I clearly remember my childhood experience of discovering the difference between a cow and a bull.

Robyn Snelgar with Pohutukawa Shaun. Photo Darren McDonald.

It involved a hasty and painful retreat through a barbed wire fence. So, I was understandably nervous when  I came face to face with 10-year old “Pohutakawa Shaun”.

You might know him. He’s the proud stocky bull who wanders up Auckland CBD’s Queen Street in the SPCA animal parade and patiently stands among the pews in St Matthews in the City church during the annual blessing.

He’s some bull. He’s a Dexter. 

Pohutakawa Shaun lives in the hills of Ardmore, and is the fondly remembered first bull of Robyn and Steve Snelgar’s herd of Dexter cattle. 

As secretary of the Dexter Cattle Society New Zealand, Robyn is a keen advocate of the breed.

“The thing I like is the lovely nature of this breed. Quite often it’s the women doing the cattle work and Dexters are nice and easy to manage. They have fantastic personalities and they’re very nosey,” she says.

The smallest of cattle species, the Dexter originated in south western Ireland, where the breed’s romance was enhanced by a myth claiming they came into being after the Irish Kerry cattle breed, which fed on coastal seaweed, mated with sea-lions!

Another story has the Dexter travelling across the seas to mix with Japanese cattle to produce the famous Wagyu strain.

And it is their unique, plate-sized meat that appeals to many lifestyle farmers according to Robyn, who says they produce a larger percentage of eye fillet steak than ordinary cattle.

“Lifestyle farmers just want something that’s light, easy to manage, eats their grass, and maybe produces a bit of milk if they’re that way inclined. Quite often they use their steers for freezer meat. The size of the Dexters makes them that much easier to work with when you have only so many acres. You can have a few and not have problems with grass or you can push in to the max and take on a few extra!”

Black, red or dun coloured (brown), the Dexter is an ancient Celtic breed known to date back 5000 years to the Neolithic period. (New Stone Age) They were imported into England in 1882, and at the same time, virtually disappeared from their native Ireland.

“They were originally called the ‘poor man’s cow’ until they whittled away and became a rare breed,” Robyn says. “Then they became a rich man’s toy for a while. They’re sort of somewhere in between now.”

The first few animals imported into New Zealand in 1904 soon died so it wasn’t until 1979 that Dexter Society foundation member Alec Mead imported semen from the United Kingdom to start anew with the breed.

Initially the breed was ‘graded up’ by crossbreeding, and later stocked up by full-blooded imports from Australia, Canada and the United States.

Today, there are thousands of Dexter cattle in New Zealand and the Dexter Cattle Society counts over 400 members, many of them lifestyle farmers with less than five acres.

“To me they are just perfect in every way for those people who are on small blocks,” Robyn says. “They do the job in every way you think and they are easy calving, so those not really experienced with cattle, won’t have the problems they might have with bigger breeds.

“Some people have tried to promote them as a backyard animal but they’re not really. They are still cattle. They’re herd animals too, so you need a couple or they get lonely.”

Having nurtured her herd for more than a decade, Robyn is an enthusiastic fan of Dexter cattle and loves interacting with them.

“Like any animal, you only get what you put in. If you never enter the paddock, they won’t be too happy when you do go in but if you spend a bit of time with them they’re just great. 

“I see my girls every day, so they always come running when they spot me on the bike.”

Robyn says that Dexters, which rarely need medical attention, offer many advantages for the lifestyle farmer.

“They’re an ancient Irish breed and they are real tough. Steve always says ‘never give up on a Dexter if it does have any ailment, because if any animal is going to come through, it will be the Dexter’.”

They are great foragers too and Robyn says they will often clean up thistles and other bits and pieces that other breeds won’t eat.

“The other thing I have noticed is that when the going gets tough in summer or winter; when there’s no feed and other breeds of animals are losing condition, the Dexter seems to be the last one to lose it.

“I supplement feed mine because we started off with Angus cattle and did quite an intensive breeding programme. Having only 30 acres, we were trying to get ahead quickly because there weren’t that many full-bloods in the country then, so we started picking up produce and breads from the supermarkets. It’s become a commitment now, and the cattle look for it.”

Robyn offers one last piece of crucial advice – if you are going to take your prize bull to the local church as she does every year, take a bucket!

• National Dexter Open Day, April 9-10.  Check local stock feeders etc for details.