Summary of Article About Dexters

Home     Back to “Summaries of Publications and Articles About Dexters”

"The Dexter is Back"
from The Ark, the magazine of the UK Rare Breeds Survival Trust
Volume 31 Number 1, Spring 2003, Page 7

In the early 1970s, at the time of the establishment of the UK Rare Breeds Survival Trust, there were fewer than 250 purebred Dexters remaining in Britain. By 1988, there were over 750 breeding cows; by 1993, over 1,500. When the Rare Breeds Survival Trust published the first list of rare cattle breeds in the UK in 1975, the Dexter was included in Category III "Vulnerable". By 1993, because of their recovery in numbers, Dexters had been removed altogether from the Trust's Priority Lists. 

~~ Start of Article Summary ~~

This article reports that recent research has shown that genes from other cattle breeds have been introduced into the Dexter over the past decades. This has happened to such an extent that only a very few Dexters have so far been identified as of the "original type". The UK Dexter Cattle Society assisted in identifying these animals.

The Conservation Committee of the UK Rare Breeds Survival Trust felt it was important to recognise this "Original Population" by returning the Dexter to the Trust’s list in this capacity.

Original Population Dexter Cows (with UK Herd Book number):

Original Population Bulls (with Herd Book number) available through AI:

The article noted that of these bulls only Canwell Buster and Harron Rocket were thought NOT to be carriers of the Bulldog Calf gene, although none of the above bulls had yet been authenticated by DNA analysis.

~~ End of Article Summary ~~

The website of the UK Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST), www.rare-breeds.com, describes how rare breed status is acquired and sets out its List of rare and endangered Breeds. An "Original Population", as described above for Dexters, is defined as a group of registered animals that has "no recorded input from other breeds". More details on British rare breed cattle from the RBST site can be found at www.rare-breeds.com/html/rare_breeds/cattle.html.

Below are photos of two of the "Original Population" bulls, Ypsitty Bridegroom XXXII (top left), Statenboro Saprophyte (top right) and Sarum Bullrush (bottom). These photos, from Herd Books of the DCSUK, were not included in the original article in "The Ark". I am grateful to Duncan MacIntyre who sent scans of these photos to me.

Back to “Summaries of Publications and Articles About Dexters”

To Top of Page