Farming with Dexter cattle within the African desert

When the Uys household from Shanahoe, Co. Laois within the Republic of Eire visited their pal Danie Kotze’s farm within the Kalahari desert in Namibia not too long ago, they had been fascinated to see his Dexter herd.

Koos and Marie Uys, and their daughter Sinead, had been visiting household and buddies in South Africa and Namibia and stopped off at their pal, Danie’s 7,665ha farm.

“That is primarily a sheep space, however I’ve numerous cattle as a result of I’ve a really huge drawback with guys stealing my sheep and carrying them away at evening time,” Danie informed Agriland.

“From 1996, I received into the Dexter breed as a result of a neighbour purchased two of them for his daughter when she was born, however she died from meningitis and he misplaced curiosity within the breed and requested me if I used to be , so I purchased two cows and a bull from him. I now have a herd of 130,” Danie mentioned.

“I exploit them for milk for our personal ingesting and we additionally produce our personal butter and cream. I’ve three folks from Oxford College doing PhD analysis on the farm and we put the milk into their rooms and so they then enquired the place we received such beautiful milk from.

“We additionally slaughter them – they’ve very good meat. They’re a smaller unit so their steaks are extra reasonably priced. Each week I promote one or two presently of the 12 months,” he added.

The irish Dexter Cattle Society, on its web site, factors out that the breed was as soon as often known as the cottier cow or poor man’s cow.

Its skill to adapt to various and excessive weather conditions and to various kinds of administration is a typical attribute, the society mentioned.

Being not as demanding on land as larger breeds are, means Danie can maintain extra on his land which has savannah. After the rain, all the things turns into dry and unpalatable however the Dexters are in a position to harvest their very own meals.

“They’ve tailored to the setting and are fairly versatile,” Danie continued.

“We have now come from a four-year drought and I’ve offered off my different cattle however I haven’t offered the Dexters. Generally there are very small quantities of grass left on the land and the Dexters, being low upkeep, survive and flourish whereas lots of others die within the drought.

“We received some good rain the earlier season and subsequently we now have lots of grass now. The Dexters assist me to utilise that by producing excellent high quality beef.”

There’s large curiosity in Danie’s Dexter cattle. “I get lots of phone calls about them and I get requested lots to promote them, however at this stage I want extra of them to utilise the great grass and meals that I’ve.

“I wish to put my grass into protein. In our nation we nonetheless eat lots of meat.”

Dexter cattle

Sean Flannery, a passion farmer from Co. Kildare, retains 11 Dexters. He mentioned: “In 2013, the 12 months of The Gathering, there was a gathering in Dundrum, Co. Tipperary, and folks from Namibia had been there. They had been saying how the Dexters survive at 40°C and there have been additionally folks from Canada saying how additionally they survived at -40°. I believed that was superb.

“I used to be all the time all in favour of uncommon breeds and was concerned with the Irish Native Uncommon Breeds Society, the umbrella group for all native uncommon breeds. Shortly after that I received into Dexters. I had been concerned with Connemara ponies.

“In Eire in 2014/2015, there have been about 100 members of the Dexter Society UK within the Republic of Eire. When the society had nearly disbanded, I received concerned in reviving and reorganising it.

“I served on the Dexter Cattle UK Society for 3 years, representing Eire. In 2019 we had elevated our numbers to 200 members and had been requested to organise an AGM [annual general meeting] of the Dexter Society UK in Eire.

“In 2020, the Division of Agriculture informed us that we must type our personal Irish herd e book for Dexters as a result of Brexit so we did that and now we now have over 300 members,” he added.

Their reputation, he mentioned, can also be as a result of new schemes which make grants accessible for preserving uncommon breeds.

“In Eire they’re nearly solely used for beef manufacturing, however they’ve the capability for dairy as nicely. Their milk is wealthy and similar to Jersey herds,” Sean mentioned.

“They’re a really hardy and wholesome breed that calve simply. They thrive on marginal land and are very appropriate for natural manufacturing and end on grass.”