Dexter Crossed with Angus Bull

[Broomcroft]

Hello

I am considering crossing some Dexters with a small Angus bull.

Has anyone had experience of doing this and the results with regards to the beef. In particular, did the meat retain any of the dexter flavour?

Clive

[ann]

I have done various crosses over the years and the only time I crossed with an A.A. was when I first started and the result was a heifer calf and I still have some of her progeny in the herd as I have graded them up over the years, I can't speak for the meat from a 1st cross, but the carcases resulting from further dilution with dexter bulls covering the offspring has always kept a better finished animal, some I have sent dead weight before we had to be fab registered to send then direct to kill, and they graded well. If you use the A.A. on your larger animals do keep a check on how your animals finish as these are stastics we are very short of. I have use blonde Aq on large dexter cows via the A.I. route and the end result has been very good but again I have sent these to commercial outlets so are not able to vouch for the quality of the meat.

If the costs of slaughtering continue to rise I may follow this route again with some of my animals.

I know one herd on the borders who x dexters with shorthorns and get very good prices for the steers when sold at a year old.

[Martin]

Hi Clive,
I think you will find that Dexters where crossed with Angus quite a bit a few years ago, and where then graded up. The Angus seemed an obvious choice for crossing when bloodlines where a bit thin on the ground a few years ago.
Martin.