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Original
Article About Dexters
"Dexters
as Beef Cattle"
by A.E. Jones, B.Sc., N.D.A., N.D.D.
from Chapter IV "The Selection and Judging of
Cattle" in Volume One "Cattle" of the six volume
Live Stock of the Farm, edited by Professor C. Bryner Jones, published
by The Gresham Publishing Co., London, 1918, pages 245-246
Page 245:
On the Irish hills the Dexters find great favour with breeders of beef
cattle. The Dexter is an animal of an excellent feeding type, eminently
suitable for the production of beef on a small scale. The best specimens of
the breed usually weigh from 800 lb. to 900 lb. at from two to three years
old. In exceptional cases this weight is attained at an earlier age. The
first-prize Dexter ox at the Birmingham Fat Stock show in 1901, for
instance, weighed 840 lb. at eighteen months old.
When crossed with one of the beef breeds, much heavier animals are produced.
The crosses are also superior to the pure Dexters as beef cattle, for they
fatten more easily and yield meat of a very high grade. Excellent results
have been obtained by crossing Dexter cows with Shorthorn, Hereford, and
Aberdeen-Angus bulls, and these crosses are common among the store cattle
exported from Ireland to Great Britain. These cattle command a ready sale as
stores, and when prepared for the Christmas fat-stock shows, they invariably
give a good account of themselves. Professor Wallace, in Farm Live Stock
of Great Britain, states:
Page 246:
“The first cross with the Shorthorn is a remarkable butcher’s animal - the
Dexter cross exhibiting greater breadth of shoulder and greater depth
through the heart in proportion to size than any other British breed. ...
The Red-Polled cross is an excellent general-purpose beast, and the Polled
Aberdeen-Angus-Dexter has made creditable appearance at Smithfield.”
It has been already pointed out that in the selection of cattle the stock
must always be adapted to the land, pasture, and climate. On soils and
pasture of an inferior nature, only the smaller and hardier breeds are able
to thrive and give a remunerative return for the food they consume, while on
good land and rich pasture cattle of a larger size can be reared
successfully and often more economically.
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