Thank you to everyone who has posted information about Dexters to the board. I learned so much,enough in fact that we felt like we should have a few. We bought 2 bull calves,but they aren't here yet. The 2 heifers we bought arrived yesterday and have been exposed so they may be bred. I'm really looking forward to working with them and would like to be able to milk them both eventually. I already have a favorite and her mother was a very gentle cow with a nice udder and milkable,but the people don't milk their cows. If anyone here has Dexters and would like to email me,please do. I still have much to learn. Thank you all,LaDena Johnson

-- LaDena,Tx9 (littledena77458@yahoo.com), March 05, 2002

Answers

What a delight! I wish you much success and enjoyment.

-- Nina (Ingardenwithcat@hotmail.com), March 05, 2002.

Hi, we have had Dexters for 12 years. We are in the process of selling our herd out. We also raise Pygmy goats & show actively. Due to the TB scare in Mi (although we live at the Indiana/Mi border), we decided to sell out because it has gotten very hard to sell out of state. That explained they are wonderful animals, most are docile, & great at having calfs, the meat is great & if you want to milk you can do that do. There is a dexter club on Yahoo & The American Dexter association also has a site.

-- Gail W. Brinkley (dinsmore@qtm.net), March 05, 2002.

Oh, LaDena, I'm jealous! LOL! I've wanted Dexters for years now. Just got the fences all ready for them and had plans to get some this spring and wouldn't you know it ~ freak flood took out most of the fences last Nov. (dam up in the field broke ~ we WON'T be building it back ;-) Where did you get your Dexters? I'm in Texas, too ~ did you get them here? What kind of bull you expose the heifers to? Let us know when "the boys" come!

Congratulations!

-- Wingnut (wingnut@moment.net), March 05, 2002.

LaDena, I have quite a few Dexters. It has been a love affair from the beginning. They are very special cows! Easy to keep, easy to calf, meat is tasty even when pasture grown, and they have such wonderful personalities. I also have mini donkeys. . . and both of these breeds are good for the soul.

I hope they are everything you wished for. . . . . . and more ! !

Judy

-- J McFerrin (JMcFerrin@aol.com), March 06, 2002.

Hi LaDena - Congratulations on your Dexters. I have two heifers and recently purchased a bull calf to breed them. The heifers are on the big side and the bull is on the small side so I'm hoping for some offspring on the medium side. The bull is 9 months old now and my girls are almost 3 years old. The little bull is trying his best to go on a honeymoon with my girls, but he still has some growing to do before he will be successful. (I may even have to build some little hills to help him out a bit!)

I'd be interested to hear about the temperment of your bulls when you get them. My little guy is very sweet, and I was able to halter train him at 6 months easily, but now he will occasionally butt or rub my leg a bit with his head. I try to discourage this cause I certainly don't want him doing this when he's bigger. My heifers were a little wild when I first got them but are very calm now. I also hope to do some milking in the future. Good luck with your "herd" and feel free to email me if you want to talk Dexters and maybe compare bull calf behavior!

-- Barb (rosemontfarm1@aol.com), March 06, 2002.

Nina,thank you for the encouragement and I love your email addy!

-- LaDena,Tx9 (littledena77458@yahoo.com), March 07, 2002.

Gail,sorry to hear you are selling your herd. I imagine you have some beautiful animals. Also thank you for the additional information and the heads up on the yahoo group.

-- LaDena,Tx9 (littledena77458@yahoo.com), March 07, 2002.

Wingnut,you rebuild them fences girl and just train them Dexters to wear life preservers:) We bought the bull calves from Adanal in Yorktown and the heifers from Fan-C in Navasota. The bulls are black and the heifers are dun. I wonder what we'll end up with when they calve. Actually the heifers could be bred.

-- LaDena,Tx9 (littledena77458@yahoo.com), March 07, 2002.

Judy,I am already seeing the personality difference in the two heifers. One is a little on the bossy side and she don't mind using her horns,not on us,on the other heifer. She is actually very respectful of us and I hope she stays that way. I don't really want to dehorn her,but if she starts showing her butt my hubby says we would have it done. The other is so passive and easy going. She is also the one that I really want to be able to milk because the cow she is out of is a good milker. The people from Adanal,where we bought the bull calves,they also have mini-donkeys. On the way home my husband was going on and on about how personable,friendly and soft they were:) I got a kick out of hearing him go on about them.

-- LaDena,Tx9 (littledena77458@yahoo.com), March 07, 2002.

Barb,so far so good! I can already tell a difference in the heifers personalities. I think the next step will be to halter train them. Actually the older one was halter trained when the lady bought her. She bought her for the bloodline and then was able to purchase her sire,otherwise she wouldn't have been for sale. The other heifer I picked because I can't afford her dam. We are getting the bull calves early enough that they shouldn't be a problem. I never let babies do anything I wouldn't let an adult do. Like you not letting your calf rub your leg and such. My husband chose one bull calf and I chose the other and the money was good,so we got both. They are supposed to be medium to long legged. The one I chose was out of a long-legged dun cow. We also want to use the bulls on our beef heifers. Well,give me an email and let's talk Dexters:)

-- LaDena,Tx9 (littledena77458@yahoo.com), March 07, 2002.

Having two bulls can be a very dangerous thing. Although the Dexter is small, they are very strong and can easily break out of the strongest enclosure when there is a cow in estrus. We had one herd bull with our cows and another (more like a pet) that we kept in a bull pen. The pet bull sailed over the 5.5 foot, electrified bull pen. It took our herd bull less than two minutes to break our pet bull's neck. He butted his head from behind the bull between his legs, tossed him up so far in the air that he flipped over, broke his neck and that was that. We all saw it, but there was nothing that could be done. So, please, be very careful.

-- mary lynn thompson (marylynn@dustconnection.com), March 07, 2002.

Mary,thank you for the heads up on bulls. I was thinking we would be alright since we have a pen about the same heighth as yours. Looks like I thought wrong. That's what is so great about this forum. There is always something new to learn. On the plus side,we can always eat one:)

-- LaDena,Tx9 (littledena77458@yahoo.com), March 07, 2002.