How much land would I need to keep a Dexter cow and calf? Keith and I don't use much milk but we do eat beef and I would really like to have grassfed beef rather than the stuff from the grocery store. What do you think would be the best way to accomplish this? Should we get a cow and calf and let the calf nurse to use up most of the milk and then eventually slaughter the calf for the meat? Or should we not even bother with the cow and just get a bottlefeed calf to raise?

I need to do a lot more research before I'd undertake a project like this. I don't even know enough to ask coherent questions. I'm just trying to figure out if it's even feasable to be considering it.

-- Anonymous, February 14, 2003

Answers

I tried e-mailing Em privately last week and she didn't write back. She is usually very good at being prompt so I don't know what's going on there. Last we heard, she was thinking of moving to Canada. Wonder if she did.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2003

I just checked her daughter Lotus's website and she has gigs scheduled in their area for the next two months. So if by chance EM and Bren did move to Canada it looks like Lotus didn't go with them.

I think I'll send EM a private email too.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2003

You know, she probably is really busy with anti-war rallies and doesn't have time to chit chat.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2003

You should be commended for considering this effort of raising your own beef. I'm not a cattle rancher myself, but our family has been involved in the cattle business for a long time.

GRASS fed beef vs. feeding the cow grain / hay (if I'm understanding the question correctly) would mean that you would need enough pasture to allow feeding your animal(s). My wife and her siblings own 10 acres which have nine cows grazing at this time. But this acreage has irrigation lines, which allow the property to be flooded from time to time and give the cows natural grazing. Would your property have enough rain to give the property enough for this.

Then there is water for the cattle themselves. Cattle require at least 10 gallons a day, no matter if in blazing heat or freezing cold. As a responsible owner, you would have to check in the property at least every other day to be sure that your stock tank is functioning.

Have you considered just purchasing a beef from a farmer in the area who subscribes to practices you and Keith are after? If the animal is too large, you can split the cost with another party. I remember having to process a full grown cow after it died in giving birth - we got about 600 lbs of meat from it.

Now we know the answer to the phrase - where's the beef?

Good luck - I hope the two of you find your answers soon.

-- Anonymous, February 17, 2003

And yet another option: the goat + bottle calf. Milk out the goat and use the milk to bottle feed a calf. Depending on the goat, you may have enough milk for 2 calves. More trouble than bottle feeding alone (although you do have to mix up the nasty smelling milk replacer).

Back in the dark ages in ag I learned that an acre (in this area - not all areas!) should support a cow/calf pair. Nowadays, in rotational grazing schemes, it should support a cow/calf pair plus a sheep plus some chickens. Now, in the first scheme, they're talking about feeding some hay/grain in the winter months - take a look outside right about now and tell me what you could picture a cow finding to eat; assuming your weather this weekend was anything like mine!

Sherri's climate is about the same as mine, JR; and we can keep decent pasture almost year round, except when it's under snow. It takes some doing on a small acreage, because you need to rotational or strip graze; and you need to make sure that your paddocks have a variety of grasses and legumes that can withstand the summer heat/drought thing, as well as the winter freeze, and still be palatable.

Sherri, my best advice would be for you to get you a copy of "The Stockman" and of "Small Farm Today" magazines and just read through - just don't get caught up in the alpaca hype! Small Farm Today has a website (www.smallfarmtoday.com) where you can get the names of some really good books. If you haven't already done so, you might also check out www.dextercattle.org I don't know much about them, so I don't know if they take a shorter time to grow out or not. They're cute (saw some at Small Farm Today's Trade Show and Conference that we went to in November) but I imagine that they aren't cheap. Since Pop is down, we won't be raising bottle calves this spring as planned; but when we do, we'll go with Holstein or Jersey steer calves, as we have a lot of Amish dairies around here, plus plenty of pasture ground.

-- Anonymous, February 17, 2003

Thanks for all the good info. This is going to be a few years in the future if we do it at all. I just wanted to get a ballpark figure of the amount of land needed for when we start house-hunting this spring.

Polly, what I'd really like to do is get some Highland cattle, but the things are so darn cute I'd just end up making pets of them. :-]

-- Anonymous, February 17, 2003

Hello Sherri,

My advice is that if you aren't interested in the milk (drinking it and making your own delicious, pure and nutritious, but labor- intensive -homemade dairy products) or in becoming a contributor to the genetic continuation of the Dexter breed by becoming a breeder, then it would be impractical for you to acquire a Dexter. And one of their best qualities is that they are dual purpose animals, so not being interested in utilizing their considerable milking efficiency, it would be more practical to purchase something more common in your case.

They are generally more expensive (and rightfully so) than more common breeds, and they are also so cute and cuddly that it would be nigh onto impossible to raise just one for two years and expect to be able to have it butchered without considerable wear and tear on your emotions.

There is a wonderfully helpful little book about raising a singular calf for your own family's beef called, (strangely enough) RAISING A CALF FOR BEEF by Phyllis Hobson. It pretty much covers everything you will need to know and I highly recommend it.

Please forgive my indulgence in emotional imagery, but I am filled with it tonite............

I just last week picked up my family's annual supply of beef (including for my dogs, who are fed raw meat/bones most days). It was a whole Dexter steer, and was born on my farm, back when I had one. I drove the hour and a half into Wisconsin to pick it up alone, cuz I wanted to; no one on Earth could share the emotions that I knew would be uniquely mine about that trip.

Half of my herd had been sold to these people from whom I was now the buyer, at about half market value, with the firm understanding that they would continue my line, and become the next breeder of this rare, endangered breed of excellent animals, to this couple who promised that they understood the importance of, and my passion for, not only my individual animals, but the whole issue of rare breeds of livestock. I assured them that I would supply a market for any animals they produced, because of the networks I had accumulated during my years of raising my sweet Dexters.

A few months ago, I wanted to firm up an order I had been sure to place for a steer saved for my family. They told me then, in a nonchalant fashion, that they had not been able to find a Dexter bull (BULLshit) and had bred all my (their) cows to a freakin Longhorn. They broke their word, and I was devastated. I'm not sure why I never spoke of this here before, but I cannot express how heartbroken I was, how betrayed I felt for my beloved Dexters.

Anyway, this steer I picked up last week was the last pure Dexter steer left in their herd. I passed their farm on the way to the butcher shop; it's right on the highway, and I remembered how at the sale I had always imagined visiting them frequently, going back to goof around with my little cows, scratch their necks again, reliving the very special and individual memories each one held in my heart.

Many was the time that I attemted to call to arrange a visit, but I never was able to buck myself up enough to go out there not knowing how I would actually react to being again in their presence.

But as I passed by on the highway, I saw my little sweeties briefly (oh, especially little Popsicle, the first calf ever born to my family, and her a very rare brown,and the tiniest of all the dozens born on my farm ..34" at the withers), a truck following me too damn close so I could not slow down like I woulda liked to, but I couldn't find the courage (and perhaps premonitions of lack of control of my tongue!) to stop and visit. So I slowed down as much as I could, waved to them with tears flowing, wondered once again where the hell I belong.......

Peace,

-- Anonymous, February 22, 2003

Gosh, E.M. If I was your mother, I wouldn't know whether to hollar at you for being MIA for so long or give you a big hug for finally checking in!!! Welcome back! Can I ask where ya been or is it none of my beeswax :-)!!??

A situation like yours with your Dexters really makes you lose faith in humankind, doesn't it? You put your trust in someone and they destroy it. Bummer!! What a wonderful oportunity to carry on the quality bloodlines that you'd developed and they blew it!

BTW...if you're stilling wondering "where you belong", I think you belong right here :-)!

-- Anonymous, February 22, 2003

Thanks for your input EM, it was pretty much what I expected. I was primarily interested in Dexters due to your high praise of the breed, but in our situation it's not that practical. I think our best option is to support the grassfed beef producers already established in our area. I've been on the web this morning and I've located several possibilities.

As for your trip back to the farm, shock, sadness, and outrage pretty much sums up my reaction. I know how much that farm meant to you and how difficult a decision it was for you to give it up. Everything I try to think of to say to help you feel better just sounds stupid and lame after I write it, so I'll just think some kind thoughts in your direction. {{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}

-- Anonymous, February 24, 2003