Dexter Cattle American Legacy

Historical example:

In the early years of the last century small beefy red cattle with white faces and horns roamed the pastures and feedlots of America by the hundreds of thousands.  Hereford cattle was the beef choice of the beef producers and the showman.  Angus had yet to arrive in sufficient numbers toa claim domination in the beef market.   In the early 1920's polled cattle were introduced into the horned Hereford breed.  It took less than half a century for the horned Hereford breed to be genetically decimated and changed for all time.

In 1993 semen from a polled bull named Saltaire Platinum ( ADCA-6504) was imported to Canada and to America.  The importers of this semen assured the skeptics in the leadership of the American Dexter Cattle Association of his purity.  This was important.  The American Dexter Cattle Herd was the ONLY herd in the world which DID NOT have an upgrading/outcrossing program, so by pedigree. . .  EVERY SINGLE DEXTER in the American herd had heretofore been a fullblood Dexter although another recent horned import was beginning to change that status.   The voices of the skeptical were silenced in the same manner used to manipulate and silence dissidents since the beginning of time.   They were shamed and bullied.  The bull Saltaire Platinumm 6504 was duly entered into the herdbook of ADCA.

THE AMERICAN BREEDERS WERE NOT TOLD THE TRUTH.   This bull had instances of "upgrading" from the English appendix/upgrading program recorded in the herdbooks of England.  RECORDED.  Not heresay or speculation or gossip.  This information was RECORDED in the records of the Dexter Cattle Society.  The gr-gr-granddam of this bull was an Angus crossbred entry in the English upgrading program.  A breed association whose mission statement, " to protect the purity of Dexter cattle" did not do their homework, did not fulfill their mission statement and have placed a unique and special horned breed at risk and in crisis.

In 1994 the first polled calves from Saltaire Platinum were born and entered the breeding program.  The most prominent of the first three was Llanfair's Polgaron, registration # 6608.

PLEASE NOTE - - WHEN THE FIRST POLLED BULL WAS ENTERED INTO THE HERDBOOK HIS REGISTRATION NUMBER WAS 6504 AND HIS FIRST DOMINANT BREEDING SON WAS 6608.

FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST AMERICAN IMPORTS IN THE FIRST DECADE OF THE 1900'S THERE HAD ONLY BEEN 6600 CATTLE  IMPORTED OR BRED ON AMERICAN SOIL.  HOW MANY OF THESE BREEDING ANIMALS WERE STILL LIVING AND PART OF THE DEXTER BREEDING PROGRAM IN 1994?

IF IT TOOK LESS THAN 1/2 A CENTURY TO DECIMATE THE DOMINANT BEEF BREED IN AMERICA, NUMBERING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF ANIMALS. . .  HOW LONG BEFORE A SMALL HERITAGE HORNED BREED NUMBERING ONLY A FEW THOUSAND AT BEST. . . . . . AT BEST. . . . . IS STRIPPED OF IT'S HORNED HERITAGE AND GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOR ALL TIME?

VERY SOON DEXTER BREEDERS.  THE NUMBERS ARE HEARTBREAKING TO COMPILE.
WHAT IS *your* association or group promoting?   How many HORNED Dexters grace the pages of the ADCA Bulletin or the PDCA Journal or their websites or the websites of their members?   Please take note.

If you revere and value the unique qualities and special characteristics of the HORNED Dexter breed, than *you* must . . . .  DO. . . something and you must DO IT NOW.
There is no time for contemplation.  Breeders must be educated to handle and breed horned Dexters. Do you think the Texas Longhorn breed would allow their heritage to be destroyed by upgraded polled animals?  Do you think that Scottish Highland breeders would permit their breed to be devastated by polled cattle?  NO! !  Neither breed would permit their very identity from being corrupted.  They are, after all, HORNED breeds, widely recognized for those lovely horns.  As Dexters should be.  Much of the unique beauty of Dexters was their horns.  Why oh why are we permitting our wonderful breed to be defaced, it's identity smeared into some middle ground between lowlines and. . nothing.    Why. . have Dexter breeders permitted this breed to be placed in crisis?   DID YOU NOT CARE?   OR WERE YOU NOT INFORMED BY YOUR BREED REPRESENTATIVES?

                Now you know.  What can  YOU  do to help make a difference?

The Dexter breed has survived because they are a unique and special breed of cattle.  Take a Jersey, an Ayrshire or Holstein,
a Scottish Highland, a Texas Longhorn, and a Dexter and place them in a pasture and any breeder familiar with these breeds can name each one as the breeder walks the field.  Each have their own breed characteristics which identify them.

The Dexter is in danger of losing its identity and phenotype and therefore we risk losing our breed.  The Dexter cattle of old had unique conformations, beautiful heads crowned with stately horns and small stature.  LOOK at the photos above.   How many Dexters in your pasture actually have the appearance of Dexters of old?

The unique qualities of our breed are being blurred perhaps even lost for all time due to the importation of semen from bulls that have recorded lineage that IS NOT Dexter.  Their breed characteristics are slowly erasing the uniqueness of the Dexter herd in America.  When our animals look the same as existing breeds they will not have a place in the market.  When we lose their unique phenotype, remove their horns, breed them as is happening to look more and more like the existing beef breeds in demand. .. . . they CANNOT and WILL NOT compete.    They must remain the unique heritage breed to survive into the future.  Please consider this.  Give it thoght.  Pause to consider if you are part of the problem or will be part of the solution.

Polled Breeders !   Most of you are not responsible for the crisis nor did you make decisions that paved the path to the inevitable result.  YOU can be part of the solution.  Polled cattle are here to stay and more will come.  If polled breeders would make an effort to return traditional horned cattle to horned breeders/buyers interested in horns this would help keep the traditional population growing.  Primary purposes for polled cattle have traditionally been the commercial meat supply - - so returning horned Dexters to be used in traditional breeding programs should not decrease that market.   It is even more important for polled breeders to understand the importance of root stock genetics and the need for preservation than traditional breeders because these root stocks serve your breeding division as well and should be treasured and conserved.


IT IS THE ROOT STOCK CHARACTERISTICS OF DEXTER GENETICS THAT HAS PROTECTED AND PRESERVED DEXTERS THROUGH THE DECADES BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN SO UNIQUE IN QUALITIES OF INTELLIGENCE, MEAT, MILK, MOTHERING, CALVING, AND MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL.  .    HEALTH.
THESE ARE GENETICS THAT YOU NEED TO REPLENISH BLOOD LINES.  WORK WITH US ! !