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Breed: Dexter:
- Dexters are the smallest breed. The average Dexter
stands around 3 feet high and weighs between 800 and 1000 pounds.
- They are very well proportioned, however, so without a frame of
reference they do not look small.
- Some Dexters have short legs, others have long legs.
- Dexters are normally a solid brownish black or sometimes a dark red.
- They also have black skin, a short face with a broad forehead,
a hair foretop and short horns.
- Dexter cows are perfect family dairy cows, producing about 2 gallons
of milk and 3 quarts of cream a day.
- Dexters are also strong and can pull plows; they are also tractable
animals.
- There are a couple of theories about the origins of the Dexter.
- Both theories have the origin as the Kerry, a rare Irish breed.
- The Dexter started to become known in the 1700s when small
farmers found the Dexter very practical for use on small plots of land.
- Later, the novelty of the cute, small bovines, made them popular
on English estates.
- The breed society in the U.S. formed in 1911.
Short legged Dexter
Source:
A Field Guide to Cows
, by John Pukite, Falcon Press,
Helena, Montana, 1996, pp. 30-31.
Picture from Hobbit Hill Dexter Stud
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