# Dexter/Jersey crosses?



## TAH (Aug 27, 2016)

We have been looking into the Dexter but am not pleased with there milk production.

I saw a second freshener Dexter mini Jersey cross. They said she gave 4-5 gallons a day and she seem like a really nice looking cow.

So now my question is would a Dexter Jersey cross make good milk and meat cross. But would also be smaller and hardyer?


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## cjc (Aug 29, 2016)

I would think so but I have also heard that both breeds don't give much in terms of meat. I have heard that you will feed them twice as much for less than a quarter of meat then you would get on a meat breed of the same size.

I just bought a jersey heifer. I haven't milked her out yet as she is just about to calf but I think 4-5 gallons a day would be a fair estimate on a mini cross. I tried to find a cow that would be a good milk and meat cross but everyone I spoke to said its one or the other. The only breed I know people have had success with personally would be a milking shorthorn but that is definitely not going to be a small cow that will be a large one. I am going to breed my jersey back to a milking shorthorn next year through AI.


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## farmerjan (Aug 30, 2016)

Was trying to scan through some of the posts, I am sure there is a method to finding what/ when you want something, and came across your question of the best small milking breed.  4-5 gal a day isn't bad for any smaller breed dairy cow.  You will be swamped with milk unless you make alot of butter or have a big family.
  Now some thoughts on the meat;  since it is a mini I am assuming that the mature size is 600 lbs m/l.  On a steer 2 yr old, you will get approx 1/4 of that in usable meat.  It's the same percentage in full size animals.  Half the live weight will immediately "disappear"  in the slaughter.  Head, hooves, skin, guts etc which gives you a hanging weight of 300 lbs, 150 lbs per half.  Then you figure to lose another half of that in bones & fat because it is not smart to freeze alot of bone, takes up too much room in the freezer so except for maybe t-bones. have them bone out the meat.  It varies from one animal to another, but that is the rule of thumb with most all slaughterhouses/ butchers that I have dealt with.  I have had several jersey steers finish out @ 60% .  They don't have near as much fat as a "beef" animal. And approx 1/3 of the actual meat will be ground beef ; depending on whether you get alot of stew meat.  If you do it yourself you will save a little more meat but not alot.  If you make soup get ALL your bones back and if you eat venison or elk or something, get all your fat back to mix in ground meat or sausage since venison fat is sparse and very gamey.  The fat is good for making tallow and stuff.
I personally would not breed a jersey to a shorthorn as they can have bigger heads/shoulders when born same as herefords.  Try to find a LOW-LINE  Angus which is the mini version of an angus or use an extremely easy calving angus bull with calf birthweights in the MINUS side, the higher number the better.  Ask the a.i. guy, for an extremely easy calving bull. Angus calves do not have the blocky head and shoulders. Some red angus bulls are a little smaller than the blacks.  We use an easy calving bull on our first calf heifers, full size cattle, and alot of the calves come in at 60 +/- lbs.  Our calves on our mature cows bred to non-easy calving bulls weigh in the 75-95 lb. range.  Or try galloway they are not as big a beef breed.   Personally I prefer straight jersey steers for beef and if you breed her jersey and you get a heifer then you have a replacement or a future sale.  It's as easy to raise 2 calves as one so when she calves get a 2nd baby calf and raise them together, then sell it as a feeder.  A holstein bull calf will cost in the neighborhood of $75 to $200; and at 6-8 months should weigh 4-600 lbs. Around here they are bringing 1.00 to 1.35 lb. so will help pay for your time and feed. Jerseys are feisty and will hold their own with calves of bigger size but the same age if raised together.  Hope this helps.


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## cjc (Aug 31, 2016)

@farmerjan I have been buying Cross Bred bottle calves (Angus X Holstein) from dairies and have seen a few Jersey or Holstein cross shorthorns. They sell for a premium compared to the other bottle calves leaving the dairies. Shorthorns are big calves but I don't want to rule the idea out. The A.I guy is confident breeding an angus (not low-line) to a jersey...we see it quiet a bit around here. One of my girls is an Angus X Jersey, she's small and not worth her weight in beef. I bred her to a shorthorn last season, she's actually smaller than my Jersey Heifer and she did great and had a nice size calf no issues. Her calf is just as big as my Angus calves and a little smaller than my pure bred shorthorns. The problem with Jersey steers around here is they are worth nothing. Jersey bull calves I can pick up for free all day long. Since I am not in the business of raising Dairy cows I don't want to risk a bull calf because I don't have the heart to send it away a few days after birth. I am exploring the idea of using sexed semen on my Jersey if she does well with her first calf...she is pregnant with a Jersey calf.

I would though not pay even $75 for a Holstein bull calf. The most I'd pay is $20 and that's pushing it. I see slaughter ready Holstein steers go for $150.

I currently have a set of Angus bull calf twins (1 week old). I was thinking of putting them on my jersey with her calf a week after its born. I have heard 2 calves at most per jersey but the vet told me the other day she would have no problem with 3 or even 4. Any experience on that?


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## babsbag (Aug 31, 2016)

3 day old Holstein bull calves sell for 125.00 where I am at; my friend buys them each year and grafts them onto the cow they don't milk. All that milk and they don't use a drop so might as well raise two calves. I wish that cow was next door to me. 



farmerjan said:


> Personally I prefer straight jersey steers for beef


  Why? I know nothing about cattle except that I can buy jersey bull calves for $4.00 but was told that it wasn't worth it to raise them for beef.


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## farmerjan (Aug 31, 2016)

babsbag said:


> 3 day old Holstein bull calves sell for 125.00 where I am at; my friend buys them each year and grafts them onto the cow they don't milk. All that milk and they don't use a drop so might as well raise two calves. I wish that cow was next door to me.
> 
> Why? I know nothing about cattle except that I can buy jersey bull calves for $4.00 but was told that it wasn't worth it to raise them for beef.





cjc said:


> @farmerjan I have been buying Cross Bred bottle calves (Angus X Holstein) from dairies and have seen a few Jersey or Holstein cross shorthorns. They sell for a premium compared to the other bottle calves leaving the dairies. Shorthorns are big calves but I don't want to rule the idea out. The A.I guy is confident breeding an angus (not low-line) to a jersey...we see it quiet a bit around here. One of my girls is an Angus X Jersey, she's small and not worth her weight in beef. I bred her to a shorthorn last season, she's actually smaller than my Jersey Heifer and she did great and had a nice size calf no issues. Her calf is just as big as my Angus calves and a little smaller than my pure bred shorthorns. The problem with Jersey steers around here is they are worth nothing. Jersey bull calves I can pick up for free all day long. Since I am not in the business of raising Dairy cows I don't want to risk a bull calf because I don't have the heart to send it away a few days after birth. I am exploring the idea of using sexed semen on my Jersey if she does well with her first calf...she is pregnant with a Jersey calf.
> 
> I would though not pay even $75 for a Holstein bull calf. The most I'd pay is $20 and that's pushing it. I see slaughter ready Holstein steers go for $150.
> 
> I currently have a set of Angus bull calf twins (1 week old). I was thinking of putting them on my jersey with her calf a week after its born. I have heard 2 calves at most per jersey but the vet told me the other day she would have no problem with 3 or even 4. Any experience on that?



 Hey, I would love to get jersey bull calves for free or $4.00  or more; they are worth 25 to 50 around here now as everyone who is "older" talks about how good the jersey beef is.  It is a little finer texture than most beef calves, and Jersey steers will finish out, ON GRASS, if it's good grazing, at 800 to 1000 lbs by 28 months.  Most weaned feeder jersey steer calves are bringing $.70 a lb  at the 300 to 500 lb. size and are kinda hard to find.   Where are you located that you find slaughter ready holstein steers for $150.? What size are they?  

I was under the impression that you also had a mini-jersey, hence my feelings on the a.i. breeding.  I often breed my jerseys a.i. the first time and maybe twice but have 2 that are just hard to catch in heat and so they often get put with the angus bull and the resulting heifer calves become "beef" cows and the males become steers for beef or sale.  Most of my nurse cows raise 3 or 4 calves when they come fresh all according to their milking ability.  Graft the calves on ASAP don't wait a week, except I don't know how soon your jersey is due and how old the angus twins will be.  They will push the little jersey around if they are too big and it won't get enough to eat.  They are much more likely to take them at the beginning when their own calf is new.  Why send a bull calf away a few days after it is born?  Just make it a steer and raise it to eat.   
Have bred my jerseys to sexed semen;  there is a 10% chance of a bull calf, and my name is "murphy"s law"....  3 out of 4 times the sexed semen has produced a bull.  I breed a. i. myself, a farmer friend bred her one time, got 1 heifer from sexed semen  and one heifer when his holstein bull jumped the fence and caught her, so I have a 1/2 jer-1/2 hol heifer..... the pure jersey was a witch and finally I got rid of her!!!!  I also have a couple of guernsey's and a 1/2 jer-1/2 guernsey heifer that will be bred a.i to a guernsey in sept or oct. I  Like my old type guernsey's and their milk is so rich and yellow creamy.  Sweetie pie is a stockyard reject and will take nearly any calf but don't get between her and a bucket of grain.  She was skin and bones starving when I got her out of the slaughter pen and had a bull calf a week later that I couldn't save, but I put an angus calf on her and she raised it and I finally got some weight on her and she has raised 2-3 each time since.  She tolerates most any calf sneaking on her when "her  calves are sucking" often see a beef calf or 2 stealing too.  She's only got nubs for teeth so is OLD, but has looked better this year than ever and will also get bred to a guernsey for an early summer calf next year.  
 Hope my ramblings will help you a little,  I have had several shorthorn and shorthorn cross beef cows over the years and have nothing against them.  The 'blue' ones seem to milk good.


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## farmerjan (Aug 31, 2016)

When I wrote in an earlier post that the jerseys finished out a 60% I was referring to 60% of hanging weight, not 60% of total weight. I usually figure 250 to 300 lbs. of MEAT from a 1000 lb animal. More is gratis and less means the animal wasn't finished enough.


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## TAH (Aug 31, 2016)

I am doing a Dexter cross due to not a lot of room. I have had jersey bull calves and they all didn't last thru the winter so They will not last a winter in Alaska very well. There are a lot of jersey Dexter crosses in Alaska so i assume they would make a okay meat/milk cow. I am part of a family of 9 so 5 gallons a day is no biggy for us plus we will be selling some. I am a bit picky on what i am going to get. I am going to get one that has a good udder, weight gain, hocks, top-line,  and good hooves. @farmerjan and @cjc you both have been very helpful thank you.


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## farmerjan (Aug 31, 2016)

Yeah alaska weather/cold would be hard on a jersey as they don't have the  fat cover....Ever look into a galloway or a scottish highland?  They have a double haircoat, made to deal with cold weather and not as much actual fat on the carcass....Have had some belted galloways that milked pretty good - raised some roly poly calves; might make a good dual purpose cross with a dairy animal.  Best to get what is popular in the area as they probably are the best suited for the weather etc. but the galloways and highlands are real good foragers and the long haircoat on the highlands can be used for spinning too.


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## cjc (Aug 31, 2016)

@farmerjan I am in BC Canada. Any Dairy cow raised for meat barely sells. Jersey bull calves or Holstein bull calves are $30 at most. I was just offered 3 Jersey Steers for $50 for all 3 but turned down the offer. I have heard about Jersey meat being good but only on forums online. I chatted to a bunch of cattle raisers in our area last week when I was getting offered all these Jersey bull calves and they all said it wont sell don't do it, so I took their advice.

My jersey is a standard jersey and she should calf any day now, I'm surprised she hasn't already. The reason I chose the twins to put on her is they are small but they are rough so ill have to see how it goes. I may just end up milking her when she has her calf and giving them the milk. Or I could get a younger calf at that time.

I pay about $100-$150 for a Holstein X Angus calf. I only buy the pure black ones and they sell like an angus does. I assume the same would go for a Jersey X Angus which is why I debate it. The benefit of the Holstein cross is the size. My Angus X Jersey is very small in comparison to my beef breed cows.


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## TAH (Aug 31, 2016)

No cows over 800 pounds so dexters and mini jerseys are my breed to cross of do purebred.


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## farmerjan (Aug 31, 2016)

cjc said:


> @farmerjan I am in BC Canada. Any Dairy cow raised for meat barely sells. Jersey bull calves or Holstein bull calves are $30 at most. I was just offered 3 Jersey Steers for $50 for all 3 but turned down the offer. I have heard about Jersey meat being good but only on forums online. I chatted to a bunch of cattle raisers in our area last week when I was getting offered all these Jersey bull calves and they all said it wont sell don't do it, so I took their advice.
> 
> My jersey is a standard jersey and she should calf any day now, I'm surprised she hasn't already. The reason I chose the twins to put on her is they are small but they are rough so ill have to see how it goes. I may just end up milking her when she has her calf and giving them the milk. Or I could get a younger calf at that time.
> 
> I pay about $100-$150 for a Holstein X Angus calf. I only buy the pure black ones and they sell like an angus does. I assume the same would go for a Jersey X Angus which is why I debate it. The benefit of the Holstein cross is the size. My Angus X Jersey is very small in comparison to my beef breed cows.



If you have any extra pasture, you really ought to try a  jersey steer for beef.  How big are they?   Eat the jerseys and sell the angus or angus cross ones.  I would give my eyeteeth to have a source of jersey steer calves for $20 each.  Are they weaned size?   But then it is all about what the market in your area will support.   The jersey/angus cross calves will usually have the "finer" build of the jersey and are often a more dark chocolate brown than black.  The jersey head gives them away.  

If you bring the jersey in to her calf, not let it stay with her, it will be easier to get her to take other calves as she will be glad to see hers and often will tolerate the others if she can see/smell her calf right next to her nursing.  Some are "peaches", and are easy to graft calves on, some are real "prunes" and never gladly take a fostered calf.  Also, make sure the calves you are fostering on her are getting her milk so the manure/rear end of the foster calf smells right to her.  They can tell if the calf is theirs by the smell of the manure... if you have to, bottle feed her milk to the calf you want to put on her for at least 1 or 2 feedings before...or if you have a new calf, try to rescue the placenta and rub it on the new calf so it smells right to her...


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## cjc (Sep 1, 2016)

@farmerjan the Jersey bull calves that I can get for free or virtually free are usually 4-7 days old. They are from the local dairies. I debated feeding one out but the advice I get from all of the local beef raisers is not to do it. According to them they eat more and give about a quarter what a beef breed would, it's just not worth it. If you go to our local auctions the Jersey or Holstein bull calves walk in one door and out the other. They are usually picked up by the veal raisers that drive down from Alberta. It's incredibly sad to me, I'm a terrible farmer. It's interesting though what you say because I have read a lot on forums about Jersey beef but locally there doesn't seem to be a market for it and Jerseys are so darn cute I don't know if I could set one up for slaughter! Like I said...terrible farmer!

Thanks for your advice on getting the calves on my Jersey. She better hurry up and calf or ill have to add number 9 and 10 to my bottle calves as the ones I bought last week are already getting big. I have been buying heifer calves lately but I have 3 bull calves right now and wow are they hard! They are so rough and tough compared to the heifers. They are also fully eating grain at a week old, just wild. I usually have to convince them to try it by shoving it in their mouths until they are about 4 weeks old. These bull calves are chomping it down at a week old.


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## farmerjan (Sep 1, 2016)

Since she is due anytime, getting the calves a little ahead is good but since I also have several dairies in the area that I get calves from, I usually wait til they calve and then find a calf/calves.  The newer the better to foster on a cow usually for me.  Of course there are never any available right when you need them.  
Yeah the jersey's are cute, but after all these years I kinda just set my mind to the fact that they are freezer beef and that's it.   Most of the hol and dairy bull calves also go to veal or to a couple of the mennonite farmers that raise them up as steers and sell  in the 7-900 lb. range.  There is a market for hol steers here not so much for the jerseys except for small  farmers that want their own beef.  They are alot cheaper than any beef feeders and when angus steers were bringing 2.50 to 3.00 lb 2 years ago even the jerseys were worth 1.50 lb.  Now they are back to usual .60-.70 lb. and holsteins are about 1.00.  The price of the beef animals- black is the preferred "color" around here where there are alot of charollais in MD and more herefords up in some parts of the northeast has dropped to half of what it was.  They were too high at 3.00 lb for a 5-600 lb feeder steer but 1.25 to 1.50 is barely paying the expenses. If you figure the inflation etc over the past 15 years, 1.75 to 2.25 would make a decent living.  But then the price of milk around here has done a gigantic rollercoaster ride in the last 20 years too and the dairy farmers here are barely surviving now. It's barely 15.00 cwt which is about 12 gallons. A little over 1.25 gal to the farmer but less than 2 years ago it was 22.00 cwt.   And everything else has gotten cheaper.....haha.( well gas did come down but what else...try buying parts to fix equipment)
Love these discussions, am so glad to find this group at BYH


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## cjc (Sep 1, 2016)

Yes the beef prices sure due tend to bounce around. Two years they were high and right now they are really low. I was told by the guy that takes my cows to auction to feed my calves out for a year as the prices are too low and he's scared to take them. I am ok with it, I actually prefer that but I do hope they come up. Because this is a hobby for me we don't rely on the income, we spend much more than we earn every year but I feel for some of our neighbours.

It's hard with the dairy industry I have recently heard some sad stories. I believe, I could not be entirely correct on this but Canada sets a price floor on dairy. Sellers cannot go under a certain price, it gives dairy farmers all the knowledge of what they to keep their overhead at so they can all remain competitive...of course that makes it much easier for the large players but it protects it. Canada just recently started allowing American dairy products in but I believe they have to be mixed with Canada dairy, they are actually mixing milk from US and Canadian farms. If it's a straight US made product the retailers have to pay a high tariff on the item, which makes it less desirable to consumers. It's horrible to countries trying to export to Canada but it protects the farmers and in my opinion it makes sense. Why as an American would you be wanting to support the Canadian dairy industry, or beef for that matter. The way I see it as an American you should do what you can to support American farmers, and vice-versa for Canadians.

I talk to a girl over my social media who runs her families mid sized Dairy farm in the US. Her business is almost broke and it's really sad for her. She just cannot compete and its been operating for 50 years!

I could rant all day about everyone supporting local farmers haha! Personally and I know not everyone can afford it, id rather eat less meat and dairy and pay more to support locally or even in my own country then to get a good deal and eat more.


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## farmerjan (Sep 1, 2016)

Yes, as far as I know Canada is the only country that still has the quota system in place. God bless you.   The european union just took theirs off and prices have dropped there too.  The way I have understood it,  you guys get a decent price for your milk but there is a limit, don't know how it is set, but to go over the production limit you are penalized to the point of paying the govt to take the surplus.  Controlling, but maybe it keeps the production/supply in line better.  One of the farmers that I milk test for said that for farmers in New Zealand, where they do mostly grazing, that the milk price has dropped to less that $7.00 cwt and that they are going broke and going out of business.  Yes I think we should be supporting and protecting our own farmers....but the whole globalization b.s. nowadays is just getting out of hand.  And when you stop to think about it, fewer bigger farms makes it easier to control things;  but what are they going to do when those fewer farms are compromised with a disease or some other disaster, and there are no smaller farms to keep alive diversified genetics etc...and then the govt tells you that you can only eat certain foods or how much...too much control in my book. People are going to have to  get hungry and supply will have to dry up before most people "get it" and then there will be chaos.


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## cjc (Sep 2, 2016)

Yes you are very correct. Our dairy prices are higher, I live right by the Washington State border and many Canadians go down to the US to buy dairy, but there is a $15 max spend per visit. I give everyone I know that does this a hard time like COME ON! Please pay the extra $2 a liter it's so incredibly important to our farmers. I also look at the cost of animal products at not only quality in product but quality of life for the animal. I can guarantee to my buyers that my cows were treated with dignity and respect since the day they were born, that alone is worth more in my opinion. I have said it on here many times before but I believe mankind has made a deal with livestock. In exchange for food, shelter, safety and health in the end they give us their lives. It's so important that we stay true to that deal.

You are a blessing to my thoughts! I love reading what you have to say. Have you posted about your story? Where you're from, your experiences and what you do? I would love to know more about you're life you are a very knowledgeable lady!


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## Latestarter (Sep 2, 2016)

IMHO, the govt needs to get completely out of the managing and control business, with respect to just about everything. With free markets, things will naturally stabilize where they should be. Some will flourish and some will fail, but the best will survive and the roller coasters will flatten out over time, barring major catastrophes. Market pressures will force adjustments where they're needed. Supply and demand will set prices rather than artificial supports that dictate what is and what will be. Taxpayers shouldn't be paying farmers "not to plant" certain things, and paying others TO plant certain things. It has gotten completely out of hand. Free markets will also serve to drive change and improvements over time.


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## cjc (Sep 2, 2016)

In some industries that theory makes sense but it would be a sad day for me if the dairy industry was no longer protected in Canada. Small farmers would be out priced and the big guys would come in with mass production. Problem with mass production with farming is where things like growth hormone start getting introduced into Canadian dairy. In many cases, not all, the government protects certain industries to keep the industry alive. Canadian dairy farmers would be outbid by American dairy farmers are our industry would collapse.


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## babsbag (Sep 2, 2016)

The price of milk in the US is still regulated to some degree. You can go to a store and pay more, but you will never see it on sale for substantially less. But the small scale producer still has problems as the costs to milk 50 cows vs 1000 cows isn't that much different. I am building a goat dairy, very small, about 30 goats. Fortunately my prices are not regulated, and I will be making cheese too. But the cost of milking 30 compared to 70 would not be that different and the increase in revenue could be substantial. I just don't have the land for it, nor do I want to be married to a dairy.


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