Post by jamshundred on Jun 30, 2014 19:29:28 GMT
A fellow Dexter breeder asked why there was so much " bickering". The current discord seems to arise when there is any discussion of pedigrees or purity. It has its roots in history.
The Dexter breed was first organized into a herd book in 1876 by the Farmer's Gazette. ( I have never seen a history of the whys or whos of this first endeavor)
A few years later these early cattle were incorporated into the first herd book issued by the Royal Dublin Society. With only a few exceptions, all the earliest foundation cattle were listed with no parents. They were entered into the breed "upon inspection". They were required to be horned and have the phenotype of the established breed standard.
As the breed declined in Ireland, it had been championed by British royalty who appear to have fallen for these small creatures at livestock shows. The British established a breed society and their first herd book, Volume 1 was printed in 1900.
The English continued to add "foundation" Dexters to their registry through the 1920's and a few more with only a sire recorded in the 1930's. During the years after the 1st World War, owners returned from war to discover their farm records had not been kept accurate and some of the animals were added without only the sire entered into the records.
During WW2 the breed in England began to decline in numbers and the DCS ( Dexter Cattle Society) initiated an outcrossing program which began in 1944. This breeding program began with an owner crossing a registered Dexter with any other breed, ( there are entries for Ayeshire, Jersey, Shorthorn, Red polled, Highland, Angus and others), and the offspring of these matings were entered into the *A* appendix registry. Only females were entered. The female calf from the mating of an A cow to a registered Dexter bull was then entered into the "B" appendix. The female offspring of a B cow and a registered Dexter bull was then entered into the "C" appendix. When a calf was born of a mating between a C cow and a registered Dexter bull it was given a regular registration number and entry into the DCS registry.
Some breeders were experiencing a high percentage of loss in their Dexter herds. These calves were attributed to the Dexter Dwarf gene. ( We now know that in some herds there was also PHA deaths that were attributed to dwarfism).
In the mid to late 1960's an additional outcrossing effort began in hopes of remedying these "bulldog" calf births. This effort was known as an "experiemental" breeding program.
The experimental effort was overseen by an owner of one of the premier cattle herds of the time, Mrs. Tanner of the Atlantic herd. Also involved was Dr. Thrower of the Parndon herd. There is no documented data as to the various experiments or breedings that took place before the first animal was entered into the herd book of the DCS. His name was Atlantic Anchor EXP 1. He is acknowledged to have an Angus and Jersey ancestor as recorded in his pedigree.
Shortly after the original entries into the English herd book of the experimental animals, Mrs. Tanner retired from the Dexter breed and had all her Dexters destroyed.
