Our New Dexter Calf, Cattle Decisions, and General Farm Updates

Reader Contribution by Samantha Biggers
Published on January 24, 2011
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January brought a lot more cold weather to Biggers Farm. It also brought the addition of a Dexter bull calf courtesy of Misty Ridge Bess and Old Orchard Hrothgar. He is our first Dexter calf born on the farm. It is amazing how easy Dexters calve. On New Year’s Day my husband and I noticed that Bessie’s udder was pretty tight so we figured she would calve in a day or two. The next morning there was a calf on the ground. Bessie had already cleaned him up and fed him. At the time we did not know if the calf was a heifer or a bull. Bessie was a little nervous and still recovering a bit, so it was a few days before we discovered we had a bull. Although we were just happy to have had a healthy calf and no delivery complications, I have to admit we were hoping for a heifer this time. Our herd is not yet as large as we would like. We are going to try to train this calf as an ox.

As some of you might know, we were working with a Jersey-Holstein cross to be our farm ox. That did not work out for us. We have not been impressed with how the Jersey-Holsteins do on a pasture based system nor have we been impressed with their intellect. The one we were trying to train learned some of the basic commands quite quickly, but after that it became apparent he really was not interested in working with us. He started running away every time he even saw a halter. We switched where we are feeding the cattle hay recently, and it took us FIVE times of trying to show the Jersey-Holsteins where the new hay was before they figured it out. They would just come back to the top of the mountain and moo for food when they had all they could ever want waiting at the bottom of the hill. We literally had to wave it in their face before they got it, and the only reason they made it that far is that I called our Dexter heifer, Linda Lou down. With the Dexters all you have to do is yell.

Since the Dexter bull calf was born on the farm, and we have been handling him since day 1, he will be more bonded to us. We learned a lot trying to train the Jersey-Holstein. This spring and summer we will also have more time to spend training him. I also need to research how to make a harness for him to train with. They are very expensive to purchase, so I want to see if making one is feasible.

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