Over the past few months in my research and reading I've been thinking about having a grass-finished beef herd as part of my farming operation. If I was going to have cattle on my farm (you must remember that my farm doesn't exist yet!) then wanted to have cattle that could fill a niche, forage on pasture well, and be easy with calving. In my research I came across the Dexter breed which is an older breed from Ireland that didn't come to the U.S. until early in the 20th century. Also, they are a smaller breed of cattle with cows/heifers toping out between 650 - 800 or so and bulls/steers sometimes going a little higher. The beef is supposed to be especially tasty, but just as importantly to me they are great foragers and realitvely easy to care for becuase they are such a hardy breed. Another interesting thing about them is they really are a tri-purpose animal. Dexters can be used for milking, for beef, and even as a draft animal. I am planning on going to visit a few breeders who live in my area to take a look at their herds and learn some more about the breed. Also, my dad and I have been discussing the possibilities of beginning a small herd on his farm to learn, test the waters, and get a head start on things if this is a direction that we can eventually follow.
I continue to be excited about farming possibilities and I am trying to learn as much as I can. Soon I would like to have some plans and goals for our farming adventure posted and hopefully we'll have pictures of our backyard laying hens and their movable pen soon!
P.S. Here are some links to Dexter Cattle Associations
American Dexter Cattle Association
Pure Breed Dexter Cattle Association
1 comment:
Your idea is great but you have to remember that a good cattle is the one that is eating grass around the farmer and that yo can milk them and you don't have to be worry about feed them.Generic Viagra Buy Viagra
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