Cattle

The Gilbury Herd

We have now started to assemble our herd of Dexter Cattle with our first four breeding cows. At maximum capacity we hope to have about 10 breeding cows. Because we will have such a small herd we will be able to spend a lot of time with our individual cows and train them to wear a halter for handling purposes. In the future we intend to start showing our cattle and therefore our pedigree breeding programme will be designed to further the breed rather than just produce meat. Sicilienne is an in calf cow, she is a short legged, red Dexter. Georgette is her first calf, she is a non-short, red Dexter. We have also recently bought Bankimoon, a non-short black heifer and Braken, also a non-short black heifer. We are hoping to hire a top pedigree bull for this autumn for the heifers. They are all excellent pedigrees and we hope to show some of them next year at a number of local shows. We also have a small number of pure bred steers which we are rearing for meat. Please continue to watch this space for further developments of the Gilbury Dexter Herd and keep up with our blog.

The Dexter Breed

Dexters are a traditional breed, originating in the south west of Ireland. They were introduced to England in 1882 and were well established here within 10 years. Caitlin's family are Irish and it turns out she has a tradition of Dexter farming in the family just 2 generations ago on her fathers side!

It is the smallest of the British breeds and is dual purpose, producing excellent beef as well as abundant, good quality milk. They make good mothers and can breed for many years. For further information on the Dexter breed please see the Dexter Cattle Society website.

Welfare

Our cows will live most of the year outside on lush pasture and are housed for a short time over winter in a spacious barn where they can go out during the day, weather permitting. We hope to be able to cut our own hay which means that we know exactly what they are eating and although we are not registered as organic we do not use any nasties on our land. We are careful to rotate the pastures for all our livestock to prevent a build up of parasites and we regularly test our soil for deficiencies. We do not routinely medicate our animals, and our high welfare standards and husbandry methods reduce the risks of ill health in our livestock but because we are not organic we are able to treat any problems promptly should they arise. We are always happy to discuss our husbandry methods with customers and welcome visitors.