Dexter Cattle

[Lothiriel]

We just got our Jersey bred to a Jersey bull, but next time we are really looking into breeding her to a Dexter or perhaps a mini Angus. My mom REALLY wants the Jersey/Dexter cross, so probably we'd go with that.

 

[cgmccary]

Nachoqtpie: Do you know if there are more books available about the Dexters?

We have a Dexter Bull & a Heifer. We got ours last December from Gabriella Nanci (who lives now in GA, formerly in CA), who has co-authored a book on Dexters: "Dexter Cattle, A Breeders' Notebook, Volume One" by Gabriella Nanci and Stefani Millman, published by AuthorHouse, 1-800-839-8640; ISBN number is 978-1-4389-8341-7

 

[pheasantrun]

We are new to cattle/calves. We live in south Texas. Our family recently purchased a 3 month old Dexter bull. When we brought him home he had just been taken off of his mama. He had already been introduced to pellets. We were told he needed to stay on calf pellets for at least 3 months. Our problem is this... within a few days of getting the bull our family also bought several five month old heifers and steers. The bull was turned out on pasture with the five month olds. We have continued to feed the pellets (cattle feed as we cannot find any calf pellets). Ultimately, we would like them all to be strictly grass fed. Any suggestions and/or advice on how to make the switch and most importantly, do we need to continue feeding pellets to the bull?

 

[WildRoseBeef]

We are new to cattle/calves. We live in south Texas. Our family recently purchased a 3 month old Dexter bull. When we brought him home he had just been taken off of his mama. He had already been introduced to pellets. We were told he needed to stay on calf pellets for at least 3 months. Our problem is this... within a few days of getting the bull our family also bought several five month old heifers and steers. The bull was turned out on pasture with the five month olds. We have continued to feed the pellets (cattle feed as we cannot find any calf pellets). Ultimately, we would like them all to be strictly grass fed. Any suggestions and/or advice on how to make the switch and most importantly, do we need to continue feeding pellets to the bull?

The pellets should be fed until you're sure that you are going to have good pasture to put them on. When there on pasture, there's nothing wrong with stopping the pellets cold-turkey, or just feeding it less often than usual. But remember these are young, growing calves, not adult animals, so you really have to watch their nutritional intake and body condition to see if they're getting enough from the pasture and if they need supplementing. As growing animals, they still need plenty of protein and energy as well as a good calciumhosphorus ratio to grow, build muscle and bone and reach a healthy mature size. Good grass and good-quality hay should be enough to meet their needs, but it may not, so keeping on with the supplementation (in addition to a good mineral program, like having them access to loose mineral) may be a good idea until they're growth starts to slow down which begins at around 12 months old.

Consider implementing rotational grazing to create more pasture space and increase time spent on pasture. There are a few discussions on this site about that as well as a page I wrote on planning different types of grazing seen HERE, so feel free to have a look around.

Note: Unless you want some whoopsie heifers, consider separating the bull from the heifers until you are ready to get the heifers bred. A Dexter bull may reach puberty at around 12 months old, and if your heifers start reaching puberty at the same age as the bull, you may end up getting heifers bred too early, which is not good for the heifers at all.

 

[Roscommon Acres]

We are new to cattle/calves. We live in south Texas. Our family recently purchased a 3 month old Dexter bull. When we brought him home he had just been taken off of his mama. He had already been introduced to pellets. We were told he needed to stay on calf pellets for at least 3 months. Our problem is this... within a few days of getting the bull our family also bought several five month old heifers and steers. The bull was turned out on pasture with the five month olds. We have continued to feed the pellets (cattle feed as we cannot find any calf pellets). Ultimately, we would like them all to be strictly grass fed. Any suggestions and/or advice on how to make the switch and most importantly, do we need to continue feeding pellets to the bull?

The pellets should be fed until you're sure that you are going to have good pasture to put them on. When there on pasture, there's nothing wrong with stopping the pellets cold-turkey, or just feeding it less often than usual. But remember these are young, growing calves, not adult animals, so you really have to watch their nutritional intake and body condition to see if they're getting enough from the pasture and if they need supplementing. As growing animals, they still need plenty of protein and energy as well as a good calciumhosphorus ratio to grow, build muscle and bone and reach a healthy mature size. Good grass and good-quality hay should be enough to meet their needs, but it may not, so keeping on with the supplementation (in addition to a good mineral program, like having them access to loose mineral) may be a good idea until they're growth starts to slow down which begins at around 12 months old. . . .
.

Great advice! We wanted ours to be grassfed as well, and they hopefully will be next spring if these pesky drought ends, but they aren't getting much grain. I would highly recommend the book Grass-Fed Cattle: How to Produce and Market Natural Beef. Obviously, there's a lot in there you don't need to know, but it taught me a lot about pasture management and we just got our five acres, minihorse, two Dexters, angus cross and a whole slew of poultry through a pretty nasty drought that left neighboring cornfields dead and cattle producers selling off whole herds. And our critters are still on pasture.

Because of the drought, however, we chose to supplement with as much hay as they wanted and a bit of sweet feed, beet shreds and alfalfa pellets morning and evening. It was a total of six cups of supplementation a day, with only a pound of that being grain, but I looked at it like a multivitamin there to help out where maybe the pasture might fail.

 

[dexgroup]

I have been searching for Dexter breeders for a while, and realize this breed is hard to come by. We are interested in having a house cow with possibly raising the offspring for meat. I've heard Dexter's can't be surpassed in cream and marbling for meat, and dressed out retain over 60% of their weight...the best of both worlds in a dual purpose compact size.

I would be ecstatic to find Dexter cattle breeders and enthusiasts to share their stories and help put the Dexter breed on the map.

Hello MenagerieMama, I know it is a long time since you posted the above, but I have been browsing the web for inspiration and ideas, and decided I like both your username and your thoughts about Dexters. I hope you found your Dexters. Even though we are across the other side of the world from you, I thought you might be interested in reading about our Dexters at dexter-cattle-sensw.com.au (I am not allowed to post hyperlinks) ; and perhaps communicating with our members who are like-minded with you.

 

[Elm Tree acres]

I have been searching for Dexter breeders for a while, and realize this breed is hard to come by. We are interested in having a house cow with possibly raising the offspring for meat. I've heard Dexter's can't be surpassed in cream and marbling for meat, and dressed out retain over 60% of their weight...the best of both worlds in a dual purpose compact size.

I would be ecstatic to find Dexter cattle breeders and enthusiasts to share their stories and help put the Dexter breed on the map.

Hello MenagerieMama, I know it is a long time since you posted the above, but I have been browsing the web for inspiration and ideas, and decided I like both your username and your thoughts about Dexters. I hope you found your Dexters. Even though we are across the other side of the world from you, I thought you might be interested in reading about our Dexters at dexter-cattle-sensw.com.au (I am not allowed to post hyperlinks) ; and perhaps communicating with our members who are like-minded with you.

Just great to see you on here and please stay around as there are a few members with Dexters on the forum who would love to chat I'm sure.
Its a great time for Dexter, Galloway and Highland breeds at the moment as people are wising up to the need to choose a healthier lifestyle which includes choosing drug free grassfed meat and milk products using those great heritage breeds who grazed long before the antibiotic, vaccine, hormone and steroid were thought of. Lots of work to do in North America though - trust me on that.
We just had the privilege of welcoming the World Galloway Conference to Canada and to our farm and we met some wonderful people from your side of the planet
My neighbour has Dexter so we chew the cud on which breed is best
Looking forward to posting with you in the coming weeks

 

[tressa27884]

I have raised Dexters since 2003. They are excellent mothers and I've never had an issue with birthing or heard of any breeder who has. I milk my cows. In the winter, some have hair on the udder, which can be clipped. There are 2 other registries which can be searched for breeders. One is the PDCA, the other Legacy. The issue with chondro or bulldog calves can be managed. The old timers simply never bred short to short, instead always bred their carriers (short) cattle to non carrier (long legged). This eliminates the risk. There are tests now available for Chondro and PHA.

HTH,
Kim

Star.Rose Ranch
Guinda CA

Please pm me if you're still active. Thanks!