Developing a soft spot for Dexters

Despite the major catastrophe on their arrival, the 2 Dexter cows have settled in very nicely now.

They’ve made good progress with eating all the grass in the three paddocks they’ve been moved through and are better behaved now. They are still a little flighty if more than one person approaches but at least it looks like they know this is home now.

For the last few weeks it’s been possible to hand feed them a little straw from time to time which helps both us and them to get better acquainted. This regular contact has also meant that I’m getting more attached to them than I had expected.

Daisy the Dexter
Daisy the Dexter

We still need to get them a little more docile and manageable because they are due to calve in December and January. Although they’ve both calved before and there shouldn’t be any problems, it would be nice to know that we (or in an emergency a vet) can get close enough to help if needed.

The next stage more recently has been working up to touching them and, while she might not like it all the time, it looks like Daisy is happy enough to be stroked if there is some sort of treat involved. Unfortunately Nellie is more cautious and just not interested in physical contact yet but I’m hoping it’s just a matter of time.

After the calving our next big concern will be how the paddocks hold up over winter with so many feet trampling over them. Although Dexter’s are fine to stay out all winter, depending how the winter weather develops if the fields are getting too much damage we don’t have a lot of options to house them. However if the situation ever gets really bad then there’s no choice and they’ll have to go into our old tin barn.

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