# Angus Bull over Dexter cow.   UPDATE She had a Bull calf



## john in wa (Nov 25, 2010)

I know i thought i would never buy a Dexter. I went to the auction this last Saturday and bought a wild Dexter cow. Are auction has a on site vet to check cows and she vet checked @ 7 months bred. And yes she was cheap. I spent more on fuel hauling her home than i did the cow. anyway she tops the scales @ 710lbs and should calve in late January or early February. she is the short legged Dexter's and i would like to breed her back to a Angus bull. I know i would need a low birth weight bull but am not sure if she can handle a full size calf.  Has anyone ever bred their Dexter's to a full size bull. If so i would like to hear your thoughts on it. If it is not a good idea then i will wait for the grass to turn green this spring and resale her and the calf. Thanks


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## goodhors (Nov 25, 2010)

When you say "short-Legged" Dexter, how tall is she?

I would not choose ANY Angus bull for ANY Dexter cow.  The Angus calves are just not that tiny.  This would be for use on short or long legged Dexters.  The height difference is ONLY about 6", from about 36" height of short legged, to 42" of long legged.  Maybe 150 pounds apart if not real fat cows.

Even the Jersey cross is kind of large of a bull to use, but Jersey's have a breed record of having small calves, so they can work on the Dexters.

You might try Craig's List if you don't want the cow later.  Seems more of the non-traditional folks shop there, so you could make your money selling that way.  As already talked about on the other discussion, Auction prices for the uncommon cattle are usually pretty low, seller takes a beating.


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## john in wa (Nov 25, 2010)

I found a Dexter breeder about 50 miles from me and got a e-mail from them, he said birth weights for bull calves around 34lbs and 32 average for heifer calves. He said if she is a mature cow and calved in the past i may be able to find a low birth weight Angus bull that will work on her. I think i will wait till spring and sell the calf as a pet and take the wild cow back  to the sale.


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## goodhors (Nov 26, 2010)

Maybe it is the feeding or breeding, that makes the calf size bigger or smaller.  The show Dexters with some daily grain, were calving 45 to 50 pounds, biggest they had was a 60 pounder.  Pastured only was more what you said for weights.  Older cows had slightly larger calves.

I would again suggest Craigs List for the cow, free to put up an advertisment.  MAYBE you would get a buyer for quite a bit more than auction prices.  Here in Michigan, Dexter cows of any description are priced over 800, with bred or registered, adding to the price.  This is even unhandled.  If you get any bites, you could still dicker price, drop the price a bit just to get her gone.  That is a lot more money than the Lowlines went for at the Auction on the other discussion.  Plus you don't lose commission costs and time hauling her over.


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## john in wa (Nov 26, 2010)

Here Is a couple pics of her. 












she is starting to calm down a little and will come up for a little grain. when i first brought her home she wanted to kill me and any one else in her path. she got the Man that worked at the sale who helps load and i thought he was really going to be hurt but both horns missed him and she just smashed him into the railing... I would not feel right about selling her till i get her calmed down some.


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## jhm47 (Nov 26, 2010)

An aggressive horned cow is just like playing with dynamite and matches at the same time.  Get rid of her.  Don't even think about breeding her to a bull of any breed.  Your life and the lives of your family is worth more than a few $$$.  Even if you did breed her, you'd likely get a calf that's much like her as far as disposition.


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## john in wa (Dec 2, 2010)

could they of missed her due date by 2 months. She is loose in the rear end has clear mucus hanging from her hind end and his up and down. she gets up then walks around  lays back down then back up ect. all the sings she is going to calve tonight.  Keeping fingers crossed for a nice little heifer calf.


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## john in wa (Dec 2, 2010)

just came back in and yes she is calving. we have snow on the ground so i am going to go out and spread some good clean straw out to make a good size calving area for her.     


Ok just came back in from checking on her and she has a new calf that hit the ground about 6:30pm. She already had the head and front shoulders out when i went out to check on her. So i caught it in time to see the tail end of the birth. the calf is alive and mom spun right around and started the cleaning the little black thing. I am going to go back out and sit in the dark and watch to see if the calf gets up and nurses. 

Ok its now midnight or a little after and i made the call to bring the calf in tonight. we had a little freezing rain and after 6 hours he was still wet and was just standing with head hanging and shivering. Mother cow has really calmed down and let me go and pick the calf up with out any fight. i brought him in dried him with a towel and fed him some freeze dried colostrum he sucked down about 1 1/2 pint.  I have him in my bedroom where it is nice and warm he still has the shivers but i think he will be OK.  I will try putting him on the cow tomorrow after i get his temp back up.


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## WildRoseBeef (Dec 3, 2010)

What a cutie!!   Congrats on the new calf and the successful birth!


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## glenolam (Dec 3, 2010)

Congrats too!

Glad it worked out for you and the cow.


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## john in wa (Dec 3, 2010)

Thank You. you ever try to share a room with a new born calf. every time i started to fall asleep he would wake me right back up. . But the good news is by 3 am he had warmed up and stoped shivering.  I had the heat cranked up and had a heat lamp on him. I just got done giving him another feeding of colostrum and this time he drank almost 2 full pints. As soon as the sun comes up i will hook up the back blade on the old tractor and clean all the snow out of the corall and put down new straw and try him with mom again. i think i might of got a hours sleep last night so i am going back to bed for another hour.


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## john in wa (Dec 3, 2010)

Ok the little guy is back in with mom and i did see him nursing. she is very mad right now so i am just letting them do their thing.  but i do know the cow is not going to work out. i just called the slaughter man to see if he can get her in. he is going to call us back in a little while to see if he can get her into a locker some where, he thinks he will be able to get her in  in a couple days.  I just want this cow gone. asap

I


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## glenolam (Dec 3, 2010)

Good choice - do what's best for you.  At least you got a healthy bull calf from this "cheap" cow!


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## john in wa (Dec 3, 2010)

just got the call from are kill man and he said he will be here in a half hour.


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## jodief100 (Dec 3, 2010)

New pictures of baby please.  

I love baby cows.


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## john in wa (Dec 3, 2010)

I will get some new pics tomorrow if the weather is nice. we milked her udders out so i am still feeding him her colostrum. tomorrow i will start grafting him onto my jersey cow. I had a busy day and was not able to get a shed ready for him. so he will spend the night in my room again. 

The cow is now safe and sound in the locker where she belongs.


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## jhm47 (Dec 4, 2010)

For your sake, I hope I'm wrong, but I would have waited at least a couple weeks before butchering the cow.  After they give birth, they often have an "off" taste.  At least that's been my experience.  My wife (who worked in a locker plant for 10+ years), also says that it's always best to wait a month or so.  I understand that the cow had some very serious disposition problems, so you did it for safety reasons, but ----- Just sayin!  Again, hope she turns out OK for you.


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## john in wa (Dec 4, 2010)

Here is a picture of the little guy enjoying some petting.  I added a couple new pics with his new mother and brother. the other calf is a 2 month old Holstien/Jersey cross and Mother is a old X dairy cow who has a bad leg so she limps and only has three teets. But she does a great job raising calves, she has even let goat kids nurse.

















I know i take the risk of the beef being tainted. Its a risk i am willing to take.  i would of liked to took her and the calf back to the sale. But i really don't want to pass the buck with this cow. I figure she will make some good hamburger stew. we had beef tongue for dinner last night and will have beef tail and egg noodles tonight.. I gave the head, heart, liver and some other parts to a  Mexican friend of mine, so not much was wasted.  We lucked out on being able to get her in. we usually have to make a appointment a year out. I guess this is the advantage of using the same butcher year after year.


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## john in wa (Dec 5, 2010)

lets see if this will work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noNNSYCoPYg


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## john in wa (Dec 12, 2010)

The little guy is 10 days old and doing great.  He has really became a pet and starts bawling as soon as he See's me. He really loves his petting and a good scratching under his jaw and neck. I am going to start halter breaking him and get him used to being handled.  I would post new pics but he don't look any bigger than he does in the other pics.


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## Bossroo (Dec 12, 2010)

I would highly recomend that you 1) Halter break him , but do NOT make him a pet.  2) castrate him as soon as possible. My across the street neighbor got a free bull Hereford calf that was abandoned by it's mother at birth. He castrated him but made him into a pet.  A year later this calf is just too big and really has no respect for it's owners. He throws his weight around and/or butts everyone.  Now, he has to bulldog him down a couple times a week to show him who is really the boss of the barnyard. The neighbor can't wait for processing day come Jan.


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## john in wa (Dec 12, 2010)

I did the same thing your across the street neighbor did. a year later i had a 1000lbs of Holstein steer who wanted petted and liked to rub his head on ya and make you pet him. i was sad to see him go to slaughter but i was also glad to see him go. If any one has good methods to tame and gentle a calf with out making him a pet i would sure take the advice.


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## adoptedbyachicken (Dec 12, 2010)

John do you know what breed of bull he is by?  What was his birth weight out of curiosity?

Dexters interest me and I hear two things about them that always conflict.  They are really easy to tame and they are wild in nature.  More people I talk to the wider the spread on this it seems.


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## john in wa (Dec 13, 2010)

I have no clue what mother was bred too. It is my guess by looking at the calf and comparing him to the description of Dexter calves he would be pure Dexter. But that is just a guess. I have usually found that when small farmers take a cow to the sale they are proud of they will stand up and give some info on the cow. like what she is bred to and if she is gentle ect. No one wanted to claim this cow lol.  His birth weight was about 38 pounds, that was on a house scale with me holding him.  I went to band him about a day after birth but could only feel one seed, so i will wait a couple weeks till i can feel both and then band him. i already gave him his first tetanus and will give his second in 10 days.


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## john in wa (Dec 16, 2010)

we got a call from the cut and wrap man today and the cow dressed out at 340lbs. That's a little better than i thought he said the beef looks good now we just got to wait and see how it tastes.


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## boothcreek (Dec 31, 2010)

We have had dexters for 8 years now, and to strangers they are very wild and unpredictable. Our butcher hates dealing with dexters, cause as tame as they are with the owners, they see a stranger and they are feral! They know their people they love and trust. Unlike most beef our butcher deals with which love any person that offers them food.....

I can sit on 2 of our 4 dexters and cuddle them to death. Get one visitor who wants to see our mini cows and they run away.


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## john in wa (Jan 5, 2011)

We got the meat back from cut and wrap, It is a nice dark beef and i can tell a little taste difference. I have never had dexter beef before now so i guess i have nothing to compare it to. I do know it taste different from the 3 dairy steers i have butchered in the last 2 years. The hamburger has lots of fat and  really shrinks when cooked, not like the dairy steers who had just enough fat in the burger to keep it from falling apart and sticking to the pan. i also tried  some rib steaks and they went down good, nice and tender yum yum. and we tried some short ribs and they were great.  I really just think it is the hamburger i don't care for.  i will also add that my wife loves the flavor, she said the steaks were small but she thinks they were some of the best tasting steaks she has had. so i guess it all boils down to who eats it.


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