Visitors make my day

[genebo]

Early today, we went to the railroad tracks just to watch a steam locomotive pulling 20-25 pullman cars go by on the way to Petersburg. It was an excursion train from Lynchburg to Historical Petersburg. There was a 2 hour layover then the train returned to Lynchburg. All the businesses in Historical Petersburg were open for this special event.

It was impressive, like time had been turned back. The passenger cars were all so shiny and gleaming.

We went home, and bemoaned the fact that we hadn't video recorded it. So we made plans to watch the train as it returned and this time, take the camera. The train was to leave Petersburg at 2:30, which means it would pass us at about 2:45. We had visitors scheduled to come see the Dexters at 3:00, but we figured we would be back by the time they got here. As we were getting in the truck to go, the visitors pulled up, early.

We solved that by telling them about the train. Then we got into our vehicles and went to watch. Of course, the train was late, but we spent the time talking about Dexters and fences and how to supply water. Finally the train roared by, with me filming it, and we went home.

We switched to the Mule. Me, the nice man, the nice lady, and their nice young son. We drove to the pasture, where the cattle were drinking from the stock tank I'd told them about. They eyed it closely and we tried to pet the cattle. Today was not the best day for petting. For some reason they were being shy, and would walk away as yu started petting them. Maybe they were mad at me for yesterday, when I separated and locked in the corral the two calves. One got a vet health inspection, his ear tattoo and the ear tag that he needs to cross state lines. The other one just got her tattoo. My vet does great tattoos.

Eventually I broke out the bread. My cows love it! we distributed slices of bread to each of them and suddenly they were the center of attention. Horns everywhere, but no screams. Just giggles. Cathy, the precocious little short-legged heifer, was a hit. She is super friendly. The bull, McBrenn, was also a hit.

I like that, when  the visitors see my bull, with his impressive rack of horns, and are awed by them. But then they get to pet him and the fear and awe turns to giggles.

We had a great question and answer session. She wanted to know what I look for in conformation, how to tell a good cow from a bad cow. I chose to show her a cow's feet, tell her why those feet were not desirable, then show her a different cow with perfect feet for comparison. We looked at fence construction, the frost-free waterer in the center of the pastures, and more fence construction. They wanted to know how to run fencing through the woods, so I showed them mine. We toured the old abandoned house that was built in 1903 and is now my goats' house.

We went to the barn and checked out the solar power that operates the barn, along with the fence charger.

Those who have been here must know that the next stop would be for the young boy to climb the big rock, but it wasn't to be. A vine of poison ivy has sprung up and was clinging to the rock, right where it could be climbed. I claim injury as the reason I let this happen. It goes on my high priority list to eliminate the poison ivy from the big rock.

It was time for them to leave to get back home. I was shocked to realise that we had been together for 4 hours. The time flies by so quickly when I'm talking Dexters with nice people.

I guess I'll see them again at the ADCA AGM. They say they are going.

What a delightful way to spend an afternoon.

I wish I had visitors every day.

[wvdexters]

That is a perfect afternoon. It is so much fun to "introduce" people to our little cattle. Their surprised faces, big smiles, and all the petting and giggling.

We have some friends coming over tomorrow to visit and see the Dexters. They are bringing over their grandkids so it will be a lot of fun. They are long time angus people and have never seen our breed before.

[lonecowhand]

Gene, It is sure nice of you and Babe to share your time and farm to help people on their way to owning Dexters. Do they just find you from newspaper articles, or your ads, or just local talk -story?

[genebo]

They find me from all sources. I sometimes get my name in the local paper, as the man with the little cows. I get a lot of referrals from other breeders, who are too far away or who don't have traditional, horned, A2/A2, dwarf Dexters for sale. I have posted a lot of pictures extolling the beauty and joy of Dexters. I have referred many new buyers to other breeders.

It all adds up. I think that people who read articles about Dexters in the SVF newsletter or Hobby Farmer, or any source outside the inner circle of Dexterdom fall in love with the same kind of Dexters that we raise, and come looking.

I like people, too. I've been known to meet total strangers somewhere and strike up a conversation, inviting thm to come see the little cattle I raise. Some come, some fall in love. They are all entertained.

I remember a time back before I retired and got the farm. We took a short vacation and spent it living in a converted silo on a beef cattle farm B&B. There was little to do there that wasn't farm related. We enjoyed ourselves. I try to make each visit her a mini version of that same experience. I love to see them go away happy.

So many of them are especially interesting. I met my eye doctor here. My stock broker comes here every couple of months to break his routine. He loves to do farm work.

I'm happy with Dexter cattle and it shows.

[genebo]

 heard a lady tell about how she decided she wanted Dexters because of the descriptions she had read from many sources. They all spoke of Dexters as the smallest breed of European cattle, the gentlest breed of cattle, and watched Youtube videos of the charming little Mini-Moos. Historical videos showed the same lovely little cattle placidly going about their business.

Then she made a contact to go see some Dexters, possibly to buy. They were HUGE! She said that the Dexters she was shown were nothing like the ones she was expecting to see. Fortunately, she didn't throw up her hands and quit. She discovered that there are still some of the traditional lines of Dexters about. You just have to search.

That is how it was when I got started. I spent the whole years of 2002 and 2003 searching for Dexters that matched the ones I saw and read about in the ALBC newsletter and Hobby Farms magazine. I finally bought a single heifer from way up in New York State. A cross between a Dexter, Yellowbird Maven, and a Shorthorn bull. She was my entire herd for months. Cute and friendly, but tall! Finally I was able to acquire some genuine Dexter cattle, but it wasn't an easy path.

I must say it was well worth the effort that I and several friends put in to finally get the kind of Dexters I wanted. I have never regretted waiting to find some quality animals. I have been repaid for the effort many times over.

Here I am, showing off how I can milk Dara Inion wherever she stands. Is that gentle enough for you?

[lonecowhand]

Thanks for the pep talk, Gene.
Looks like I'll need a milking ramp! That's exactly the low squat that kills my knees while sailing!
Did you get photos of that train , or just video?

Bill

[genebo]

Sadly, I only got a video and it was poor! I think my hat brim was covering part of the lens. We amateurs are allowed to do that.

That night, our local TV station did a nice coverage of the train. You can see the coverage here:

wtvr.com/2015/06/13/j-611-restored-norfolk-western-queen-of-steam-brings-850-to-old-towne-petersburg/

[genebo]

We had a couple of visitors drop by today. The lady raises Angus cattle and keeps a Dexter bull. Unfortunately, he is a Lucifer descendant and is "ornery" as she puts it.

She wanted to see my bull, to see how much different he was from hers. How gentle. We went into the pasture and within minutes, McBrenn had come to us and she was feeding him bread slices.

She had the typical reaction to this: she giggled.

Then she petted him and fed him some more bread and commented on how long and sharp his horns are. She obviously came with a dread of horns. She didn't show any fear, but she told me later that she was afraid. It dated back to her childhood. Maybe, with a few more visits, she could overcome it, but she has a different reason for not wanting a horned bull.

She wants a bull to breed her "Angus" cows (which are not pedigreed and may not be homo polled. She wants to sell all her calves for beef and those with horns suffer a price cut at the livestock market. Besides, she wants to pass her calves off as "Angus", just like the rest of the cattle being sold there. That is actually proper to do, The rules call for 1/2 Angus ancestry and black hide in order to be called Angus. She wants a new bull which is a Dexter, not too big, gentle natured, that is pure black and homo polled. Anybody know where she can find one?

She would have loved to take McBrenn home with her if he didn't have horns. I told her that if he didn't have horns I would give him to her

Then she saw Cathy! Oh, how she loved Cathy, right from the start. She said she just wanted to hug her. I suggested that she do it, and she did. More giggling. Cathy is a dwarf yearling heifer, with thick curly hair and the stockiest little body! Not tall enough to reach her waist.

She wanted to know why Cathy was so much shorter than the other cows. I explained about the chondro dwarfing gene and how it gives them short legs. I also explained why she can't have both a bull and cow that are both dwarfs to breed together. She said, "I can have a non-dwarf bull and all the dwarf cows I want, can't I?" I confirmed that she could, and that 1/2 of the calves she gets from them will be dwarfs and she won't be able to keep any of the males. She doesn't care. She intends to sell all of her calves for beef, anyway.

So now, who has a homo polled, all black dwarf heifer that has beefy characteristics that they want to sell?

I've been talking to this lady for several years about using a Dexter bull over her cows, and telling her how gentle Dexters are. I helped arrange for her to buy the bull she has now, the one she isn't happy with. So she finally came to see what I was talking about. I hope now that she will be able to get what she wants and spread some more "Dangus" beef across central Virginia dinner tables.

I was tempted to dig some Jackson steaks out of the freezer to give her, but my bride could read my mind and gave me "the look" that said not to. Babe has really gotten hooked on those Jackson steaks.

[otf]

Gene, if your visitor would consider a dehorned Dexter for her Angus, she might like Tuppenny Ringo. Feel free to refer her if you wish.

Thanks,

Gale

[genebo]

Gale, The reason she wants a homo polled bull is because her grade Angus cows may not be homo polled and she needs all of her calves to be polled. The Dexter bull she is currently using is dehorned. That takes care of her fear of horns, and she has only had three calves so far, all polled. But it will cost her money at the livestock auction if any of her calves is horned.

Her plan is to sell her calves as soon as they reach 400-450 pounds. That brings the highest price per pound.

[otf]

Gotcha! Thanks anyway.

Gale

[Deleted]

I get why she wants to do this but in my view still dishonest. The buyer is buying a calf thinking it is Angus or some version of an Angus. It is a pound game not a quality game and that calf is never going to grow as fast or reach the weight that the buyer expects it will.

[genebo]

She is a dyed-in-the-wool beef farmer. She has an Angus bull that she has used for years, but she has problems with having to pull calves and sometimes losing one. That is what brought her to buying a Dexter bull. She wanted the lower birth weights that come from using a Dexter bull.

We talked about how there have been lots of reports of large birth-weight calves from the polled dexter bulls, but she thinks it should not be a problem. Her Angus cows have given birth to 3 Dangus calves so far, and she said that they just popped them out like spitting a watermelon seed Her Angus cows should be able to handle the larger calves from a polled bull with no problem.

It is not only the visitors that learn from coming here. I learn a lot, too. I have never traded beef cattle or sold beef calves. All I know about that is what I hear from those that do. We used to have a weekly meeting at Robie's place, where we talked and talked about cattle. Everyone there was a beef farmer except me. I was the guy they got their Dexter bulls and cows from. Sadly, those meetings stopped and I haven't found a replacement.

Maybe if Babe would part with some of that Jackson beef we could have such a meeting here one day. I remember the day we met at Olde Towne Farm and ate Dexter chili. That was a good time and I got to meet people I wouldn't have met otherwise. I'll pass this idea by my bride and if I get an OK we can plan something. Like the time we had the tattoo party.

[otf]

Mike, maybe she has a commercial herd with cross-bred cows from Angus/Hereford or something (black baldies) and all the calves go to a sale in a group. I really don't know, but there are a lot of cattle people in VA like this. If she were serious about raising Angus beef, she'd go to an Angus producer and pay for a calving ease bull. At least Angus have some EPDs to go by. Gotta wonder what weight a Dexter cross beef animal is going to reach if it's sent to a feedlot or processor at the same time as the full size animals are.

Gale

[genebo]

I know the answer to that!

All of the steers produced by Ivanhoe over an Angus cow were marketed at 900 pounds, vs. 1200 pounds for the Angus x angus steers.

The Certified Angus program calls for an animal to be 1/2 Angus ancestry and have a black hide. Nothing more. There are actually two distinct types of Angus being raised in this country. A small number are fully registered, with recorded ancestry similar to what we keep for Dexters. The vast majority are like the Certified Angus or are simply called Angus because of their hide color. All are expected to be polled, but a few are born every year with horns. The result of the mixed genetics within what are called angus cattle.

Buying angus cattle at the livestock auction barn is risky. Everybody around here knows that and is not put off by it, so long as they can bring the offspring back to the sale barn for a reliable sale. Most of the buyers at livestock auctions are representatives of slaughter houses. The cattle are loaded and taken directly to the slaughterhouse. The feeder calves around here tend to be bought in the spring and sold in the fall after spending a summer on pasture. I don't know of any feedlots around here.

It is not unusual for a farmer to have a mixed herd of browns, spotted, reds and blacks in his herd. He trailers them together to the auction. The cattle wranglers separate them by horns and hide color. All the polled and dehorned blacks go into the angus category. They don't even go by the Certified Angus rules. All the rest go into the "exotic" category. There is a grader at the auction that grades those angus that are fit enough to warrant a grade.

A slaughterhouse buyer will buy from all categories, paying the most for the highest grade angus category and the least for horned exotics. He really doesn't want the horned ones, so he pays the least for them. Then he pulls his 18-wheeler up to the loading dock and they load him up. They are not separated as they are loaded. Beef is beef except for grade. They will be separated for grade at the slaughterhouse after slaughter, as the carcass hangs. Their assessment of grade then is much more accurate than the auction grader.

The farmer is often not present when his bunch sells. Sometimes his cattle get thrown in with another bunch to make a sale, and the sale price is split. The farmer gets a check in the mail or he can wait it out and get his check before going home.

Sometimes his check is bigger than others, and it makes him happy. But it doesn't make him change the way he does things. It's a farmer's lot to revel in the good times and suffer through the bad times. It's all measured by the size of his check.

It's a way of life for the beef farmers. They have been doing it this way for their whole lives. It's rare to find one that wants to update his way of doing things. Change comes when the farmer gets old and quits and somebody new takes over.

Dexters do not fit into this mold. We consider our Dexters as individuals. We study pedigrees and assess individual traits and make breeding plans. It is a passion with us. The closest we get to the big beef stereotype is to the pedigreed Angus breeders. They go beyond us in their tracking of ancestry and traits, but they don't get close to their animals they way Dexter owners do. They actually look down on us for enjoying our cattle as if they were pets. They are simply different worlds.

I sit in on the meetings and gatherings of the beef farmers, but I'm not one of them. I couldn't be, with 10 acres in fence. I couldn't be for the emotional reasons, which are non-existent in their world. I truly feel for my Dexters. Maybe if I couldn't have Dexters I would have a whole house full of dogs, but I'd never have a big herd of beef cattle.

[Blessings Farms]

This whole meat industry is crazy anymore . When at Doc last week we discussed food
and told him about our Dexters ,chickens ,goats and muscovy and he know about them
all and said to actualy not stop that and plan on a way to minimize the work side .
His statement was for our health dont eat any more processed food then you have too.