|
|
|
Original
Article About Dexters
"Kerry and
Dexter Cattle" (cont'd)
by Professor James Wilson
from Volume One "Cattle" of the six volume
Live Stock of the Farm, 1918
Page 110:
them. They found their way to England nearly thirty years ago, about the
same time as the Kerry, chiefly through the enterprise of the late Mr. James
Robertson, a Dublin seedsman, who lived at La Mancha, near Malahide, in
County Dublin. Mr. Robertson showed a three-year-old Dexter cow at the Royal
Society’s show at Norwich in 1886, in the class for “cows or heifers of any
other breed”. At Newcastle in the following year a class was opened for
Kerry and Dexter-Kerry bulls, and another for cows or heifers. At Windsor,
two years later, separate classes were established for Kerrys and Dexters,
and since that time both sections of the breed have increased very rapidly
in England. The cause of this is undoubtedly the beauty of the cows and
their suitability for single-cow or small dairies. But to that must be added
the extraordinary power of the Dexter to produce small-sized cross bullocks
and heifers, which are easily fattened, and are suitable for the production
of small joints and for exhibition at the Smithfield and other fat-stock
shows.
An examination of the weights of the small cattle exhibited at the Royal
Dublin and Smithfield fat-stock shows brings out the general weights of
Dexter and Dexter-cross bullocks at from 6 to 8 cwt. when under two years
old, and 9 to 11 cwt. when under three. The heifers are about 1 cwt.
lighter.
There are two Kerry Herd Books, an Irish and an English. The Irish one was
started in 1877, by the Dublin Farmers’ Gazette issuing a “Register
of Pure Kerry Cattle and Dexters”. Three volumes had been issued when the
Royal Dublin Society took over the rights of publication in 1890. Since that
date fifteen volumes have been issued. There were three ways in which stock
could be entered in the Royal Dublin Society’s Herd Book, viz.:
(a) By descent from animals already entered.
(b) By gaining “a prize or commendation at any show held in the United
Kingdom, where there is a separate classification for Kerrys and Dexters,
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 shall 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 a small
portion of white on the udder in animals of exceptional merit.
“‘Dexter cows and bulls may be either black or red, with a little white.’”
Page 111:
(c) By inspection. Once a year meetings were held at certain centres in the
Kerry country where animals were inspected by judges appointed by the Royal
Dublin Society, and such as were held to be up to standard were admitted to
the Herd Book.
Entry by inspection and shows ceased in 1899 for bulls, and in 1904 for
cows. This “closing” of the Royal Dublin Society’s Herd Book led to the
establishing of “The English Kerry and Dexter Herd Book” in 1900. The Royal
Dublin Society’s Herd Book did not result in many of the farmers in Kerry
registering and retaining their stock; for the Society’s inspectors were
followed by buyers from England and the east of Ireland carrying away the
stock which had just been registered. The inspections for registration
really became markets for selling to buyers from a distance. Consequently
when the Herd Book was closed there were still many good animals left in
Kerry no longer eligible for registration. England still required more stock
than the herd-book breeders could produce, and Kerry continued still to be
drawn upon. It was desirable that the stock taken to England after the
closing of the Dublin Herd Book should be registered in some herd book, and
so the English one was established. The conditions for entry are very
similar to those for the Royal Dublin Society’s Herd Book before it was
closed.
The official in charge of the Irish Herd Book is Mr. Robert Bruce,
agricultural superintendent for the Royal Dublin Society, Leinster House,
Kildare Street, Dublin. The English Herd Book belongs to the English Kerry
and Dexter Cattle Society, whose secretaries are Messrs. Hammond and
Craufurd, 19 Bloomsbury Square, London, W.C.
Next to Kerry itself, the chief breeding centres in Ireland are the
neighbourhood of Dublin and Belfast.
Back to List of “Original Articles
About Dexters”
|
