The Dexter steer that I used to have was never nice. He started getting mean at 4 weeks old. He smashed at hay, water buckets, ect. as a calf. He did not behave when I had to milk my Jersey and would jump over fences to come. He would not go back as nicely though! Once when I was milking my cow he got down on his knees and twirled digging his head/horns into the dirt. CRAZY!
Then one night (last week) when I was putting them back I had setup temporary fencing so he would have no where else to go. He completely ignored to temp. electric fence and rat through it. He started running back and forth from pasture to pasture and started growling like a bull and making all sorts of horrible sounds. He also lost all most all respect for humans and did not respect electric fencing any more. So yesterday I called the butchers (actually called two and the first would not fit him in) and told them my woe tale and he went to day! The lady on the phone said "I know what it's like to have a dangerous animal we had one that got out and we had to shoot him he was so mean. I don't want you to have to deal with a dangerous animal" (The next opening was not until the end of Sep.-I'm so glad she fit him in!)
We have a neighbor friend who handles cattle a lot and he is good! He got rope around his neck and then tipped him over and cranked his neck around to teach him a lesson before trying to make him walk. The steer still jumped and bucked, and smashed into a flat bed trailer and almost smashed into the house and cars parked in the drive way, and foamed at the mouth when he was "walking."Our friend tied him to the side of the trailer and after about 1 or 2 min. the steer swung around right into the trailer. Ha ha he was out smarted! He started jumping up and down after he was loaded trying to get out. (He was almost as nasty as the Jersey bull that turned (got mean) on the dairy farm I worked on a couple years ago.) At least he was small. (He was only 14 months-most steers are 18 months when slaughtered.)
Moral of the story is if an animal is mean when young they just get worse-even if castrated! (We should have gotten rid of him as a calf and bought a nice feeder steer to replace him.)
Dexters are not very nice as far as temperament. No wonder my vet dislikes them!
(My Jersey heifer is a lot better at leading and standing for milking than the Dexter cow we used to have ever was. That Dexter cow used to chase my little sister and me around the pasture when she was a heifer . We had to jump up on the big spools I had for my dairy goats. I think it was a game for her and she would not have hurt us,but I'll never know-thankfully. She did settle down when she got older, but no wonder they are a rare breed!)
If any one wants a small cow for milk get a Jersey! Nuf said.
Wow, that steer sounds like a total nut-case!
ReplyDeleteI've heard Dexters are notoriously snotty cattle, temperament-wise. I'd love to get a cow or two once I'm able to get more land. My eye has always been drawn to Jerseys or Guernseys. I like some of the meat breeds, too.
I didn't know that Dexters were so feisty. Thanks for sharing that. We've been thinking of putting cattle on our land (rather than sheep - due to predator issues)and I'd been thinking about Dexters. Well I'm not considering them any more!
ReplyDeleteHope this attitude doesn't reflect on the taste of his meat ;o)I don't have the pasture for a cow so am thinking of two small goats for milk.
ReplyDeleteJuliann if you do decide to get cattle Geurnsey's have fertility issues. They are really hard to rebreed. They are also not very cold tolerant. Some beef breeds are meaner than others. I have heard Angus are pretty bad. There is a guy I got hay from and he sold all his Angus cows after he and his wife had some kids as he did not want to endanger his little ones!
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