Miniature cows make a mouthful for farmers

MINIATURE pooches and micro-pigs have become the latest craze in Hollywood, but a pint-sized cow is the latest miniature sensation in farming in Ireland.

The diminutive Dexter cows, which roam the Kerry mountains, are being bred for gourmet burgers for festivals and markets across the country.

RTÉ’s flagship rural show, Ear to the Ground, has revealed how the bite-size bovines almost became extinct in the 1970s.

However, a group of seven farmers revived the breed, which can produce up to 600 burgers each.

Kerry vet Paddy Fenton, who owns a Dexter herd, said he discovered the dying breed while in college.

“Dexters are about half the size of a conventional cow,” he said.

“When you get up close to them they are literally up to your hips and when they are born a calf is the only size of a dog.”

The hardy breed can survive on some of the poorest land in the country, unlike their dairy counterparts.

Now, the group of seven farmers from the Kerry and Cork area are breeding the burger-producing cows on mountainous land.

The Dexter group of small-hold farmers supply restaurants and hotels with the meat and run a burger bar modelled on a railway carriage at festivals and markets around the country.

Steve Collins, a doctor and part-time farmer who lives in Cork, has a 50-strong herd and runs the Dexter group with Mr Fenton.

“A Dexter will produce in the order of 600 burgers and at the going price of a burger it means you can turn over €3,500 or €4,000 on a single animal,” said Mr Collins.

“We realised if you want to make farming viable you have to own the product from the farm to the customer. You can’t give it to an intermediary to take all the profit.”

* Ear to the Ground will be shown on RTÉ One at 8.30pm today.