Dexters in the Movies

Dexter cattle have had small parts in the movies. Pam Weaver's Dexters appeared in the Kevin Costner film, "Robin Hood Prince of Thieves" and in "First Knight" with Richard Gere and Sean Connery.

Pam Weaver, Kevin Costner, and Eileen Hayes at Shepperton Studios during production of "Robin Hood Prince of Thieves".

Early Weaning for the Beef Herd

David Lalman - Assistant Professor Beef Cattle
Oklahoma State University (pdf)

Calves can be successfully weaned at 6 to 8 weeks of age and efficiently raised to a normal weaning weight in drylot. Early weaning will permit high conception rates and rapid rebreeding. While early weaning is certainly not recommended as standard practice, it should be useful in times of drought when purchased feed may be more efficiently fed directly to the calf than to thc lactating cow. Early weaning may also offer cattlemen a chance to achieve high conception rates in cows too thin to rebreed otherwise.

Barnyard

“The Barnyard” is a lighthearted tale centering around Otis, a carefree party cow, who enjoys singing, dancing and playing tricks on humans.


Barnyard-Trailer

Midsummer

Midsummer

Interstate Meat Shipment Bill

Farm Groups Launch National Grassroots Campaign

Washington, D.C. – A broad-based coalition of agricultural and farm organizations is urging Congress to take prompt action on legislation introduced June 15 that would allow interstate sales of state-inspected meat and poultry products. S. 3519, the Agricultural Small Business Opportunity and Enhancement Act of 2006, was introduced by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Kent Conrad (D-ND), and Herb Kohl (D-WI).

Agriculture coalition members said the legislation will resolve a basic inequity which has existed since 1967. Removing the current ban on interstate sales will level the economic playing field for small business, spur more competition in the marketplace, create a more uniform inspection system and further enhance food safety and consumer confidence in the food supply. The coalition is also launching a national grassroots campaign to support passage of the bill.

Coalition members include: the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA); American Association of Meat Processors (AAMP); Center for Rural Affairs; American Meat Goat Association; Kansas Livestock Association; National Farmers Union; National Grange; American Sheep Industry Association (ASI); Missouri Association of Meat Processors; Montana Chamber of Commerce; National Association of State Meat and Food Inspection Directors (NASMFID); National Bison Association; North Dakota Meat Processors Association (NDMPA); North Dakota Stockmen’s Association; Ohio Association of Meat Processors; R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America; Texas Association of Business; and Wisconsin Association of Meat Processors.

State and local agricultural groups have long sought to fix current law which is outdated and restricts free markets. The 1967 and 1968 Meat and Poultry Acts prohibit state-inspected products (beef, poultry, pork, lamb, and goat) from being sold in interstate commerce. However, the prohibition does not apply to “non-amenable” products—such as venison, pheasant, quail, rabbit, and a host of others. These products are normally regulated by state inspection programs, yet can be shipped in interstate commerce without restriction. The agricultural coalition pointed out that it does not make sense to allow these products to be shipped across state borders while beef, poultry, pork, lamb and goats cannot be shipped interstate.

Flies grounded by 'black cow'

By Eric Conn - The Daily Times

ACCOMAC ---- Every summer greenhead flies target beaches and coastal areas along the Eastern Shore. Because of their strong resistance to pesticides and their ability to fly against powerful winds, the insects are difficult to combat and even harder to escape.

For one man the solution to the greenhead fly problem isn't a pesticide or a chemical. Wayne Parks of Accomac has found relief in a strange form -- black cows.

That's the name of Parks' fly traps, which he's been building for years. He said friends and family nicknamed them "black cows" -- a reference to the black enamel paint on the outside of the traps.

Swarms of flies enter a funnel at the bottom of the trap -- looking for a tasty cow belly to bite -- and make their way through a series of screen wires. Once they've made it that far, Parks said, it's impossible for the flies to escape.

The plywood boxes are painted black, Parks said, because greenhead flies are attracted to dark objects. They're also drawn to the heat.

"The flies think the boxes are an animal, and the black paint generates heat. They fly up through a funnel and are trapped inside," Parks said.

His trap, which is an interpretation of one introduced by the University of Delaware nearly 35 years ago, catches greenhead flies by the thousands, he said.

How To Build A Black Cow

Happy Summer!

Summer Solstice

PDCA Online Pedigree Site Updated

Doug Meyer reports that he's completed the quarterly updates for the Members, Herd, and Transfers tables, for the PDCA's Online Pedigree Site. If you should see any issues or have comments please send your feedback regarding the site to Doug . I'm sure that Doug appreciates all of the positive input that he's received.

Jewel perfects live shows thanks to cattle

Pop star Jewel treats her fans like cattle when she's performing for them because cows taught her never to be bound by set lists. The Alaskan singer/songwriter learned how to play to a crowd as a child as she listened to her father playing the guitar in a field full of cows.

She explains, "The stuff I learned about singing live I got from my dad. He'd never write a set list - he would read the crowd. "Reading a crowd is like reading a herd. Do that right, and everyone goes home happy."

Jewel recalls summer nights with her farmer father with great fondness: "We used to push our cattle up to the head of the Kachemak Bay. We'd build a campfire. He'd get out his guitar and sing songs about the local characters. "You could hear the cattle bawling in the background. It was so peaceful."

Happy Father's Day!

Toyota's 'green' efforts move to cow dung

TOKYO • 'When it comes to saving the planet, Toyota Motor Corp seems to be leaving no stone unturned. Nor, as it turns out, any pile of cow dung.

The world’s number-two car maker said yesterday it had co-developed a cutting-edge composting ingredient and process that drastically reduce nitrous oxide, methane and other greenhouse gases, as well as offensive odours produced by livestock waste—part of its efforts to clean the environment.

“We’ve always wanted to do more in the agricultural field,” Yasumori Ihara, a managing officer at Toyota, told a news conference.

“This is a dream come true.”

When mixed with cow manure, the ingredient — developed jointly with Menicon Co, Japan’s top maker of contact lenses—speeds up the time it takes to convert the waste into compost, to 45 days from anywhere between 90 to 180 days. The resulting compost is also of a higher quality, containing less nitrate-nitrogen, a water pollutant, Toyota said.

“After using this formula, the neighbours stopped complaining about the pungent smell,” a cattle farmer who tested the magic powder, appropriately named “resQ45” for Recycle, Eco, Speed, Quality and playing on the word rescue, said in a promotional video.'

Farmers give restaurant a local flavor

Farmers Weekly - UK

'Farmers in the Peak District have been treated to a taste of their own produce by a new restaurant in Derby called Soul.

It has been set up by Robin Mitchell on the back of a successful delicatessen in the city, with the aim of showcasing fresh, locally sourced food.

The restaurant opened with a taster for its farmer suppliers, including beef producer Arthur Gee, who specialises in rearing and finishing traditional grass-fed cattle such as Dexter and Lincoln Red breeds.

"Soul is the perfect customer because it appreciates my beef - I'm not looking to sell to someone who just wants a cheap joint," said Mr Gee.

"It's also a very good shop window for me."

He farms just 30 miles away, near Buxton.'

Flying & Simulated Cows

Bulls Get It On With Simulated Cows at Farmers' Fair

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Live "sex shows" of bulls mounting a simulated cow have become a big attraction at an agricultural exhibition taking place in New Zealand.

The fake 'cow' — a small go-kart with natural cowhide on its roof — was developed by Ambreed New Zealand Ltd. to collect semen from bulls more safely and efficiently and improve artificial breeding of cows.

Woman hit by flying cow

June 19, 1956: "Sees Flying Cow." While walking, Janet Whittaker of Michigan looked up to see a cow flying at her. Apparently, "Bossy had been knocked off her feet by a car on a rural road." Whittaker was bruised. The cow, too. And the car suffered $300 in damage.

Flag Day

Hire a dog...

Dogs are entering new career paths, learning to sniff out mercury in Minnesota schools, invasive weeds in Montana, cancer in people - even cows in heat.

"The dogs do better than bulls," said Lawrence Myers, a professor of veterinary science at Auburn University in Alabama, who wanted to increase the success rate of impregnation attempts, a pressing demand in the dairy industry. Myers, a leading expert on dogs' sense of smell, added that because dogs "have no innate interest in cows in heat," it takes repetitive training to teach them how to know when the cows are ready.

Hunting bedbugs, DVDs or cancer? Hire a dog.

New Address

Dean & Rosemary Fleharty have completed and moved into their new home. I had the opportunity to visit in early spring before completion. It's very nice with over a hundred acres for their Dexter cattle and Norwegian Fjord horses. The energy efficient house also provides a much needed office for our growing Dexter cattle association.

Purebred Dexter Cattle Association of North America
25979 Hwy EE
Prairie Home, MO 65068
660-841-9502
dfle@c-magic.com

Hay In Art

Hay In Art - A collection of great works of hay.

Van Gogh, Haystacks near a farm. Watercolor. 1888.

'Fat cows deliver wee boys'

'New data from a study of Waikato cows suggests that if women want to give birth to a boy, then hitting the high-calorie diet before conception may be just the trick. Shedding kilos beforehand may help to ensure a girl.

Scientists from the Hamilton-based dairy research organisation Dexcel and an Irish colleague have studied 18 years' worth of data from 1200 cows.

"Cows gaining weight or condition - primarily body fat - prior to conception are more likely to have a bull calf nine months later," Dexcel scientist John Roche said yesterday.

The reverse was true when it came to births of heifers (females).'

Complete article by Stephen Ward - Fat cows deliver wee boys

June Dairy Month 2006

Dairy links courtesy of the Midwest Dairy Association:

The History of June Dairy Month

June Dairy Month Recipes

Dairy Web Sites To Visit

Dairy Product Trivia

June Dairy Month Coloring Page

PDCA Show & Sale Entry Form

Online here.

2006 PDCA AGM Schedule

Purebred Dexter Cattle Association of North America, Inc.
Annual Meeting & Show/Sale
Ashland County Fairgrounds
2042 Claremont Ave. Ashland Ohio
Oct. 12 - 15, 2006
Thursday Oct.12, 2006

Accepting Dexter Cattle 10:00 am through 3:00 pm Friday

1:30pm - Leave Ashland County Fairgrounds for tour at Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), and tour the Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI).
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm tour at OARDC & ATI
4:30 pm arrive back @ fairgrounds

Dinner on your own

8:00pm to 9:30pm Open Forum at Coliseum (fairgrounds)
Hosted by PDCA Senior Breeders

Friday Oct.13, 2006

8:00am - 11am Board Meeting Mozelle Hall
8:00am - ? Committee Meetings Mozelle Hall

Noon - Lunch on your own

1:00pm Techniques class - hands on opportunity - example casting an animal

1:45pm - 4pm Classification - Novice Class - Hands On
Four Dexter animals will be judged, then oral reasons will be given for the Judge's placements. Then the audience will be broken down into 4 groups. They will, using a supplied handout, then judge four groups of animals (total of 16 animals) that are tied to the side of the show arena. After the groups have completed their score cards; those cattle will be judged, so the audience can verify what they saw versus what the judge saw.

5:00pm - 6:00pm Dinner

6:00pm Speaker - Grass Fed Dexters

7:00pm Round table Discussion

Saturday Oct.14, 2006

8:00am Dexter Cattle Show - Coliseum

30 min after Show
Dexter Cattle Sale - Coliseum

12:30pm - 1:30pm Lunch - Grass Fed Dexter Hamburgers

1:30pm PDCA Annual Meeting

5:30pm Dinner

7:00pm Dexter Cattle Video Show

8:00pm - ? Friends of Dexters Auction

Sunday Oct. 15, 2006

8:00am - 11am PDCA Board Meeting

2006 PDCA Dexter Video Contest

The Record upcoming will have complete details but for those anxious to get started here's the basic information:

Classes: (ages will be as of 10-1-2006)

Bull calf, less than 8 months of age
Bull calf, 8 -12 months of age
Yearling bull, 1 to 2 years
Bull, 2 to 4 years
Mature bulls, over 4 years
Heifer calf, less than 8 months of age
Heifer calf, 8 -12 months of age
Yearling heifer, 1 to 2 years
Cows up to 4 years
Cows over 4 years
Cow/calf pair, any age
Best herd (separate tape of entire herd, including bull if you have one)

Entry fee: $5 per entry; make payable to PDCA. This fee will be donated to the FFA judging team who will judge the videos. This fee is ½ of last year’s fee and is being donated to a good cause. Please get involved, videos will be accepted as early as tomorrow, but no later than 10/14/06.

Judging: Judging will take place during the annual event and the classes will be critiqued and awards given.

Mail to: Dawn Wertz, 996 Twp #553 RD#2, Ashland, Ohio 44805

2006 PDCA Dexter Photo Contest

There will be a Dexter photo contest at the 2006 PDCA Meeting, Show and Sale. This is a fun event, which gives everyone a chance to show off their favorite Dexter cattle. This is especially important for those who wish they could attend, but cannot and for all of those who make the trek to Ashland, Ohio in October. The contest is open to PDCA members.

Send 5 x 7 or 8 x 10 color photos of your Dexter cattle by 10-01-06 to Jim Johnson, 5284 West Streetsboro Road, Richfield, Ohio 44286-9564. Please enclose $3 entry fee (payable to the PDCA) for each photo entered. This fee is $2 less than last year.

Classes will be offered in the following categories:

1. Individual cattle pictures
2. Dexters in a scenic setting
3. Dexters and people
4. Working Dexters
5. Dexters for Beef
6. Milking Dexters
7. Dexter calves
8. Dexter cow-calf pairs
9. Dexter herd bulls
10. Dexters on Display (fairs, field days, etc.)
11. Other

The PDCA reserves the right to use photo entries for the purpose of promotion of the breed, but will give appropriate credit to owners if photos are used.

Awards will be given in each class and participants at the PDCA Meeting will select a Grand Prize Photo. The winner will receive a one-year free membership in the PDCA.

Champion Dexter - UK

Congratulations to Veronica Schofield (Harron Sonia) for the Champion Dexter in the Northumberland County Show.

A Pasture Called Brooklyn

New York Times -

'It's been a long time since cows dotted the Brooklyn landscape. But one corner of the borough is still famous for a bovine resident, and I'm not referring to the Brooklyn Museum gallery where the artist Damien Hirst famously displayed parts of cattle in 1999.

This is the Prospect Park Zoo, home to Aggie, a Dexter cow who is happily all in one piece and the star of Extraordinary Dairy Weekend, tomorrow and Sunday. Visiting city children can get a feel for rural life by learning how to milk. They won't experiment on Aggie but on Daisy milkers, wooden cows that are filled with water and quite cooperative.

Real cream, though, will be used to churn butter according to a method any New York kitchen could accommodate. "You put heavy cream into a Tupperware container and shake it for three verses of 'Old MacDonald,' " said Corey Finjer, a zoo spokeswoman. (Crackers will be provided for tasting.)

Further attractions include a cow wash (Aggie's bath is at 3 p.m., weather permitting), other animal encounters, crafts, wildlife-theme shows and barnyard races, including one approximating a not-so-glamorous rite of farming.

"The favorite year after year is Scoop the Poop," Ms. Finjer said. "There's a lot of hay, with fake cow patties in it, and the kids all get rakes and shovels." Prizes go to those who fill buckets the fastest. And no one complains that the experience just isn't real enough.

Extraordinary Dairy Weekend, tomorrow and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Prospect Park Zoo, 450 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, (718) 399-7339. Admission: $6; ages 65+, $2.25; 3 to 12, $2; under 3, free.'

'Better Butter ... From Happy Cows'

Woman Makes Butter on Her Vermont Farm the 19th- Century Way -- and Top Restaurateurs Taste the Difference.

Anny, the Ami-Cow

Nearly 60 years later, loop is closed in cow's story.
HALSEY, Ore. (AP) — Bob Kirk was just 13, that Sunday in 1950 when his pastor at the Halsey Methodist Church gave an impassioned sermon about the power of a single cow.

Just a single cow could help feed starving World War II refugees in Europe, the pastor said, urging his congregants to consider a donation to The Heifer Project, launched to give hungry refugees a continuing source of milk rather than a one-time gift of milk powder.

Kirk's family didn't have much income from their small family farm, but they could spare a calf — so they hauled what Kirk remembers as a "scrawny little cow" to the train station for shipment overseas.

Continue story...