Mini Breeds

[Farmer Kitty]

Even with the branches, I would start slow and see what the land can support.

BTW-The cows will eat leaves too. Not like the goats but, don't be surprised if they find their way to the pile some too.

 

[jhm47]

There are many variables in pasturing animals. Rainfall, the fertility of the land, the seasonal weather patterns, and many other things will affect the carrying capacity of your pasture. From what I know about Kansas, it can sometimes get very dry and hot. Do you have access to irrigation for your land if a prolonged dry spell hits? What about fertility? Have you had your soil tested to see if you need to fertilize? These are but a few of the questions that you should have answered before you buy all these animals.

I realize that you have done a lot of reading and research on this subject. That is good, and I commend you for it. However, as one who has been raising cattle and many other types of livestock for over 50 years, I have come to realize that I definitely don't have all the answers. You see, reading a book on riding a bicycle can be helpful, but when you get on one-------well, it just isn't the same.

One thing for sure, you will learn a lot by asking questions to the posters on this website. You won't always get the answers that you want, but they will usually be the right answers. Good luck!

 

[pattyjean73]

Thank you jhm.

You're right, no matter how much you read, ask, and study... you just won't learn enough without the hands on experience. I'm visiting several neighboring farms to look at their set ups and talking to them about various things and asking lots of questions. I want to be as informed as I can and as suggested above, I plan to only buy a few animals at a time to test what my land can support and what it can't.

I have not had my soil tested. How would I go about doing that? I do know that the former owner had cattle on it before and even some goats a few years back. I'm not sure why he got out of goats but I know he had over 100 head out here. I by no means need anywhere near that amount. I'm hoping for 10 goats and 3 to 6 sheep. The mini cows I haven't made a decision on yet. I still have too much to learn about cattle before I make a final decision on whether or not to consider buying any. The sheep and goats are definites... I've just not decided for sure how many yet. I'll add a few at a time over a period of time.

Thank you all for all of your advice and suggestions. Keep them coming.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

I commend you for doing such a good job in research before you jump into cattle.

As for soil test, talk to your local extension office. They will be able to help you find out who in your area to work with.

 

[pattyjean73]

Thank you.

LOL... Looks like I'll be making a visit with the extension office soon, alot of people have referred them to me on many of my questions regarding all the different animals I'm interested in.

Any other input, suggestions, and advice is welcome and appreciated.

 

[j.luetkemeyer]

I currently have an eight acre pasture and a 2 acre pasture. I have all my animals on the 2 acre pasture because I'm putting up a new perimeter fence around the other 8 and am going to divide it into several paddocks. I have 1 Dexter, 5 Soay sheep, 28 chickens, and will be getting a goat over the weekend. I had the chickens there for the last year and they are fed a soy-free organic feed. The grass on this lot has gotten so thick these animals can not keep up right now. I still have to mow it on occassion. This might change later in the summer when it gets dryer. I am in Missouri and we have had a decent amount of rainfall so everything continues to grow fast. I am going to be getting 2 more Dexters, a few more goats, another breed of sheep, and 60 new chicks over the summer. I may even acquire more Dexters or a mini-Jersey as well.

I have found by having the chickens on the pasture, not only do they keep the flies down, but they also help fertilize the grass. They spread the manure out by scratching it looking for fly larvae. This helps distribute the manure more evenly for even more fertilizing. I definitely encourage Management Intensive Grazing for this type of setup. Another idea is to plant fodder trees and shrubs as well. Many people who raise ruminants do not realize there are many trees can provide excellent food and shade for these animals. The pods of honey locust are excellent fodder just as oak leaves and Ginkgo leaves. You will find you can support more animals per acre by utilizing a more self-sustaining system without the use of chemicals and inputs by diversifying your farm.

I'd post more info that I have found but I've got to get outside to the garden. I'll try to post more info later. You can also google Permaculture and you will get a lot of different ideas you have never heard before and most farmers have never utilized.

 

[pattyjean73]

Thank you very much for the input. It sounds like you are doing something very similar to what I have in mind.

Now as I understand it... having a variety of animals pasture together not only helps manage the pastures/paddocks but also keeps down the disease and parasite issues. Now I don't quite understand how that works but alot of my reading says that it does. When and animal has worms, they pass the worms through their stools and then end up eating the eggs and continuing the worm cycles. By moving the animals through several paddocks over the course of a few weeks/month or so... the worm eggs from the starting paddock have died. So this is how it keeps down on the worm infestation. Is this correct?

I will have goats, sheep, and chickens on my paddocks and I'm considering a small amount of the mini cows. After further research however, I've decided to go with at least three 3 acre paddocks and have another 1 acre paddock for quarentene and/or nursery.

 

[no nonsense]

Dexters are lovely, we're thinking of getting a couple Dexter calves, they're dual-purpose for milk and beef...

Minis DO tend to be spendier, but we have an auction locally that has a lot of Dexters come through it so we're set.

Dexters I believe are naturally polled, but you have to look out not to get the "short legged" Dexter which have a lot of problems and don't do well with breeding.

Actually, Dexters are usually horned, although they can be found polled. The short legged Dexters do fine with breeding, if you take the time to educate yourself about the ONE condition which is associated with them. It's called chondrodysplasia, and is inherited as a simple recessive. It's just a matter of a doing a simple test on your cow and the bull to see if they are carriers, and not breeding two carriers together. The test can even be done by submitting hair samples. Even when breeding two carriers, you only have a 25% chance of getting a calf with the condition. In most cases, it is absorbed, and you never even know it. Only occasionally does a fetus with the condition begin to develop until it is aborted.

 

[Little Cow]

I know this is an old post but I thought it might be good to provide a little extra info in case someone else is looking at Dexters.

We raise Dexters (long legged) and I just want to point out that they are not mini cows, technically. Any time you selectively shrink the size of an animal you see more genetic problems arise. Hence the short-legged Dexters, which were selectively bred to be just a little shorter, can have chondrodysplasia. There is a simple test for it and all the breeders I know have eliminated it from their herds. Dexters have always been the smallest breed of cattle. In fact, there are ancient cattle bones in Ireland (their country of origin) that are Dexter sized. The breed was formalized in the 1800s but there were little cattle in Ireland for a very long time before simply due to so many people living on very little land that needed to provide for their families.

There are two registries, the American Dexter Cattle Association and the Purebred Dexter Cattle Association. We use the first one but many use both. If a buyer wants them registered with the other, our cattle are eligible.

no nonesense is right on about horned Dexters. There is some debate about polled Dexters simply because another breed was used to achieve hornless Dexters. We have horned cows but all of our calves are dehorned and will be from now on to make it easier for children to handle. We'd like to provide our Dexter calves to 4-H or FFA kids still too young to handle the "big guys".

 

[DoubleSSRanch]

I would highly reccomend NOT having a bull, but instead bringing one in, or AI'ing your heifers. You cannot run your bull with your cows year round, or else you run the rust of having very random calving times. Our bull goes in with our cows on July 1st, wich gives us March 1st calves. But if the bull was in with them in March, (if he was there year round), then he could breed the cows too early, and the next year youd end up with very early calves, and it could keep going on like that. So unless you have a seperate area for the bull on his 'off' months, I wouldnt reccomend having one around.