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"Genetic Vulnerability of the Dexter"

by Lawrence Alderson

from Alderson's The Chance to Survive: Rare Breeds in a Changing World, published by Cameron & Tayleur, London, 1978. This extract, pages 174-178, is from Chapter 7 "A Strategy for Genetic Conservation".

Lawrence Alderson has long been active in the UK Rare Breeds Survival Trust. He is an international consultant on livestock breeding and production and on genetic conservation. Born on a Pennine farm, he went on to gain degrees in agriculture and education at Cambridge. He has assisted the creation of rare breeds conservation groups in many countries and is a Trustee and Founder President of  Rare Breeds International. He is author of  "The Observer's Book of Farm Animals"(1976) and as well as a number of other books and articles. "The Chance to Survive: Rare Breeds in a Changing World" (1978) is considered the standard work on genetic conservation. Alderson owns the Dynevor herd of White Park cattle which can be traced back to the ninth century.

Page 174:

VULNERABILITY

Among the British breeds of cattle which are endangered, the Kerry, the Irish Moyled, and the Dexter originated in Ireland, and these three breeds illustrate very well the index method of ranking rare breeds.

Priority Rating of the More Seriously Endangered British Breeds of Cattle

(Click on diagram for a larger version)

The Kerry is probably the purest surviving descendant of cattle brought to Britain in the early part of the second millennium BC. Having remained very largely free of influence from other breeds, it possesses a distinctive type that separates it even from related breeds such as the Welsh Black. The Kerry's alert, graceful quality, accented by the light head and upturned, black-tipped horns, makes it a very appealing breed. Nevertheless, it is in danger; there are few more than 200 breeding cows, and in recent years important herds have been dispersed for a variety of reasons. At the same time, renewed interest among breeders in England and Scotland saves the outlook from being entirely black. The breed's high rating for genetic value combined with its delicately poised numerical status makes it a breed of high priority.
 

[Pages 175-176 contain colour photos of rare breeds of sheep]

Page 177:

Neither the Dexter nor the Irish Moyled can claim the same degree of genetic importance, but the Irish Moyled ranks alongside the Kerry in priority because it is the teetering on the brink of extinction. The only two breeders remaining in Ulster own a total of twenty cows between them, and it will require a breeding programme planned with precision and in detail, together with a large helping of luck, to save the Irish Moyled for posterity. Its origin can be attributed to the Vikings, who made Ireland one of their major centres. The cattle are polled, and red in colour with the white, line-back colour pattern that is consistent with a Scandinavian origin. They may possibly have been influenced by the Longhorn, which is the same colour, and a polled Finnish bull was imported in 1947 for use on Irish Moyled cows. While it is indubitably a breed, these alien crosses lower its genetic value.

The Dexter has been affected in the same way, but its additions have been more extensive and have persisted for several decades. In the 1930s, various attempts to decrease the incidence of "bulldog" calves led to the surreptitious inclusion of Welsh Black, Aberdeen Angus, and Jersey cattle. Again, in recent years, the experimental bulls Atlantic Finbar and Statenboro Fircone, both containing Jersey and Aberdeen Angus blood, were

Page 178:

used widely and there is also an official grading up procedure. On this basis, inclusion of the Dexter on the endangered list might be questioned, especially since its cows are in great demand as house-cows and on self-sufficiency smallholdings, and the breed is not seriously at risk. It is, however, a true miniature breed - or dwarf, depending on your viewpoint. This is such a distinctive characteristic that it must be conserved, and is sufficiently significant to keep the Dexter in the survival priority ratings, albeit in a relatively modest position.

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