What would you consider good milking lines of Dexters?

[zephyrhillsusan]

Someone on KFC Facebook is looking for a Dexter from a good milking line as a family cow and asked for recommendations.  I know some, but would like to get other input.  What sires or farm prefixes do you look for to indicate probable good milk production?  Do you know anyone in the Michigan area who breeds for milk?

lakeportfarms, I think of you, of course, when I think Michigan.  Do you ever milk your cows or know of buyers who do?

emsshamrock, how about you?

Does anyone know about John Potter's cattle?

I realize that cattle get sold around, and some from Washington, for example, could have ended up in Michigan.  One made his way all the way to Georgia!  That's why I'm asking in general which sires and lines you would look for in a pedigree?

[dexterfarm]

Woodmagic is going to be the best.

[kansasdexters]

Some of the better udders and milk producing lines that I'm familiar with include offspring and near descendents of Riverhill Saturn's Galaxy, Lucifer of Knotting, Glencara Finerty, and Bedford Romarc Rambler.

In regard to Woodmagic descendents, we have a Trillium Cluny (100% Woodmagic) X River Bend Fancy daughter, Wakarusa Nutmeg Cluny, and she has a massive udder at freshening, which means that she has to be milked for about the first month after calving. It is not the best looking udder, but it is a very productive udder and she weans off a good size calf:

[cddexter]

Patti mentions Bedford Romarc Rambler. That whole line is ex-Grinstead and all have great udders and great milk yield. You should find Hiyu Magician, Hiyu Salty Rambler, and especially Hiyu Saturn's Warlord (recently availaable exclusively through Paula Maras) to provide the goods, in addition to those she mentioned. Salty's dam can be seen in the photo section, under dexter udders, page 2, at 19 years of age with an udder that looks like she's four. Magician and Warlord come from Bedford Oleander, a 5-gal day cow with excellent suspension. If they want a live bull, Paula has three bulls from the same line (two live and one AI, three direct Rosegay daughters, and several 1/2 Hiyu cows, and is breeding top quality dual purpose Dexters. Olga's new Belmont is one of them. Paula also brought in semen from a faultless bull frum England which she is merging with the Hiyu line. There is 103 years of dedicated selective breeding behind these animals, and you won't get any nasty surprises. Cheers, c.

[lakeportfarms]

Susan is this person in the Michigan area?

There aren't a lot of breeders around here any longer that put a lot of emphasis on milking, it's mostly for beef.  We do milk some of ours, but not on a daily basis.  That said, we have a few favorites:

Fisher Creek Farm Luc has a very nice and productive udder.  I just took this photo recently, and she's almost 14 years old now.  She has nice volume, good suspension, and very nice teats for hand milking, but they're also probably pretty nice for a machine too.  She's only had bull calves for the past 5 years or so...lol  Maybe next year we'll get a heifer out of her, but her bull calves have all been very nice.  She has a lot of Trillium Cluny a few lines back in her pedigree and if this person is in the Michigan area her best chance of finding something with a good udder is going to be out of the Cranworth or O'Briar Hill lines.  Problem is we own most all of them now   The Wieringa's also have a lot of the same pedigrees, but they've been changing up their bulls in the last several years, so I'm not sure how their new bulls are going to do on udders with their existing cows.



Here is another heavy Brendan O'Briar Hill cow of ours.  She has a beautiful udder, and produces nearly 2 gallons for us when we share with the calf, milking her once/day.




We do have a couple of other cows that have really nice udders, but we don't and haven't milked them ever. One of them is a granddaughter of Mike on the Dam's side, and has quite a bit of Lucifer and Outlaw on the Sire's side of the pedigree.  She makes really nice calves too bred back to Mike, one of whom is due to calve any day now, and Lara's udder is looking very nice.

[zephyrhillsusan]

Thank you all, so much! I think rather than trying to make a list, I'm going to give her a link to this post, there's so much good information here. Thanks for the photos, too. Yes, lakeportfarms, she is in MI.  I'm not sure where, I know it's a big state. 

[midhilldexters]

I've milked some of John's cows, and I've milked cows from a couple of John's bulls. They all produced well, I share milked took a gallon or so a day for home use and could have taken more easily.
The heaviest milker I had would be a grand daughter of Galaxy.

Carol K

[zephyrhillsusan]

Thanks, all, please check out my "So mad I could spit nails" thread.

[sandstoneacres]

I know this is an older thread, but I have a cow for sale (in Michigan) whose sire and dam are both out of John Potter's stock. She has O'Briar Hill in her, but it is a few generations back. We milked her mom for 15 months and will do so again when she freshens next month. She did pretty well for her first gestation.

dextercattle.org/pedigreedb/ponyweb.cgi?horse=035977&HorseName=breve&Page=1&Sort=0

[zephyrhillsusan]

sandstoneacres, you might want to update her ad with information about milking--close-up photo of her udder, how much she produces, length of lactation, her behavior, etc.  That would be of interest to someone who's looking for a milk cow.

[cddexter]

Susan, if the facebook person is still interested, or in general, it might be useful for others to know that Hiyu Saturn's Warlord has semen currently availaable through Paula Maras. He's a half brother to Galaxy (Saturn of Knotting), but out of an even nicer, milkier cow, and should produce exceptionally uddered cows and still have good beef genes, too. cheers, c.

[zephyrhillsusan]

If I can figure out the proper place to post that on KFC, I'll make a general announcement, cddexter.

[cheddar]

Appreciate all this great information. Susan asked this question on my behalf, Thank You Susan! Now it is time to breed my sweet heifer and trying to look at my options. Hiyu Saturn's Warlord has been mentioned here with mention of semen being available through Paula Maras. Any suggestions of how to contact her? Thanks for your help!
p. s. ~ Any other suggestions would really be appreciated. Your years of experience are of great value to me as a novice. I want to do well by the breed and your knowledge is priceless to me. I am looking for quality more than quantity in the milk department, high butterfat, A2/A2, without losing focus on overall quality of the animal!

[midhilldexters]

There may be others but the only person I know that did butterfat tests is Monica Dexter, so get in touch with her.
dextercattle.org/pedigreedb/ponyweb.cgi?horse=024005&OwnerName=monica%20dexter&SearchFor=1&Page=1&Sort=0


Paula Maras:-
dextercattle.org/pedigreedb/ponyweb.cgi?horse=017104&OwnerName=maras&SearchFor=1&Page=1&Sort=0

Carol K

[zephyrhillsusan]

You're so welcome, cheddar! Stefani Millman of Emerald Park Farm also tests for protein and butterfat. Here's a link to her Dairy Page on her website.  (Mrald Electra, the sixth cow down, is the dam of our herd sire.)