So mad I could spit nails!

[zephyrhillsusan]

This is a thread from KFC, started by someone who's interested in Dexters.  Scroll down and read the posts by Taurus.  Nonesuch Farm (Melissa) had a great response to that rant, but I'm still so mad I could spit nails.  The OP (Cheddar) was the one I referred to in the question about milking lines, and I PMd a link to this thread to her.  I didn't post it publicly because of that hateful rant, I didn't want to bring the poster over here.  With "friends" like that, our Dexters don't need enemies! 

If any of you who milk Dexters and/or breed for milk (as well as beef) care to provide some input, maybe we could start a new thread on here about Dexters as family milk cows.  No "propaganda," just your experiences.  It might be a good idea to get some education out there!

Also, if any of you care to share your experiences with Dexters as family cows, I would love to do an educational post on my blog.  I would want to give you credit by name/farm.  I truly hope you'll all chime in! If you don't care to post publicly here, you could always PM me.

C'mon, Dexter lovers, rally round!

[lakeportfarms]

Susan, Taurus (I presume it's the same person) thinks he's a big shot because he hangs out on Cattle Today and he's always one to jump in with his opinion which is the only correct one in his mind. He never has anything good to say about Dexters, as does a guy on Homesteading Today with the screen name of Haypoint. I once posted a photo of Mike on the Cattle Today site, and he made all kinds of fun about the "toy bull". Funny thing was, I got a couple of private messages from some other members there telling me they had family members who raised Dexters and don't take him seriously, Mike was a beautiful bull.

[cddexter]

Didrect him to Dexter Cattle World proboard.

[zephyrhillsusan]

Yes, you got it, Hans. I wasn't sure of the person's sex, but it seemed more like a man than a woman from the style and tone, not that we haven't had a woman or two like that over there. It's obvious he's ignorant and prejudiced--so ridiculous he says he likes Dexters!--but Dexters get enough bad press that I just can't ignore something like that on a public forum. Any time I do a search on anything about cattle, it's almost sure to contain a link to KFC. I would really hate for someone looking for Dexters to have something like that be the first thing they find.

And yes, Mike was a lovely bull. There was nothing "toy" about him! He was all "bull" (in the masculine sense of the word) and very good-looking.

Carol, you are hysterical!

[dexterfarm]

I would have replied on kfc but it looks like he already took enough of a beating. not much more to say.
We dont want him on dex cattle world ether.

[midhilldexters]

I've been a member of KFC for years, I haven't posted there in years either. It's an ongoing thing that they come down on Dexters, then all the rest of the time you read about their Jersey's getting mastitis, gets old. Same with cattle today, at least on that site you can flip to other forums when the crazies get going.

Carol K

[triplec]

Wow. The Dexter World is sensitive.

I don’t think he deserves so punishment. I am new to dexters but not to raising livestock. I do feel he has a few points that are credible and only couple that have you all upset. I don’t think he was trashing dexters but pointed out that many (not all) get into the cattle industry thinking they are pets and bred aggressively without any culling. These owners treat all the animals if they are the world champions or childern. I don’t believe every head of cattle deserve a ribbon. I also think every male should be a bull or in the same respect every heifer should get bred.
I think many on this board spend a lot of time with their animals so they are docile creatures. The more time you spend with an animal the more it will get accustomed to being handled. The dexters we love get more attention and are loved.
I don’t or have ever milked but believe he is correct in what he said about different breeds milk tests and tasted different and a lower producing jersey would produce about the same of a high producing dexter.

[legendrockranch]

I to have seen him on the Cattle Today forum, even had a small go round with him. He does like to harp on their temperament and how wild and crazy they are.

Barb

[zephyrhillsusan]

midhilldexters, I do know what you mean about the mastitis (although I can't talk), ketosis, milk fever, etc. I have yet to see a Dexter owner post there about ketosis or milk fever, as far as I can remember. It does make me thankful for my Dexters.  In defense of KFC, though, I have to say that it is becoming quite a real community.  There are many people on there who are so knowledgeable and so willing to take the time to share their knowledge with absolutely no benefit to themselves, just because they love their milk cows.  Almost across the board they are kind and helpful and non-judgmental, which is why this poster grates on me so badly.  His posts are so at cross-purposes with the whole tenor of the forum.

triplec, believe me, he's not getting any punishment.  At least he's not feeling in the least chastised! He came back with a really sarcastic and downright nasty post.  This is not our first experience with him, either.  A woman was posting about help for her Hereford cross that got cancer eye, and at the end of a series of helpful suggestions people posted, he came on and made a crack about why on earth anyone would keep a cow with a white face--they must have money to burn.  I'm not sure what breed he thinks is the perfect one, but he sure has no hesitation in trashing other peoples'.

I'll tell you exactly why his posts irritated me.  Here's what he said (emphasis mine):

" . . . finding a Dexter which produces equal quality milk as a Jersey is going to be a challenge. It will either take a long search through a lot of animals to find that one which just happens to have that quality, or its going to take more years of selective breeding than most of us have . . .

That's a nice description [responding to a post in which Melissa recounted her own personal experience with her Dexters compared to her Jerseys], but like a lot of breed association propaganda it's a lot of wishful thinking and a wide generalization which also describes other breeds, including a lot of grades for that matter. The biggest problem that I have with those flowery marketing techniques is that they always fail to mention any drawbacks to a breed, and there is not a single breed which doesn't have them. They make it sound like some mystical animal that is going to revolutionize the world of agriculture. . . .

In my area whenever any mention of Dexters is brought up among serious cattlemen it elicits a lot of groans and eye rolls. Here they are the exclusive domain of the amateur mentality nouveau country gals from the suburbs who have this misty morning and rainbows fantasy about farming without realizing a lot of the realities. They buy into the propaganda mostly because the breed is small, "cute" and they assume easy to handle. . . ."

And in a later post (I would highlight in bold the offensive parts, but it would mean highlighting the whole sarcastic post):

"My Dear Madam, and Other Ladies,

Wow! Until now I hadn't realized that it was even possible to offend cows, Dexters or otherwise, but I am told that I have accomplished even that. Please send my sincerest apology to your animals at your next conversation. Hopefully their hysteria will not be spread to other breeds. If the Holsteins or the Angus got word of this, I wouldn't be able to show my face anywhere in the country.

Please remind your cows that I wrote several times how I do like the breed. Also please note that my comments described in the most general terms a mentality which I have experienced in my area, which as far as I have been able to see includes none of you ladies. Thankfully for me, it would seem. 

I try not to speculate about anything or anyone which I don't have any facts to substantiate. [If only!] If more people tried the same, maybe my experiences wouldn't be what they are and maybe you wouldn't give me more fodder to develop additional associations."

So that's why some of us have responded to him in defense of Dexters.  His admitted rant is not a fair evaluation of Dexters, certainly not an answer to the original post asking about the taste of Dexter milk, based on (apparently) no personal experience with Dexters, and full of innuendo and patronizing and insulting language.

[triplec]

I don't consider myself a homesteader or a comercial cow but stuck somewhere in between the two . I don't see myself as a dairyman. I look at a few of each type of forum in a quest for first hand experiences. I still don't think he was trying to make anyone mad but give facts as he sees them in the cattle worlds.
Dexter milk would be different in quality than jersey. Better can be subjective.
Dexters will not fit into 99% of comercial herds.
I don't think I have read one breed description that read these are the meanest most worthless bovine you will ever raise. The closest was today about Heck "Nazi" cattle. No breed is perfect.
I think he went after inexperienced hobby breeders more than the Dexter breed.

[wagradexters]

Susan, production qualities aside, I think it pays for humans to have more natural intelligence than the livestock they choose to keep.
Goats, Arab horses, Dexter cattle and Kelpies are way too clever for some. They will walk all over some folk and then the blame will be attributed to the animal rather than to where the true inadequacy lies.
Margaret

[trdean]

I have had discussions with Taurus. He is very opinionated and is not a huge fan of Dexters. However, I have had private discussions with him and he is a pretty nice fella. I agree with triplec, no sense getting on the interwebs if you get upset easily. Not everyone is going to agree. Anyway, just wanted to relate my experiences with him. Also, I have seen a few herds of Dexters lately that were terrible. Not all breeders are responsible, the animals were ragged, not well mannered, and a little ugly to be honest. I think these are the types of breeders/owners that give the Dexter a bad reputation...or image.

[RedRidge]

All I will say is that I no longer participate on that forum. My experience has been way too much bad advice to the point of being dangerous should someone take that advice seriously.

[littlecowfl]

I don't think anyone ever changes their opinion on an internet forum. If someone doesn't like Dexters? Fine. More for me. :>

[zephyrhillsusan]

No, none of us thought we could change THAT idiot's opinion, and I can't speak for the others that defended Dexters as to their reasons, but I had to respond because many people looking for a house cow (including the OP), will very likely end up reading that thread. I just can't ignore such ignorance being broadcast about Dexters.

Follow-up, admin gave him a REAL dressing down, and when he kept on, he was kicked off.