Dexter: No? Milking Devon: Yes?

As the snow continues to compact to only six inches in places, my thoughts return to the as-yet-unknown cow. While we had thought to go with Dexters, we are now hoping to go with my initial love, many months ago, the Milking Devon. (Ever had Devonshire cream on scones? Maybe someday I will have that available here!)

The Milking Devon almost went extinct, but it seems to be a great option for the smallholder in three ways: great milk, great meat, great oxen, all on rough forage. They came with the Pilgrims to America; they pulled the wagons on the Oregon trail. The cows average 400 pounds heavier than Dexters (they weigh about 1100 pounds).

Why the sudden interest in oxen? We had planned to buy a tractor as soon as Phil returned from his Colorado trip. But while he was away, I read one man’s experience with used tractors: they break all the time. He bought a horse and trained it to pull, and loved it. On his list of why animal power is better than metal power: animals produce manure, which is good for the land. Animals offer companionship. Animals reproduce. Animals don’t break and are ready to work. Animal power is more pleasant aesthetically than machine power.

This was a new line of thinking for me. I’m not a horse person, but the idea of oxen intrigued me. Phil started to look into it, too, and found that there are multiple classes he could attend to learn to train and manage oxen. And, since we bought the free-standing chipper, we don’t need a PTO on a tractor: animal power would probably be sufficient for harrowing or hauling logs.

From what we’ve read, pound for pound, oxen have about the same pulling capacity as a man. So a 900 pound Dexter would be able to pull as much as six 150 pound men. And there are cute photos of Dexters harrowing. But, really, they are probably just a bit too small.

A 1600 pound Milking Devon steer, though: that would start to offer some real pulling power. The Devon website says that, for their weight, no animal pulls more. (I read, though, that the world’s largest ox weighed over 3800 pounds. Maybe it was a Chianina. They would obviously pull more. And eat more.)

So now the task is to find some Milking Devons, assuming that’s what we really want. Perhaps with a little more, ah, rumination we’ll change our minds again.