Purchasing a Dexter cow

[almostacowgirl]

Hello,

We are looking into purchasing a Dexter cow that is halter broke and trained to be milked. The lady that owns the two cows that we are considering is somewhat of a partner with us and is local. We went and looked at the cows today, but didn't have much time to really look them over or talk to the lady. She did have a copy of the pedigrees, so I'm hoping that you may offer some suggestions as to the cows and what I should do to choose between the two. If possible, I would like to try to handle them first, but they may prefer to get to know me a bit better before they allow me to milk them. There is no hurry really on this, but we would like to bring her home sometime in December.

One is CJS Twila. She goes back to Cornahir Outlaw on her sire's side and some Shome lines on her dam's side. The other one is CJS Taylor. Looks like Twila does share the line to Cornahir Outlaw through Thomas' BLZ Red Yanke on her dam's side. Any thoughts on the bloodlines would be greatly appreciated. Both have a steer calf at their side and have been bred back to her Jersey bull. (Would prefer them to have been bred back to our bull Elliott, but ah well.)

Any thoughts on the lines would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

[midhilldexters]

Hi,
well Twila is PHA tested already, so that is a plus. Do you know anything about her Chondro status? It may or may not be important to you, but good to ask the breeder, she may have tested and may not have reported it.
Also, the breeder of those girls frequents this board so she may be able to also give you some info.
I do know that some of the Shome breeding were good milkers and Deb Davis from Colorado milked, and some of her cows (and a bull) were from the Shome herd.
Going on Pedigree alone of course is hard, but Twila would be my pick, of course you have seen them and know how they behave so temperament you hopefully know about. Some other things to ask the breeder, if she has milked them before and how much she gets and does she have to feed grain.
Good luck and let us know what you decided to do, welcome to the world of Dexters!

Carol K

[wvdexters]

Congratulations on getting your Dexter!! They are wonderful animals and I know you will be pleased with her. I can't be alot of help on the pedigrees but look the girls over very well. Check out those udders and make sure they are good for milking and hand milking. There have been some great discussions here on milk cows and what to look for, and we have some very knowlegeable members here on milking. Make sure you know how much milk they produce and if they've ever had any issues. Since she is your friend maybe you can be present during a few milkings to see how they do. Good Luck. And get ready for butter and icecream. YUM!!!

[almostacowgirl]

Thanks for your replies. I will talk to her about the PHA and Chondro, but since she's used our bulls, I think it's relatively safe to say that both should be negative for PHA and Chondro. I've pm'd Judy, so will wait to hear what she thinks. I'm thinking of going back over and having them show me them again, but with the idea of how well they handle. Right now, they are in a pasture and I'm not sure they are currently milking them. She also has Jerseys, so am not sure if she's milking both breeds right now or not, as the Dexters were not at her house. She did mention how much milk she was getting out of one of them, but I don't remember which one she was talking about. Will figure it out and then make my choice! Kinda nervous, but excited too!