White Dexters - Anyone got some?

Rob R · Post by **Rob R** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 6:57 pm

I've just heard about someone who saw a White Dexter at the Royal Welsh, I didn't know there were any in the country.

natmadaboutdexters · Post by **natmadaboutdexters** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 11:47 am

These look like British White cattle to me, are they short legged at all as I can't really tell from the photo?
from Nat Lewis

Rob R · Post by **Rob R** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 2:39 pm

They are supposed to be 7/8th Dexter, 1/8th British White, saw them on http://www.minicattle.com/entry.cfm

Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 4:11 pm

Emeritus Professor Richard H Gradwohl has a very interesting site. I have been watching it for some months with interest, heightened when the Scottish Farmer reported on the birth of an imported miniature Hereford embryo. Knowing that the Hereford breed in USA had a terrible battle to get rid of dwarf breeding cows in the mid 20th century, I am concerned that the same genes will not have been allowed to be imported into UK. The problem with the hereford dwarfs was that unlike the Dexter where the carrier for the Bulldog can almost always be identified visually, in the hereford case the carriers were visually normal and the dwarf was the homozygous form equivalent to our bulldogs. But in the case of the hereford the dwarf was viable though commercially useless. The story of how it was irradicated is told in a book " Battle of the Bull Runts".

I emailed Prof Gradwohl and asked him "can you tell me if your cattle are free of the Hereford dwarfing gene and/or the Dexter chondrodysplasia gene? Will they breed true in respect of size and colour"

His reply was "The Herefords we have have never had a dwarf. Most of our Dexters or Dexter cross have been tested for the bulldog gene"

Duncan

Sylvia · Post by **Sylvia** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 4:22 pm

My goodness that web site makes me uneasy, and not just because we are asked to 'bare' with them.

Louisa Gidney · Post by **Louisa Gidney** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 6:47 pm

Like Duncan, I stumbled across this website some time ago while Googling for something else cattle related. As far as sales go, he must be working on the principle of "there's one born every minute" or a "fool and his money...". I particularly like the concept of the "Irish Jersey". Some of the photos really do not do the animals any favours. I'd love to know how the good professor defines miniature from dwarf, as I would say at least one calf was a classic dwarf. It's certainly an interesting experiment in cross breeding then line breeding to create new phenotypes & probably replicates in reverse much of the work done by the C18-19th "improvers".
Spot what I've been working on recently.....
Advance health warning, I shall be droning on with thesis related waffle for the next 3 years.
But does this site contain a warning about where our Dexters got their dwarfism from? Someone spotted a niche market for cute little cows & found a breeding combination that produced them & what happened in subsequent generations was not his problem.

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 8:10 am

His reply was "The Herefords we have have never had a dwarf. Most of our Dexters or Dexter cross have been tested for the bulldog gene"

He said he tested, but did he say what the result was?

Rob R · Post by **Rob R** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 2:44 pm

Are the rumours true though, has someone in the UK really paid $1500 for an embryo from him?

Woodmagic · Post by **Woodmagic** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 3:43 pm

Like Louise I stumbled on this site some time ago, I see it has expanded since, so presumably he is finding his unwary customers.
Certainly I spotted several in his gallery, which showed indisputable signs of dwarfism. We certainly don’t want such imports. I too, was intrigued to see the name ‘Irish Jerseys’ he has a vivid imagination.
While I suspect he is in it for the money, and his breeding programmes suggest he has some knowledge of genetics, I think it probable that the originators of the dwarf in the Dexter were genuinely thinking they had improved the little Celtic cow. Certainly breeders in the mid twentieth century who finally virtually wiped out the original were aiming for more beef.

redhill · Post by **redhill** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 6:12 pm

We could be pedantic and say if it aint got horns it aint a Dexter, but then again so long has passed since the recognition of the "naturally polled" Dexter that some of them are as pure as many non naturally polled Dexters.If this is accepted by the powers that be how will they justify penalising any Dexter for having the odd bit of white where it should'nt mind boggling. Bill and Sue

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:47 am

I note that he has registered the the name "White Dexter" as a trade mark ™ and he says that they qualify as a new breed. He says they are 7/8 Dexter. Can he legally use the name Dexter? I suppose he is qualifying it by stating White, but because the word White is a verb that is merely modifying the word Dexter, i.e. defining a type of Dexter, in effect he IS saying they are actually Dexters.

Any lawyers on board (but no fees please?).

PS. Not meant in a threatening way, just an interpretation/view would be interesting. Maybe he's going to do White Aberdeen Angus as well?

wagra dexters · Post by **wagra dexters** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 5:42 am

Adjective. If I don't say it, someone else will, I'm sure. I love it when other people make mistakes, because it takes all the onus off me when I make them.

Woodmagic · Post by **Woodmagic** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 12:13 pm

I did wonder if he wouldn’t have some Irish folks, who happen to be breeding Jerseys, hot under the collar, at his talk of ‘Irish Jerseys’.

Kathy Millar · Post by **Kathy Millar** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 4:25 pm

Someone in the States is breeding miniature whatsits and probably selling to the pet market. I say, a runt is a runt and I don't care how cute it is.

Speaking of pets and depressed Dexter markets, it really annoys me that people here can sell puppies, even cross-breds, for as much or more than I can get for a registered yearling heifer. Obviously I am in the wrong market here ???

Rob R · Post by **Rob R** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:30 pm

A neighbour of ours sold two 'mongrel' female ginger kitten for £50 each- apparently they're in big demand (and short supply), makes breeding pigs seem like a waste of time :D