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Post by jamshundred on Aug 13, 2017 19:35:27 GMT
Source: The Rare Breeds Handbook, authored by Derek Wallis in association with the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. RBST is the national preservation effort in the UK.
Section 9 The Breeds. this section shows the priority status of preservation of the various breeds.
Page 112 -
3. DEXTER
Description: Dwarf Cattle with short cannon bones. ( color and emphasis by author).
If Professor Low in the 1840's described the specific traits we identify in dwarf cattle, and Lady Loder whose first Dexter to carry the Grinstead herd name was born in 1904 described the breed as a DWARF breed, and Rare Breeds Survival Trust whose sole focus is preservation of rare breeds identify Dexters as a dwarf breed. . . . . . isn't it time to just admit it!
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Post by cascade on Aug 13, 2017 21:14:41 GMT
In agriculture, the term "dwarf" simply means shorter than usual.
There are dwarf peas, and dwarf plums, and dwarf cherries, and dwarf goats.
The term "dwarf" itself, tells you nothing about the cause of the shortness.
Dwarf Nigerian goats are a naturally shorter breed of goats where 100% of them are born with healthy, naturally short frames.
You can starve animals and plants and create nutritional dwarfs.
You can infect animals with certain diseases and create disease-related dwarfs.
You can infect animals with genetic disease genes and create dwarfs with genetic defects.
Many Dexters are naturally compact with naturally healthy and short genetics. But some Dexters have a lethal gene dwarfism-defect that causes malformed cartilage and bones (Chondrodysplasia). Because it's a lethal gene in the homozygous condition, these lethal gene dwarfs are hybrids and can't breed true, so they throw 3 different phenotypes
25% normal 50% dwarfs with cartilage disease 25% horribly deformed and dead
All of the old breed descriptions and standards describe natural healthy dwarfs where they all are healthy and short.
None of the old standards describe the lethal gene dwarfism-defect with three different phenotypes.
It's obvious that Dexters were meant to be a 100% true-breeding short (dwarf) breed of cattle, without lethal defect genes and without cartilage defects (chondrodysplasia).
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Post by jamshundred on Aug 14, 2017 12:24:22 GMT
In breeds of cattle - - - -DWARF - - -- - means DEXTER!
Men have been sentenced to die on less evidence.
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Post by lonecowhand on Aug 16, 2017 22:46:23 GMT
What is Obvious is that there were traits in the dwarf Dexters which were regarded as noteworthy and desireable for well over a century. The early breeders of Dexters had no idea of what dwarfism was other than the human version. So they weren't trying to produce anything but what they could see.
Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Apparently what they did get was adequate for their purposes, if it wasn't right, it got eaten, most likely. That fact did not stop them from pursuing the breeding and keeping of these kine for a hundred seventy years or so. .
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