of buying some Dexter cattle for it.

Has anyone got opinions

thanks

Newman

Rhys Essien

Thread here about them
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055834814


Some for sale here
http://www.donedeal.ie/find/beefcattle/for-sale/Ireland/dexter


Info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_cattle
http://www.dextercattle.co.uk/

They seem to be gaining a bit of popularity of late.
I would probably chance a few if I had 10 acres.

newman10

Hi Rhys

Thanks for the links but i have done too much reading about them. I am wondering if anyone here has Dexters and what their personal experience is.

Do the need sheds or can they stay out most of the year. Are the heavy on wetland and easy to handle

bbam

newman10 wrote: »

Hi All

We have 10 acres of very swampy land and were thinking of buying some Dexter cattle for it.

Has anyone got opinions

thanks

Newman

Perhaps someone can correct me but I don't think there is a commercial reason to keep Dexters...

IrishLad2012

Don't know if you seen ETTG a two weeks ago. They were with a Dexter farmer in Kerry,he was had his cattle grazing on the Kerry mountains for at least nine months of the year,he only brought them in when the real bad winters hit.
He was in a Dexter Society and they were killing their own cattle.I had Dexter meat before and you won't find a better steak,it is gorgeous meat.Most guys kill them out at 28 months.
Here is the link for the show

http://www.rte.ie/player/#!v=1130376

LostCovey

IrishLad2012 wrote: »

Don't know if you seen ETTG a two weeks ago. They were with a Dexter farmer in Kerry,he was had his cattle grazing on the Kerry mountains for at least nine months of the year,he only brought them in when the real bad winters hit.
He was in a Dexter Society and they were killing their own cattle.I had Dexter meat before and you won't find a better steak,it is gorgeous meat.Most guys kill them out at 28 months.
Here is the link for the show

http://www.rte.ie/player/#!v=1130376

Saw that, a really great piece. I thought it was a brilliant example of a fella thinking outside the box. Preserving a rare breed, cutting out all the middlemen to sell directly to his customer, and converting some pretty but infertile landscape into premium quality food. Looked like a lot of thought went into it.

The other thing that was interesting was that even if they have "cornered the Co Kerry market" that leaves 31 other counties wide open for a copycat operation.

Any rare breed marts coming up?.................

LC

finbarrk

Met a lad that ate some of it in down in Dingle. He said it was fantastic.

small farmer me

done 3 years dairy calf to beef couldnt make it pay . like threading water loads of work little cash 4 it. getting started in sucklers..just picked up a 8 nice leggy pbnr kerry weanlings & two in calf cows(to kerry stock bull) in oct 2011.calving feb/mar 2012.nice size animals.i figure marginal land keep cost to a minimum so i took a chance on these didnt break de bank. dosed them all when they landed ad lib haylage they are flying piling on the weight some shine on em.they are low maintenance nice n quiet.

easy calving cows crossing with ai angus easy calving bull.
hoping will leave me a few quit for my trouble.


Has anyone done this cross.Need to round up thier back end a bit.

Bodacious

LostCovey wrote: »

IrishLad2012 wrote: »

Don't know if you seen ETTG a two weeks ago. They were with a Dexter farmer in Kerry,he was had his cattle grazing on the Kerry mountains for at least nine months of the year,he only brought them in when the real bad winters hit.
He was in a Dexter Society and they were killing their own cattle.I had Dexter meat before and you won't find a better steak,it is gorgeous meat.Most guys kill them out at 28 months.
Here is the link for the show

http://www.rte.ie/player/#!v=1130376

Saw that, a really great piece. I thought it was a brilliant example of a fella thinking outside the box. Preserving a rare breed, cutting out all the middlemen to sell directly to his customer, and converting some pretty but infertile landscape into premium quality food. Looked like a lot of thought went into it.

The other thing that was interesting was that even if they have "cornered the Co Kerry market" that leaves 31 other counties wide open for a copycat operation.

Any rare breed marts coming up?.................

LC

I too thought it was brilliant especially how they all pooled together resources/ marketing etc

you're right it would be possible to replicate this operation in the right area, but there would be no halfway house ie trying out a few and then trying to flog them through conventional channels ... You'd have to go "balls out" Market the hell out of them and build up a direct customer base willing to pay a premium price.

what is the legality say if you fattened six to 10 every few weeks off grass and brought them to factory .... Could I then transport them to a purpose built cold store and use local butcher to pack various cuts. Or would you have to build an abbatoir on site?