204 MILCH CATTLE THE DEXTER 



Mancha herd many cows have been sold which have yielded 

 20 to 22 quarts per day." 



Points. The Kerry colours are orange skin with black 

 hair, though specimens with red-brown hair do occur in the 

 purest blood, but more frequently in the Dexter variety than 

 in the other. White patches also appear from time to time ; 

 but stringent regulations against white markings passed by 

 the Royal Dublin Society exclude from entry in the Kerry 

 Herd Book all bulls which are not pure black, with the 

 exception of a little white about the scrotum or sheath in 

 animals of exceptional merit, and all cows and heifers which 

 have white on any part of the body, with the exception of the 

 udder, or extending slightly along the inside of the flank or 

 under side of the belly, or a little on the end of the tail. In 

 general outline, the Kerry has much in common with the 

 Jersey, and also with the Ayrshire, though in size it is, under 

 its home conditions, smaller than either. Its spare form 

 indicates its superiority in milking rather than in beef 

 production. 



The Dexter, which is either " whole black or whole red 

 (the two colours being of equal merit)," though now distinctly, 

 in the breeders' acceptation of the term, a pure Kerry, 

 whatever may have been its origin, is a much more compact, 

 more substantial, and lower-set animal than the Kerry 

 proper. Its toes turn in after a peculiar fashion, and it tends 

 to walk over the outer digits, especially in the case of the 

 hind feet. The leg-bones are shorter and more substantial, 

 the neck thicker and shorter, the horns heavier, not so 

 elevated and airy, and the head heavier and not so deer-like 

 as in the case of the original Kerry. Pringle says : 



" The Dexter has a round, plump body, square behind ; 

 legs short and thick, with the hoofs inclined to turn in ; the 

 head is heavy, and wanting in that fineness and life which the 

 head of the true Kerry possesses ; and the horns are inclined 

 to be long and straight. A great favourite with many 

 persons : the majority of the prizes at shows where there is 

 no separate classification are awarded to Dexters." Low 

 says, " the short legs and a small space from the knee and 

 hock to the hoofs, have probably given rise to the saying, 

 ' Tipperary beef down to the heels.' " 



Low, in 1845, states the prevailing belief as to its origin 



