|
|
|
Original
Article About Dexters
"History
of the Dexter Breed in Canada" Part II
by Carol Davidson
In 1988, Jane Paynter’s agent offered Saturn of Knotting semen to the Board
of the newly formed CDCA, but the offer was turned down. Carol Davidson,
another early breeder, learned of it and imported a limited quantity which
she offered directly to Canadian members. Saturn’s influence can be seen in
the offspring of Riverhill Saturn’s Galaxy, a mating planned by Carol and
Cathy Nelson who owned the dam, Cranworth Sally, a very small non-dwarf cow
giving over four gallons of milk/day.
Saturn of Knotting (left) and Riverhill Saturn's Galaxy (right)
Also in the 1980s, Pat Freeman purchased stock from the Crowes, and imported
cows from the Old Orchard herd in the U.S. Her Braco herd is well known, and
semen collected from Braco Shoeshine is available in Canada and overseas.
While doing Herd Book research in 1988, Carol Davidson found a forgotten
line of Dexters in the U.S. that related directly back to major early
English herds that had died out in England. She arranged to purchase two
heifers from this closed herd, and a few years later, to acquire the bulk of
the remainder of the herd from Mr. Kellogg. This brought the Bedford line of
old English Grinsteads and Atlantics to Canada, and her revised Hiyu herd
became based on this new U.S. (old English) line.
In 1989, Winona Crapp imported an English bull, Cobthorn Constable, from
Andrew Sheppy. Both Winona and Andrew were interested in rare breeds.
Constable was primarily of Woodmagic descent, with some Parndon and other
old English lines in the background. Winona used the bull for several years
and successfully sold offspring across Canada, but unfortunately beefed him
just before BSE became an issue and he would have had to be slaughtered.
By 1992, Eric and Marilyn Meyer had established their World of Miniatures
farm west of Calgary, and started buying up Canadian Dexters and importing
Dexters wholesale from the U.S. They had a contract with the P-Bar Dexter
ranch, and bought a large herd from Mrs. Gnaedinger in Illinois. Eric was a
‘rare and exotic’ dealer, who held annual auctions, and greatly facilitated
the spread of Dexters, especially in Western provinces.
Gary Sparrow became interested in Dexters, and imported from the Oregon herd
of Gary Pritchard (Pisgah), who specialized in breeding very small animals.
The ‘Sparrow’s Nest’ logo of tiny Dexters in a twig bird’s nest became well
known throughout the Prairies.
In 1993,
Carol Davidson, jointly with an American breeder, imported semen
from an English polled bull, Saltaire Platinum. As soon as it was known the
semen was in Canada, the CDCA moved to limit registrations to horned
Dexters. This decision was reversed in 2004 and polled Dexters are now
accepted in the Canadian registry; they are proving very popular. On a
subsequent trip to England and Ireland in 1994, Carol arranged to purchase
and collect semen from another old line. Cornahir Outlaw was a red Irish
bull, descended from the English Shadwell genetics, and brought much-needed
new red genes to North America.
Saltaire Platinum, English polled bull
Carol next set her sights on the very successful British bull, Apple Joe,
and arranged to import semen from him early in 1998. Apple Joe was the Grand
Champion bull at the Dexter Congress Show later that year, and a limited
quantity of his semen arrived in Canada in the Spring of 1999. It has been
sold on to Donna Rudd who, because the bull was put down not long after
collection and there is now no further export-qualified semen available, has
an exclusive on his genetics in North America.
Two Hiyu bulls, Salty Rambler IV (a horned son of Saltaire Platinum) and
Renown Magician, were added to the AI semen list in 2001. Both bulls were
evaluated using the Australian 'Supergene' system, and scored Excellent,
providing new genetics of proven quality to North American breeders.
Back to List of “Original Articles
About Dexters”
|
