Yipee! the nasty steer is gone!

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.

Goodbye Daisey

On Saturday I sold Daisey the Dexter cow. I had gotten both Daisey and Heifer, the Jersey, pregnancy tested and Daisey was open, while Heifer was bred. (Heifer will calf in Sep/Oct) We only need one cow for milk and a steer for a companion/meat. So Daisey was the one to go. It was also harder to breed her as she had to be bull bred (no Dexter seman and too small to cross breed) and that means loading her up in a trailer, ect. while Heifer can be AIed. Daisey's original owner bought her back so she'll be used for breeding. Her dam was an old cow (17 yrs) and her last calf was dead, so he tried breeding her back for a replacement and that did not work out. I guess Daisey ended up being the "last calf".