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Original
Article About Dexters
"Preface to the Kerry and Dexter
Herd Book, Volume One, 1890"
Royal Dublin Society
In January 1887, the
"Farmer's Gazette" published the first register of Dexter (and
Kerry) cattle in Ireland.
This ran for about three years and was then published by the Royal Dublin
Society as the Kerry and Dexter Herdbook, with Volume 1 appearing in
1890. The Irish Kerry and Dexter Society was not formed until 1917. Duncan MacIntyre, a
Vet
and Dexter breeder on the Isle of Bute in Scotland,
typed out this Preface and on 13 November 2004 posted it on the Discussion
Board of
www.dextercattleforsale.co.uk. Thanks to Duncan for his work on the
keyboard, allowing us access to this significant historical writing.
The full listing of
Dexter Bulls and Dexter Cows in this Herd Book are also provided on this
website.
~~ Start of
Herdbook Preface
~~
The interesting attention devoted to the Kerry
and Dexter Breeds of Cattle induced the Royal Dublin Society, early in the
year 1887, to establish a Herd-Book for these breeds.
Previous attempts in this direction had been made. In 1879 the County Kerry
Agricultural Society passed a resolution approving of the publication of a
Herd-book under their own auspices; but difficulties arose which prevented
the project from being carried out.
The "Farmer's Gazette" undertook the publication of a Register, and in
January, 1887, published the first issue of their "Register of Pure Kerry
Cattle and Dexters". This register extended to three volumes, including 46
Kerry Bulls and 100 Kerry Cows. It did not include any Dexter Bulls and only
10 Dexter Cows. The Royal Dublin Society acquired from the publishers of the
"Farmer's Gazette" their rights in connexion with this register; and the
Cattle, with the numbers originally assigned to them, are now included in
the Society's Herd-book.
Kerry Cattle were shown for the first time at Cattle Shows of the Royal
Dublin Society at the Spring Show held in 1844. A distinct class for Dexters
was first introduced in 1876. It is generally believed that Kerry Cattle are
the descendants of a well-defined native breed of great antiquity; but it is
difficult to trace the history of the breed further back than the middle of
the last century. Since that time the character of the breed in the remoter
parts of Kerry seems to have undergone little, if any, change.
Mr Wilde (afterwards Sir William Wilde) stated, as his opinion, in 1858,
that about 25 years previously there were four native breeds of oxen in
Ireland:-
(1) The Old Irish Cow of small stature, long in the back, with
moderate-sized, wide-spreading, slightly elevated and projecting horns; in
colour they were principally black and red.
(2) The Irish Long-horns,
resembling the Lancashire and Craven; in some cases the horns were
wide-spreading and only slightly curved, but frequently the horns were so
completely curved inwards as to cross in front of or behind the mouth: these
were large animals of a brindled-red colour.
(3) the Maol or Moyle, a polled
or hornless variety, similar to the Angus; a medium-sized docile animal,
dun, black, or white in colour, rarely mottled; much used for draught and
ploughing.
(4) The Kerry, somewhat of a middle horn.
Of this animal [the Kerry] he
states:-
"In its native state it is usually much smaller than the old Irish Cow; in
colour it is either red, brindled, or black; it is exceedingly hardy; its
milk is abundant and rich, and it possesses the additional advantage of
rapidly fattening upon very moderate fare when brought from its native
mountains into the plains and fertile country. This race has small heads and
rather short horns turning upwards. They are very docile; although Fynes
Moryson writing in the times of Elizabeth, and Thomas Dineley in those of
Charles II, describe them as exceedingly ungentle, and 'as wicked and
rebellious as the people'. Several possess many of the finest points
belonging to the modern shorthorns, and are in some respects superior as a
stock, owing to their fattening as well as their milking qualities. Their
beef is also most excellent. As was recently stated by His Excellency Lord
Eglinton, 'they are the thoroughbreds of cattle'. Their chief localities are
at present the mountains of Kerry and Cork; but it is more than probable
that in former times the race existed in all the regions of Ireland. It was
said that during hard winters the people of Kerry thatched their cattle by
means of mats tied on their backs."
Wilde has described a number of ancient crania of cattle found in various
parts of Ireland; but the modern Kerry Cow cannot be identified with any of
these ancient remains.
There are recently in the Dublin Science and Art Museum 53 crania of
different varieties of oxen, from the bogs, lake deposits, and crannogs of
Ireland; but there is not one which presents a close resemblance to the
skull of a modern Kerry. It may be observed that none of these remains comes
from the County Kerry: they are chiefly from Meath.
The following references will be of interest to the owners of Kerry and
Dexter Cattle:-
Arthur Young, referring to Lord Doneraile's experiences of cattle on his
estate in the County Cork, says:- "He tried many breeds of cattle, and finds
that the long-horned English Cow is the best for fattening. The Holderness
for giving much thin, poor milk, but are too heavy for winter feeding. The
Kerry Cow is much the best for milking in quantity of good milk."
Writing in 1807, about the mountainous regions of west Kerry, Isaac Wilde
says:- "This country was formerly remarkable for a vary small and beautiful
breed of black cattle; but the people have been seized with the spirit of
improvement, and the true Kerry Cow, as it is called, is now rarely to be
found, excepting amongst the mountains in the vicinity of Bantry Bay. The
size of this animal does not exceed that of an ordinary yearling calf. From
the prevalent inclination of the people to discard the native stock of their
hills, it is presumed that they derive more profit from the enlarged breed;
but there are some of a contrary opinion, who still maintain their
attachment to the ancient race; and who contend that from their hardy
character and the abundance and richness of their milk, they are peculiarly
adapted to the situation and circumstance of the country."
The same author mentions as a well-known fact that Kerry butter, which was
then regarded as amongst the best produced in Ireland, was re-made in
London, deprived of its salt, and sold as the produce of Epping.
In the early part of the present century the Royal Dublin Society undertook
a general survey of Ireland, for the purpose of developing the industrial
resources of the country. The County Kerry was not separately surveyed; but
the adjoining County of Cork was surveyed for the Society by the Rev.
Horatio Townsend. The author refers frequently in the course of his survey
to the partiality of the farmers for the small breed of cattle for dairy
purposes. These cattle seem to have been closely related to the Kerries of
the present day. Referring to the cattle of the Barony of Carbery, in the
south-west of the county, he says:- "the cattle of this district , except
those possessed by gentlemen, are of a small size, seldom weighing more than
three hundred and a half weight, and frequently not more than two. The breed
is now a mixed one, of various colours; formerly they were all black. In the
more remote and mountainous parts of the district this colour still
predominates; but few, I believe, of the pure native breed at present
remain. They are in general, very good milkers - eight pottles, or sixteen
quarts a day, being no uncommon produce from a cow of three hundredweight.
The usual price for a new milch cow of this description is from eight to ten
guineas. Small beasts of all kinds are preferred by the farmers as being
better suited to the circumstances of the country, more capable of enduring
hardship, and more easily subsisted."
A few years later Edward Wakefield writes:- " The Kerry Stock are a distinct
breed, but they are not to be procured of the true blood, because the
long-horned are now so much dispersed throughout the country that the breeds
have become intermixed, The Duke of Bedford desired me to purchase some of
this kind for him; but though I rode many miles and made every possible
inquiry, I was not able to find any which I thought free from admixture"
The views expressed by David Low about Kerries nearly half a century ago,
are of special interest at the present time. He says:- " These cattle are
hardy and capable of subsisting on scanty fare. Although stunted in size
when brought from the bogs and sterile pastures on which they are reared,
they make a wonderful advance in size, even though several years old, when
supplied with suitable food. The fat of their beef is well admixed with the
muscular parts, or, in technical language, marbled; and they fatten well in
the inside, a character which renders them valuable to the butcher, and
distinguishes them, in a remarkable degree, from the long-horned breeds of
the lower country.
"But the peculiar value of the Kerry breed is the adaptation of the females
to the purposes of the domestic dairy. In milking properties the Kerry cow,
taking size into account, is equal, or superior, to any in the British
Islands. It is the large quantity of milk yielded by an animal so small
which renders the Kerry cow so generally valued by the cottagers and smaller
tenants of Ireland. She is frequently termed the poor man's cow, and she
merits this appellation by her capacity of subsisting on such fare as he has
the means to supply.
"This fine little breed has been greatly neglected: scarce any means have
been used to produce a progressive development of form, by supplying proper
nourishment to the breeding parents and the young, and no general care has
been bestowed on preserving the purity of the stock. In almost every part of
Ireland the breed has been crossed with the longhorns; and a great
proportion of the cows of the country, known under the name of Kerries, are
the result of crosses of this kind, and so have deviated in a greater or
less degree from the native type, and almost always for the worse.
"A few honourable exceptions, however, exist to this general neglect of the
mountain dairy breed of Ireland. One attempt had succeeded to such a degree
as to form a new breed, which partially exists with the characters
communicated to it. It has been termed the Dexter Breed. It was formed by
the late Mr. Dexter, agent to Lord Hawarden. This gentleman is said to have
produced his curious breed by selection from the best of the mountain cattle
of the district. He communicated to it a remarkable roundness of form and
shortness of legs. The steps, however, by which this improvement was
effected, have not been sufficiently recorded; and some doubt may exist
whether the original was the pure Kerry, or some other breed proper to the
central parts of Ireland now unknown, or whether some foreign blood, as the
Dutch, was not mixed with the native race. One character of the Dexter breed
is frequently observed in certain cattle of Ireland, namely, short legs, and
a small space from the knee and hock to the hoofs. This has probably given
rise to the saying sometimes heard of, 'Tipperary beef down to the heels'.
However the Dexter breed has been formed, it still retains its name, and the
roundness and depth of carcase which distinguished it. When any individual
of a Kerry drove appears remarkably round an short-legged, is is common for
the country people to call it a Dexter...
"The Kerry cows afford admirable
first crosses with the Short-horns, Herefords, and other larger breeds. Of
these crossed, that with the Shorthorns is the most general, and appears to
be the best. The crosses are found well adapted to fattening as well as to
the dairy; and the profit from this system is so immediate, that it is to be
believed that it will be more largely resorted to than a progressive
improvement of the parent stock.
"Nevertheless, the cultivation of the pure dairy breed of the Kerry
mountains ought not to be neglected by individuals or public associations.
The breed is yet the best that is reared over a large extent of country,
from its adaptation to the existing state of agriculture, and to the humid
mountains and bogs in which it is naturalized. Were it to be reared with
care in a good district, the form would be gradually more developed, and the
Kerry breed might then bear the same relation to the mountain breeds of
Ireland that the Castle Martin does to those of Wales, or the West Highland
to those of the North of Scotland."
It is hoped that the publication of the Kerry and Dexter Herd-book by the
Royal Dublin Society will have the effect of further developing the good
qualities for which these cattle are now celebrated. It can scarcely fail to
preserve the distinctive characters of the breeds; and it will afford the
guarantee of pedigree which has been so anxiously desired.
RICHARD J MOSS
Royal Dublin Society,
September 1890
RULES AND REGULATIONS
FOR THE
ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY'S KERRY AND DEXTER HERD BOOK
FOUNDATION HERD
1. All animals entered in the first, second, and third issues of the Kerry
Register, as published by the Farmer's Gazette, shall be accepted as the
basis of the Royal Dublin Society's Kerry and Dexter Herd-book. The numbers
given to each animal shall be the Herd Book number of that animal.
2. Any animal not entered in the Kerry or Dexter Herd Book which shall
receive a Prize or Commendation at any Show held in the United Kingdom,
where there is a separate classification for Kerries and Dexters, shall be
eligible for entry in the Herd Book, provided that the Royal Dublin Society
shall nominate the Judges at such Show, and that they comply with the
following conditions as to Colour:-
Kerry Bulls must be pure black, with the exception of a few grey hairs about
the organs of generation, in animals of exceptional merit.
Kerry Cows and Heifers must be pure black, with the exception of white on
the udder, in animals of exceptional merit.
Dexter Bulls and Cows may be either black or red, with a little white.
PEDIGREE STOCK
3. Any animal is eligible for entry which is the produce of a sire and a dam
both of which are duly entered, or are eligible for entry, in the Herd Book.
In the latter case the sire and dam must also be entered.
4.Any animal is eligible for entry if the sire, and the dam's sire, and the
grand-dam's sire, are all entered, or eligible for entry, in the Herd Book;
the sires not already entered must also be entered.
5. Each application for entry must be made on the Official Form, and all the
particulars required in that Certificate must be given, if known.
6. The application must be accompanied by a Statutory Declaration as to the
correctness of the pedigree and other particulars required, and also a
Certificate from the owner of the sire of the animal to be entered,
certifying that the dam was served by his bull, and giving the date of the
last service.
7. No application for entry shall be entertained until a fee of 5s for each
animal is paid to the Society.
8. The Society reserves the right to discontinue or alter any of the
foregoing Rules, or to add any new Rule thereto.
9. Entry Forms, etc, will be supplied on application to "The Agricultural
Superintendent”, Royal Dublin Society, Kildare Street, Dublin.
~~ End of Herdbook
Preface ~~
To "Dexter Bull Entries in 1890 Kerry
& Dexter Herd Book"
To "Dexter Cow Entries in 1890 Kerry &
Dexter Herd Book"
To "Correspondence about the Royal Dexter Herds
of Queen Victoria and Edward, Prince of Wales"
To Extracts
from Whitlock's "Royal Farmers"
To Top of Page
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