For most people the annual Route 66 Days in Strafford, Mo., conjures thoughts of antique cars and fried food. But for 17-year-old Shelby Burns, the festival reminds her of the genesis of her cattle business. Shelby remembers laying eyes on a Dexter calf named Danny Boy at the festival. “I just fell head over heels for him,” said Shelby. There was no turning back. Shelby, then 12-years-old, convinced her mother to buy a Dexter heifer named Rosie. Thus, Wild Rose Ranch in Strafford, Mo., bloomed.
For the last five years Shelby and her mother, Michelle Burns, have worked to promote the lesser-known breed. The mother-daughter team is quick to point out the advantages of Dexter cattle. “I think a couple of things for us is number one, the size. They are manageable for us. We don’t have to have great facilities. And then their dispositions are really good,” Michelle said. Michelle and Shelby field a lot of questions about their cattle when they take them to shows, sales and Farmfest. “We have so many people who come up to us and say, ‘What do you do with them?’ I tell them, ‘They taste like beef,’” said Michelle. In fact, Dexter breeders tout that their cattle have high-percentage dressed carcasses of lean, fine-grained beef with an oversized rib eye. “The rib eye area per one-hundred weight is comparable to the big guys,” added Michelle.
Michelle and Shelby run around 10 cows and a revolving number of calves on 32-acres. “Whatever amount of acreage you would normally run one commercial cow/calf pair on, you can run two Dexters,” said Michelle.
Though Dexter cattle are small in stature, they are not miniature cows. In fact, they are the smallest tri-purpose breed in the world. The breed’s origins trace back to Ireland in the early 1800s. Dexter cattle can be milked, used for beef or pull wagons.
At Wild Rose Ranch, Michelle and Shelby halter-break all of their calves. Shelby enjoys showing her heifers and cow/calf pairs all over the Ozarks and the country. She’s garnered much success in the show ring, winning Grand Champion Female three years in a row at the Webster County Fair, Overall Reserve Grand Champion Cow/Calf Pair at the Tulsa State Fair, first place in her heifer’s class at the National Dexter Show and many more. What is the key to Shelby’s show ring success? “She has really good lineage and she works with them a lot, it is the combination,” explained Michelle.
The mother-daughter duo places an emphasis on genetics with their herd. They say they try to buy and breed cattle to build a herd with solid, rare genetics. Shelby is so interested in genetics, next year she plans to study Animal Husbandry at Texas A&M with an emphasis in Genetics. She hopes to grow her cattle business even more when she graduates from college. She is currently a senior at Strafford High School and is involved in 4-H and FFA.
The two are so passionate about the Dexter breed they work diligently to get other people involved with Dexter cattle. Michelle volunteers to help facilitate the Missouri Dexter Breeders Association’s youth heifer program. Through the program, the Dexter breeders have given away eight heifers in three years to qualifying youth.
Michelle is also working with other breeders to collect important data about Dexter cattle. “Because it is a small breed, we don’t have EPDs available. So we are gathering carcass data from our membership to be able to use that as promotional material for our cattle,” Michelle stated.
Michelle concluded, “This gives me bonding time with my teenager that maybe I wouldn’t have had otherwise.”
