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2) Dexter Breeders and Farms with Dexters: Part Four 

LARGE WEBSITES

(written January 2005)

1. Andy and Sherry Kindred's Brambledel Dexters www.brambledeldexters.co.uk, Leicestershire, England, is a good example of a large website aimed at advertising a Dexter stud and its products (stock, semen and beef). Brambledel specialises in red Dexters - "We aim to produce top quality red Dexter cattle...paying particular attention to breeding animals with a deep rich red colour without dark shaded faces and with little or no white markings". The basic structure is built around a long home page - a series of subheadings or images with associated hyperlinks take you to 11 other pages, including a guestbook hosted on www.htmlgear.tripod.com. Music plays in the background of the home page (as long as you have your computer's sound system turned on). A cow moos as you navigate to the "About Us" section which has a well illustrated history of the farm and stock (Teeswater sheep and Border Collies as well as Dexters). "Showing Our Cattle" contains a personalised account of the joys and tribulations of showing, along with results achieved by Brambledel cattle. The site is liberally sprinkled with photos and information about the Kindred's Dexters (see especially "A Selection of Our Females"), with a very informative section  (including photos and pedigree) on Brambledel Redberry Prince, an important AI bull. The site contains some novelties - the occasional "moo" when moving between pages, a spinning cow to click to take you to stock for sale, and a jointed carcass to click to take you to information on Dexter beef. However, you always need to return to the home page to go on to the other pages, which starts up the home page music once again. Furthermore, the home page contains the titles of other pages but the hyperlink to navigate to them is sometimes a "click here" at the end of a sentence below the title - other sites often place the hyperlink on the title itself, and it can take you a moment or two in the Brambledel site to work out where to click. Despite these little idiosyncrasies, this website has a lot to offer the Internet surfer as well as the serious Dexter breeder, as can be seen from the many appreciative entries in the guestbook.   

2. Neale and Jeanette Bourne's Hobbit Hill Dexter Stud www.brp.com.au, Queensland, Australia, is a unique Dexter website - it has an entry page (which may take some time to load, depending on your connection speed) in which Hobbit Hill is dynamically spelled out in large blue letters to a Celtic tune (one by Enya or Clannad), followed by three banners emphasising the herd's success in the show-ring. Two photos of Hobbit Hill Dexters flash on and off the screen, leading to a photo of Dexters in the Australian landscape which lingers than fades out, leaving an invitation to enter the site. You can bypass this introduction by clicking "Skip Intro" at the bottom of the page. Next, a menu system loads (which again may take some time) - navigation links to five pages then appear: What are Dexters? (seven informative sections on characteristics such as dual purpose, easy care, easy calving, and commercial potential), Proven Quality (lists Hobbit Hill successes in the show-ring between April 1994 and April 2000), Cattle Sales (contains two cows, but it is unclear how up-to-date this page is), Semen Sales (a substantial section on Hobbit Hill Brandybuck), and Contact Information. When you click on one of these links, the text increases in size and moves to the foreground of your screen, an illustrative photo appears along with a brief paragraph describing the page you are invited to view ("Find out more" or "Go back"). If you take up the invitation, the page appears. You then have to return to the home page to navigate to any of the other pages. The website was constructed in 2000 and may need to be up-dated to retain the usefulness of some of its pages (such as Cattle Sales).  

3. Scott and Helen Miller’s Kadina Downs Dexter Stud, Queensland, Australia, is located on a 20 acre farm. Their website, www.dextercattle.net, focuses largely on their successes in the show-ring, as reflected in their Mission Statement: "To consistently breed and supply quality stud Dexters to the Australian stud market and maintain our status as one of the leading and most successful Dexter Cattle Studs in Australia." The home page is a long one, with reference at the top to show successes (from 2002, some up-dating being required). An interesting Stud Profile follows the Mission Statement, the page ending with contact details. Ten sections can be accessed from the home page, via navigation buttons in the left-hand margin. Some sections deal with the breed (including the Knotting line). Others showcase Kadina Downs’ cattle. For example, the "Trophy Room" contains links to the photos and show-ring achievements of seven Champion Dexters. The "Photo Album" includes photos of Scott and Helen and family, as well as cattle. "What the Press Say" contains the text of three articles about the stud. Unfortunately, the "What's On" section is now out-of-date, referring to the up-coming Second World Dexter Congress which was held in Australia in October 2002. This website is a good example of one that promotes a stud specialising in show-ring success as well as the breed more generally.  

4. Paul and Robert Rose's Rosewood Farms www.rosewood.co.uk, Yorkshire, England, is a large farm-oriented website highlighting three livestock breeds - Dexter cattle, Kerry Hill sheep, and pedigree pigs. The website has a special emphasis on conservation - "We aim to farm in a sustainable way, both ecologically and economically. Supporting local business and preserving the integrity of the British countryside & its wildlife are important factors in providing a sustainable balance." The page on "Conservation" refers to the Countryside Stewardship Scheme agreement that the Roses implemented at the end of 2003 to restore local wildlife. A link is provided to a page on the DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) website setting out details of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme in general. Rosewood Farms is an affiliated producer to the Wholesome Food Association which promotes locally-grown, wholesome food produced by sustainable methods. A link is provided to the Association's website. The "Picture Gallery" has, among other things, a photo of a rib of Dexter beef.  The "Links" page contains links to organisations and businesses associated with Rosewood Farms, included three Dexter websites. This is an interesting, informative website in which Dexter cattle find a place within an overall philosophy emphasising sustainability, wholesome food, and environmental conservation.  

5. Louisa Gidney and Paul Stokes of County Durham, England, have developed an unusual business enterprise, Rent A Peasant, promoted by their website www.rentapeasant.fsnet.co.uk. "Our remit is to provide an insight into everyday aspects of rural life in the past. Farming is fundamental to our presentations, hence our sub-title, Living History with Livestock." Rent A Peasant offers "a variety of options to suit outdoor and indoor events at historic monuments, school visits and adult education." The Peasants and the livestock have also been used for television work. Louisa runs the Zanfara Dexter stud, a herd of about 20 head, on a small holding started in 1985.Louisa saw this as "a logical progression from my professional study of animal bones from archaeological sites. I hoped the live animals would facilitate my understanding of livestock farming in the past. The farm animals now help the public to understand how dependent our ancestors were on the products of their livestock: traction, dairy products, leather, horn, bone, wool, fertiliser, hair, meat." On the "Livestock" page of the website, it is noted that the Dexter breed is the closest modern equivalent in size to archaeological specimens from the late Iron Age to early Post-Medieval periods. Louisa used to keep a pair of oxen who had been broken to the yoke, but she has now sold them. You can still see a photo of them on the "Artefacts" page. This is a multi-level website, with lots of photos, to promote a fascinating Dexter-related enterprise.

6. Melinda and Jeff Chambers' Silver Maple Dexters www.silvermapledexters.com, Nebraska, USA, is an excellent large stud website, still under development. The Dexter breed is introduced in a knowledgeable way ("The Irish Dexter"), the stud's breeding philosophy is clearly stated ("SMD Program"), and the herd is introduced. The four herd sires all have a pedigree provided - the photos of the two home bulls have beneath them a link taking you to the pedigree details available on the ADCA website; the two AI bulls used by the stud also have such links, one (Brambledel Redberry Prince) to the pedigree page on the Brambledel UK-based website, the other (Lucifer of Knotting) to the Canadian Livestock Records Corporation pedigree. A further page contains a guestbook, another a short list of Dexter websites. Continued development of this website will no doubt focus on the Silver Maple Dexter cows.

7. Gabriella Nanci's Belle Fourche California Dexter Cattle http://bellefourchedexters.tripod.com, California, USA, is one of the most informative Dexter stud websites. As well as having sections on the Belle Fourche herd and animals for sale, it has a number of articles written by Gabriella (who started breeding Dexters in 1989). Some are on practical management issues - copper deficiency, dehorning, and halters. Others are on genetic issues - Dexter colours, polled genetics, and short leggedness. A minor issue with the design of the website is that when a particular section, like "Articles", consists of a number of pages, the navigation link to "Articles" is replaced by "Up" when you go to these pages - clicking on "Up" takes you back to the main "Articles" page. This means that you need to remember what section you are in so that you know what "Up" leads you back to. This is indeed only a minor matter - a lot of effort has gone into the planning and construction of the website and the result is a very valuable resource for the community of Dexter breeders.

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