Pedigree Dexter cattle enter AI breeding programme at Bruan Park croft
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Four pedigree Dexter cattle have for the first time entered into an AI breeding programme at Adreain Gill's croft at Bruan Park.
The Dexter is the smallest and one of the hardiest of all British cattle breeds, having originated in south-west Ireland in the 18th century.
It is a miniature milk and beef animal, usually black but sometimes red, with a long life and low running costs.
An ordinary Dexter cow will give 500 to 600 gallons of milk in a 305-day lactation.
The mature cow weighs in at only 300-350kg, standing a mere 36-42 inches at the shoulder.
Adreain – who has been crofting for 25 years and whose day job is at Dounreay – has 11 Dexters in total, including calves and followers. He took to the breed as being good-natured as a starter cow to build on his 60-hectare holding of rough grazing and hill ground a few miles south of Thrumster.
Adreain also runs a fair mix of quality sheep including 100 North Country Cheviot and Suffolk crosses.
Local AI technician Willie Mackay, who carried out the inseminations, said: "I was very impressed by the Dexter cattle and what they can produce from their small stature and their hardiness.
"We contacted the Rare Breeds Survival Trust at Kenilworth in Warwickshire and had frozen straws of semen from the pedigree Dexter bull Butterbox Morris sent up in a Dewar flask of liquid nitrogen.
"The inseminations went well and I'm hoping for some great results."
