Dexters as a

Rare Breed

Dexters originated as the poor peasant's cow in Ireland in the 18th century. The breed was recognised and developed in the second half of the 19th century, with the first Herd Book established in the late 1880s. However, Dexters were being exported to England at this time, becoming the show cow on the country estates of the English gentry. As the 20th century progressed, Dexter numbers declined as specialised dairy and beef breeds expanded.

In 1973, when the UK Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) was established, there were less than 250 registered purebred Dexter cows remaining. When the Trust published the first list of rare cattle breeds in the UK in 1975, the Dexter was included in Category III "Vulnerable". By 1988, there were over 750 breeding cows; by 1993, over 1,500. By this stage (1993), because of the recovery in numbers, the Dexter breed had been removed altogether from the RBST's Priority Lists and its status had become that of Minority Breed.

The UK Rare Breeds Survival Trust Priority Lists

Sources: L. Alderson & V. Porter, 1994, "Saving the Breeds", page 81, and www.rbst.org.uk/html/rare_breeds.html

In 2003, the RBST argued that genes from other cattle breeds had been introduced into the Dexter so much over the past decades that only a very few Dexters (23 cows and 9 bulls available through AI) and could be identified as of the "original type". This "Original Population" of Dexters has now been returned to the RBST Watchlist.

At various times, Dexters have also been listed by the Rare Breeds organisations of other countries. The US American Livestock Breeds Conservancy stills designates Dexters as rare and the NZ Rare Breeds Conservation Society has an entry on Dexters on their website.

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