Re: Re: was butter-now Dexters....

[Guest guest]

, sounds like you are a fellow Dexter owner!!! Cool! You know, I have never heard the story of the nearsighted Sea lion!!! May I pass it on to folks in the Purebred Dexter Cattle Assoc.? I am Area Manager 5 for the assoc. and live in N.Y.!

Do you have any trouble drinking Dexter milk? It is high in butterfat!

Thanks, Rose Marie

Re: butter

Hi Rose marie,i have not heard of Dexter cows...PLEASE BE KIND AND TRIM YOUR POSTS WHEN REPLYING!Visit our Raw Dairy Files for a wealth of information!http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RawDairy/files/Archive search: http://onibasu.com

[Guest guest]

oops, I mean't to say a "bulldog calf". Particular genetic disaster to the Dexter breed.

Re: Re: was butter-now Dexters....

, sounds like you are a fellow Dexter owner!!! Cool! You know, I have never heard the story of the nearsighted Sea lion!!! May I pass it on to folks in the Purebred Dexter Cattle Assoc.? I am Area Manager 5 for the assoc. and live in N.Y.!

PLEASE BE KIND AND TRIM YOUR POSTS WHEN REPLYING!Visit our Raw Dairy Files for a wealth of information!http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RawDairy/files/Archive search: http://onibasu.com PLEASE BE KIND AND TRIM YOUR POSTS WHEN REPLYING!Visit our Raw Dairy Files for a wealth of information!http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RawDairy/files/Archive search: http://onibasu.com

[Guest guest]

I would like to say that I really don't think Jersey milk is what's bad about your butter. There is obviously something wrong with the Jersey butter you are getting, but by far Jerseys produce some of the best milk there is with the highest amount of butterfat/milk fat. Jerseys have always been ranked the highest in that area.

I would talk to you farmer and let him know there is a problem. How else can he rectify it. I would also try to get some raw milk from him. If the milk doesn't taste good, there he is doing something that is affect it.

Jersey milk is wonderful and I think you need to have a sit down with the farmer and try to get it worked out.

K.C.

Re: was butter-now Dexters....

Hi ,how very interesting...but i don't know how i would find dexter cow milk if my life depended on it...short of coming to Alberta, which i would LOVE to do!!anybody know of Dexter cows in PA or NY or maybe CT??thanks ,laura

[Guest guest]

Thanks , I don't use that 'kicker' thing. Don't need it.

That's interesting that your Moms cows would stand for that contraption being put on them without being tied. They couldn't have been Dexters!

I know some cows will stand still but not my Dexter! She doesn't mind my attaching the lead, but she would not stand still to be milked. I did try it.

Any other folk tales regarding the breed?

I actually wonder what the Irish called them? They were not called Dexters until the British came and scooped them off the island. You would think they could have helped the poor starving Irish as well!

But anyway, what was the native name for them?

Rose Marie

Re: Re: was butter-now Dexters....

,

I'm with you on the milking facility being basically "whatever"! I am out in the field to accomodate my 2 year old! Whereever the herd tends to be, I go out and meet them. Fortunately they are still coming home for hay, but real soon they will have their fill of the pasture, and I am not sure how far I will have to go to milk, and to what I will tether her to! It would be nice if she would just stand there for me! But no, that's too much to ask!

She had a bullcalf this March, her first calf, and of course it was dead. So I started milking! I am getting almost a gallon a day on this little girl! She is short too, I feel like I am milking a goat!

And she is so cooperative! I just push her leg out of the way by pushing on her hip bone and she knows it means to keep that leg back!

What happened to your 4th quarter?

I had a mastitis problem in a back quarter at first but as soon as she went out to pasture and got some exercise she was fine. But I do notice that the back is always fuller than the front, and one side is fuller than the other. She has been looking back at me while I milk and wondering for sure what kind of a calf I am?

I dread when she goes into heat. I do not know what to expect! Will she stand still for me to milk?

Anyway, Dexters are beautiful!!! I love them!

11-13 years old is not supposed to be old though. Someone told me they can live to be 50 years old!

Thanks!

Rose Marie

PLEASE BE KIND AND TRIM YOUR POSTS WHEN REPLYING!Visit our Raw Dairy Files for a wealth of information!http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RawDairy/files/Archive search: http://onibasu.com

[Guest guest]

The only thing I disagree with is the fact that it's alive and that's the reason for it to taste bad. My butter (and the other people here that make it) is fine. Tastes wonderful. I don't make large batches, but I have in the past and frozen it and when thawed, it's still good. I'm sending some colby cheese to my mom as it comes out the best for me. That tastes wonderful and I make it from raw milk as well.

K.C.

Re: was butter-now Dexters....

K.C.,the milk is fine; i drink it all the time. it's the butter and the cheese. i don't know HOW THE HECK the amish and mennonites make their cheese to get it to taste that bad...and the butter tastes funny, i've concluded, because it's alive and by the time i get it it's always already sour.maybe i've never had fresh, salted butter from very fresh cream.laura> I would like to say that I really don't think Jersey milk is what's bad about your butter. There is obviously something wrong with the Jersey butter you are getting, but by far Jerseys produce some of the best milk there is with the highest amount of butterfat/milk fat. Jerseys have always been ranked the highest in that area.> > I would talk to you farmer and let him know there is a problem. How else can he rectify it. I would also try to get some raw milk from him. If the milk doesn't taste good, there he is doing something that is affect it.> > Jersey milk is wonderful and I think you need to have a sit down with the farmer and try to get it worked out.> > K.C.PLEASE BE KIND AND TRIM YOUR POSTS WHEN REPLYING!Visit our Raw Dairy Files for a wealth of information!http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RawDairy/files/Archive search: http://onibasu.com

[Guest guest]

-Dexter cows are a very old breed, originally from Ireland. Irish legend tells that they are resultant offspring from a nearsighted Sea lion and a Kerry Cow, LOL!! They are a small, hardy, dual purpose breed of cow, with high butterfat content like a Jersey. They used to be taken on ships to provide milk. They come in Red, Black and Dun colours, usually with horns, although the assoc. is now recognising polled Dexters. I absolutely love them! They are wonderful little family cows, don't need much in the way of feed, and have really shaggy udders, that protect them from frostbite in areas where its cold (like here in Alberta Canada!).

Re: butter

Hi Rose marie,i have not heard of Dexter cows...

[Guest guest]

I actually got the quote off literature sent to me by the Canadian Dexter assoc. I am sure they wouldn't mind it being passed on-I think it is neat!! I must correct myself though-I just dug up my page and it was actually a near sighted Kerry Bull and a basking seal! Sorry about that. It is reprinted from the Hamilton Spectator, Ontario. By Ross. July 30, 1986.

Dexter milk is naturally homogenized, to a degree, and so is very digestible. I will admit, when first switching to raw milk period, we had a bit of trouble with the runs, whether from the high butterfat, or our bodies getting used to consuming live food. But that is about it.

I do love my Dexters-I love my Brown Swiss cow too, but my Dexters were my very first milk cows! They are "antiques"-we figure Molly to be 11-13, and Dolly not far behind. However, both gave me beautiful, live calves this year-red angus X! I got them, 5 mos into lactation, never milked before, and w/o the calves. So of course, I had to milk them right away!! With a very minimum of trouble (mostly caused by my inexperience, and dumb idea to try and use kickers!) I got them milked. They both "run on 3 quarters" but gave me close 1.5 gallons each, on TAD milkings! Very impressive for being that late in lactation, in winter, with only a little grain to keep their attention while being milked. And I don't have good handling facilities either-I didn't tie them, except to keep one out of the others food whilst being milked! Beautiful thick cream line too!!

It's great meeting fellow Dexter enthusiasts!

Re: Re: was butter-now Dexters....

, sounds like you are a fellow Dexter owner!!! Cool! You know, I have never heard the story of the nearsighted Sea lion!!! May I pass it on to folks in the Purebred Dexter Cattle Assoc.? I am Area Manager 5 for the assoc. and live in N.Y.!

[Guest guest]

-

I think Rose Marie is in NY....Maybe she could help you find someone....

Re: was butter-now Dexters....

Hi ,how very interesting...but i don't know how i would find dexter cow milk if my life depended on it...short of coming to Alberta, which i would LOVE to do!!anybody know of Dexter cows in PA or NY or maybe CT??thanks ,laura-- In RawDairy , " Ulmer" <vulmer@i...> wrote:> -Dexter cows are a very old breed, originally from Ireland. Irish legend tells that they are resultant offspring from a nearsighted Sea lion and a Kerry Cow, LOL!! They are a small, hardy, dual purpose breed of cow, with high butterfat content like a Jersey. They used to be taken on ships to provide milk. They come in Red, Black and Dun colours, usually with horns, although the assoc. is now recognising polled Dexters. I absolutely love them! They are wonderful little family cows, don't need much in the way of feed, and have really shaggy udders, that protect them from frostbite in areas where its cold (like here in Alberta Canada!).> PLEASE BE KIND AND TRIM YOUR POSTS WHEN REPLYING!Visit our Raw Dairy Files for a wealth of information!http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RawDairy/files/Archive search: http://onibasu.com

[Guest guest]

I just went back and read my post-I should clarify-I was getting about 1.5 gallons from each cow, each milking, on TAD! Just thought I'd clarify!

Sad to hear you lost the calf. That's never fun.

Molly lost one of her quarters before I got her-likely mastitis, as this year when she calved it went from being blind to leaking nasty pus, and gave her a fever, and was a real headache. It has now hardened back up.

Dolly lost her quarter not long after I got her-again, mastitis. Not that this breed is naturally prone to mastitis-I think it has a lot to do with their age, and with my inexperience.

My mom told me that when she was young, in addition to milking their cows at home (in a milking shed, with neck ropes) they would go visit a neighboring family, that had 11 children! (there were 7 kids in my Mom's family). The way they milked their cows was to go out in the field, say "Soooo Bossss" slip the kickers on the cows (all the older kids were out there doing this-there was over 20 head of milk cows). Then they would just milk them out in the field. I would suggest doing this with a cow used to kickers, and a handler used to using them though, LOL! I decided to try this with Molly when she first came home-only I fastened them wrong, and basically had attached a weapon to the cow's leg! Yikes!!

I have heard that Dexters have a long, productive life expectancy, but I must admit-my girls look pretty tired and old! Love em anyways! They definitely are a super breed!

Re: Re: was butter-now Dexters....

,

I'm with you on the milking facility being basically "whatever"! I am out in the field to accomodate my 2 year old! Whereever the herd tends to be, I go out and meet them. Fortunately they are still coming home for hay, but real soon they will have their fill of the pasture, and I am not sure how far I will have to go to milk, and to what I will tether her to! It would be nice if she would just stand there for me! But no, that's too much to ask!

She had a bullcalf this March, her first calf, and of course it was dead. So I started milking! I am getting almost a gallon a day on this little girl! She is short too, I feel like I am milking a goat!

And she is so cooperative! I just push her leg out of the way by pushing on her hip bone and she knows it means to keep that leg back!

What happened to your 4th quarter?

I had a mastitis problem in a back quarter at first but as soon as she went out to pasture and got some exercise she was fine. But I do notice that the back is always fuller than the front, and one side is fuller than the other. She has been looking back at me while I milk and wondering for sure what kind of a calf I am?

I dread when she goes into heat. I do not know what to expect! Will she stand still for me to milk?

Anyway, Dexters are beautiful!!! I love them!

11-13 years old is not supposed to be old though. Someone told me they can live to be 50 years old!

Thanks!

Rose Marie