We raise registered, red, polled Dexters here at Rawck Ranch. Our Dexters are 100% grass-fed and 100% grass-finished. We supplement with organic alfalfa pellets throughout the winter to provide the proper balance of fiber and protein while the the grasses are dormant. Our Dexter herds do not receive vaccines, dewormers, or antibiotics. This is one of the major advantages to our management practices. Our goal is to produce grass-efficient and parasite resistant cattle by selecting for these qualities as we breed and grow our herd.
Why polled (no horns)?
Dexters are not aggressive and we have never seen our cows be purposefully aggressive towards people. However, they are cows and cows do not always pay attention to who or what is around them when they fling their heads back to shoo flies off of their backs. Getting smacked with horns (on accident) does not feel good. We breed to produce polled cattle because we believe these are safer and better suited for small and starting homesteaders – especially those with children.
That being said, we started our small herd with a few horned cows. We needed to get some hooves on the ground pretty quickly in order to make progress in our pastures. Now that our herd is more established we have said goobbye to most of our horned ladies. They have served us well. We do miss them, but they didn’t go far. Our neighbors bought them from us!
See our current Rawck Ranch Dexter Sale List.
Why red?
Well, we think they are the prettiest color out of the three (red, dun, black).
The Dexter Breed
Dexters are a dual purpose breed that can be used for beef and milk production. With any dual purpose breed, they do not excel at one or the other but provide a good balance of the two qualities. Dexter beef is known to be well-marbled and darker in color. Dexter milk has about 4% butterfat and of comparable quality to that of a Jersey cow. Dexters can produce between 1.5 and 2.5 gallons of milk per day. Additionally, Dexters are known for their small frame and their calm and docile demeanors – two important qualities when selecting a bread for small farming or homesteading operations.
Why we chose Dexters
Small Frame and Short Legs
There are other breeds, besides Dexters, that do well with our style of management such as Red Polls and others. However, we chose Dexters as they are even smaller framed with shorter legs. Their small size makes them less intimidating and in our opinion much easier to manage. Not to mention much easier on our toes if we ever get our feet in their way. It has happened many times. I don’t know about you, but we’d rather have 200 pounds (800lbs / 4 legs) standing on our toes versus 400. Their smaller size also means they require less food to maintain their bodyweight – so as a result they eat less than a standard size cattle breed.
Efficient Eaters
Dexters, unlike some other breeds, are known for their ability to thrive on sub-prime pasture. Our pastures were not in the best state when we bought our ranch, but we wanted cows as most of our land was pasture as opposed to brushy wooded areas (ideal for goats and browsers). We wanted to find livestock that could help improve our pastures. We found that Dexters combined with frequent rotation was the answer we were looking for. Our pastures are improving each year thanks to our Dexter cows.
Friendly Farm Animals
Lastly, and we’d say most importantly, Dexters are known for their calm and friendly demeanor. When we were shopping for our first Dexters, we were very surprised to see just how true this was. The cows, heifers, and calves we purchased to start our herd were very approachable and appeared to enjoy the attention, not unlike a dog. We now refer to Dexters as 800 pound puppies given that they really don’t know how big they are and they move around without any thought of their size. This is especially true when they give you a “little” shove when they want a scratch. It often surprises new comers just how friendly and fun our Dexters are.