multi purpose moos

[dpack]

it is easy to consider moos for food(meat and/or milk) and leather,horn ,bone etc but they can be of other significant uses as well.

they are ace at turning marginal land into good grazing/ salad forage

they can be used as draught animals and some can be ridden .

moo wrangling is best learned from experts ,it does take bottle and effort but they are easier to feed and maintain than horses.

some moos are pretty good perimeter guards ,it would be a brave cattle thief that messed with dexter steers protecting their mums and baby brothers and sisters.

on a similar theme some moo mums can defend an area rather well(my fight with the killer kerry was rather interesting)

i recon if i had a choice i would go for moos as draught animals rather than any of the equine options and if it was eat the moo or the horse first the horse would be lasagne and my brittle pony jerky asap.

[NorthernRaider]

I think there could be a few threads or discussions in the archives about Mini moos like Dexters, I think that both Tigs and Mary have mentioned them in the past.

[bigpaul]

err...moos? moos? cant you even name the animal correctly? or is this spam? i'm suspicious either way.

[bigpaul]

or is it a 6 year old kid??

[NorthernRaider]

Some links to sites specialising in Dexters

http://www.eagleridge-dexters.co.uk/keepDexters.html
http://www.dextercattle.co.uk/the-societ...795531.pdf
http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/for...pic=8998.0
http://www.countryfarm-lifestyles.com/de...uBymrtifIU
http://www.smallholder.co.uk/news/107098...re/?ref=ms

[dpack]

i usually refer to the herd as moos,i have around 18 pedigree dexters depending on what got eaten and what got born recently(i cant be arsed with details most of the time),they are part of a larger herd of around 50 which my co farming partners and myself have been building up for the last ten years.they live on salad and hay much of which is from sssi land.

i have had highlands from calves to full grown meat size but they are a bit heavy for the rather damp land we have available although they are easier to handle in some ways.

for draught animals the old ox breeds seem best and are what mrs co farmer uses.
apart from one highland who i made quite tame and biddable i leave the riding and draught stuff to somebody who enjoys it but making friends with bulls and being able to re tag a steer's ear or untangle a fence from it's legs is stuff that seems normal .

i recon that moos are a good long term asset but in a difficult shtf phase they might be a bit of a scum magnet,however what they had in their pockets might be useful once they didnt need it anymore.

learning how to wrangle moos and other farm critters makes sense even if you dont have the means to keep them pre shtf .
if tshtf animal wrangling and husbandry seems to be a potentially useful skill set even if it is a short term means to persuade dinner to walk home with you or not give away your position.

[NorthernRaider]

There is a small holding about 300 meters north of me who has a limestone SSSI on a piece of his land, I think he grazes cobbs on his land, somehow the grazing protects a vulnerable plant species unique to the plot from invasive grasses. Sadly the only critters I have to keep is the dreaded were-terrier.

[dpack]

were terriers are ace and probably far more useful than my long legged, high maintenance, pointy nosed "take the silver but open the fridge" things most of the time .

grazing is a useful tool for creating and maintaining pasture type habitats (handy places to find game,medicines or a nice salad) as well as feeding dinner.