Original
Article About Dexters
"The
Dexter in History: Part Six
Colour Bar"
by Beverley McCulloch and Michael Trotter
A revised version of an article first published in
the Dexter Dispatch, Bulletin of the NZ Dexter Cattle Society, no.
36, May 2002, pages 18ff
This is our sixth and last offering in our series "The Dexter in
History." In it, we look at Dexter colouring as recorded in publications
cited in the preceding five articles. We would be most interested to hear
from readers of any other early records they have come across in which the
Kerry/Dexter colour is discussed at a period prior to the establishment of
breed standardization and a Herd Book.
NOTE: The photo below was
not part of the original article but has been added by John Paterson
In discussing Dexter colour it is appropriate to start by looking at the
possible colour of the wild Aurochs ancestral to the Dexter as indicated by
palaeolithic cave paintings. There appears to have been a wide colour range
– from almost black to almost white – sometimes with dapplings and spottings
in various shades. One notable feature is that a few paintings show what
appears to be a white dorsal stripe.
Turning now to early descriptions of the native Irish or 'Celtic' cattle,
which today are divided into the Kerry and Dexter, the Rev Mr Sampson in
1802 wrote, "The strain is generally black, reddish or brindled with some
white."
Also writing in 1802, M'Evoy noted, "They are of various colours.. ."
A decade later in 1812, Wakefield had only one comment to make on colour,
which was that they had "white faces".
Youatt, writing in his Treatise of 1834 said, "in some places they are
black, in others brindled; and others black or brindled with white faces."
Then in 1845, David Low, in an even more famous publication, Domestic
Animals in the British Isles, said, "The Kerry cattle... are generally
black, with a white ridge
 along the spine. .. They have often also a white
streak along the belly, but they are of various colours, as black, brown,
and mixed black and white, or black and brown."
The Royal Dublin Society, which provided a separate class for Dexters in
1876, stated that, "Dexter Bulls and Cows may be black or red with a little
white."
The American Stock Doctor of around 1880, quoting the London Stock
Journal, said, "The favourite colour is black, though black and white,
brown and red are by no means uncommon."
And finally, the English Kerry and Dexter Society's standard description,
formulated in the 1890s, was very specific. "Dexters may be 'whole black or
whole red (the two colours being of equal merit)'. In a bull, 'a little
white on organs of generation not to disqualify an animal which answers all
other essentials of this standard description'. A cow may be 'black with
white on the udder, or red with white on bag. The extension of the white of
the udder slightly along the inside of flank or under side of the belly, or
a little white on end of tail, shall not be held to disqualify an animal
which answers all other essentials of this standard description. '"
Two points of real interest arise from the foregoing:
1. The regular occurrence of brindle at an early period;
2. The prevalence (and sometimes prominence) of white markings until quite a
late date.
Brindle is one of the oldest recorded cattle colours; three of the
descriptions here, ranging over almost a century-and-a-half, list it as a
Kerry/Dexter colour (if we allow that Low's "black and brown" mix is almost
certainly brindle). Today brindle is very rare in any standard cattle breed
– a search of breed standards in Australia and New Zealand shows it as a
recognized colour only for Longhorn.
If we are looking at the Dexter as one of the world's most historic breeds,
we wonder if we should be looking at allowing brindling as a colour,
although we are not sure just how one would go about its reintroduction. We
have been unable to find anything on the genetics of the brindled coat
pattern in cattle.
With respect to the occurrence of white in Dexter/Kerry cattle, it seems to
have been very common.
The presence of a white dorsal stripe, technically known as 'finching', is
an extremely primitive feature which survives today mostly in a few rarer
breeds – and in the Hereford. (In New Zealand it can also be seen in
Pinzgauer cattle.) A white face is also a primitive feature, and once again
it can be seen in the Hereford. However, we are not suggesting the
reinstatement of either feature to the Dexter breed standard.
But apart from these two specialized patterns, there also seems to have been
a lot of white that occurred in no clearly defined areas of the coat, right
up to the time of establishment of Breed Standards.
We can't help wondering why breeders were so hell bent on altering this very
natural colouring to the extent of trying to banish it altogether – although
without success when it came to those little bits of white on the underside.
One of the anomalies we see in the present breed description is that
providing a Dexter has all the correct and proper breeding and papers etc.,
it can be registered as a purebred no matter how far it departs from the
breed description – the exception being if it has a bit of white in the
wrong place which is allowable only on grade animals according to the Breed
Standard published by our Society in October. (We note however that this
condition was not included in the Breed Standard approved at the AGM of June
2001.)
Regardless of that, we question whether the disqualification from purebred
registration of an otherwise perfect animal because it happens to have a
small patch of white in the wrong place is in the best interests of the
breed, given the historic validity of white markings.
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