We have had several Dexter bulls over a period of 12/13 years and have never had an aggressive one. Nor have we been afraid to work with them. There are exceptions to every rule, but in general the vast majority of Dexter bulls are quite docile. Thanks for show-casing this wonderful breed of cattle!
Our first Dexter Bull was never handled and was a bit on the “wild” side but never aggressive. We bought him cheap and eventually He went in the freezer.
Question- Are you thinking of teaching the bulls to drive and maybe pull a cart one day? Dexters make excellent homestead oxen! That's my ultimate goal when I get mine next year, along with the milking Dexters. Thanks, and I'm enjoying your adventures! ❤ from upstate NY by Lake Champlain.
Well as entertaining as it would be to try that and share… we do not have plans to do that. I don’t know of anyone personally that has trained them like that. It would be fun to watch the process.
Here in Michigan we put the bull in with the cows in July. I am pretty confident he had them all bred by August. I didn’t see any signs of heat after that. But we kept him with the cows until December. If for whatever reason one of them didn’t get bred right away we know that September would be the last month we will expect any calves this year. We had talked about breeding back one of our cows that calves in November but decided to hold off.
We have banded them at 2 months old and we did one at 9 months old (I bought him as a “steer” but he was not banded). I had to buy an xl bander but it worked well. th-cam.com/video/cfhGHe09hok/w-d-xo.htmlsi=ZubKTgPT5E0K5CxJ
We traded a Bull calf for a bull calf with another farm. We will use him on a few cows this summer and sell him as a proven halter trained bull. We will likely keep 2 bulls for the added genetic diversity, breed heifers we decide to keep, and sell off trained milk cows. Our cattle plan is more for breeding and less for beef production.
That's interesting. The bull is half the herd and a worthy investment for retaining quality heifers that meet your goals. A recent article claims that a good bull is worth around 5-7k to herd improvement. Around here, calves that are small, that look like dairy mix would get beat up at the sale barn. Bulls that are angus/ simmental usually hit 18-2200 lbs at maturity, did have an angus bull that hit 2600 tho. 2 different sides of the cattle game that are catering to different markets.
@@CrawfordFamilyFarm dexters are more of a niche market. The hanging weights of 2 year old steers are anywhere from 300-500lbs (all on grass/hay). I would never take one to a sale barn I have heard people that have and they do not get good prices. 5 month old Weaned dexter steers go anywhere from $450-$600. Registered weaned heifers anywhere from $1200-$2500 depending on the genetics.
It's a safe bet that our calves gain about 100lbs a month when there is grass. They do have a choice to get limited creep feed as well, so a 6 month old steer should be around 600lbs. Heifers grow a good bit slower. The numbers bounce up or down But the growth rate will slow as they mature. Got 2.60 a lb live weight on 4-600 lbs stocker calves , 2.20 on females before price dropped. Our mature cow size is around 1300 lbs but have sold a few 1700 lb simmental mix cows that were older and not milking as well anymore. Most cows start going down hill after 6 years old. We have kept cows past 20+ years of age before.
We have had several Dexter bulls over a period of 12/13 years and have never had an aggressive one. Nor have we been afraid to work with them. There are exceptions to every rule, but in general the vast majority of Dexter bulls are quite docile. Thanks for show-casing this wonderful breed of cattle!
Our first Dexter Bull was never handled and was a bit on the “wild” side but never aggressive. We bought him cheap and eventually He went in the freezer.
Great Bull Super lines well proportioned looks great for age
Thank you! We feel very fortunate to have him here.
Question- Are you thinking of teaching the bulls to drive and maybe pull a cart one day? Dexters make excellent homestead oxen! That's my ultimate goal when I get mine next year, along with the milking Dexters. Thanks, and I'm enjoying your adventures! ❤ from upstate NY by Lake Champlain.
Well as entertaining as it would be to try that and share… we do not have plans to do that. I don’t know of anyone personally that has trained them like that. It would be fun to watch the process.
Getting our first Dexter bull calf, this video is great! How old is the bull calf Leo?
He was about 9 months in that video.
What months do you separate them to get them to calve in spring ?
Here in Michigan we put the bull in with the cows in July. I am pretty confident he had them all bred by August. I didn’t see any signs of heat after that. But we kept him with the cows until December. If for whatever reason one of them didn’t get bred right away we know that September would be the last month we will expect any calves this year.
We had talked about breeding back one of our cows that calves in November but decided to hold off.
Thank yo ufor the video! Out of curiosity, about at what point do you turn the bulls to steers? And also odd question but how tall are the cows?
Here is a video on how big they are.
th-cam.com/video/dQJvHX-tIPo/w-d-xo.htmlsi=pkjgE8q_Gw1_kfNO
We have banded them at 2 months old and we did one at 9 months old (I bought him as a “steer” but he was not banded). I had to buy an xl bander but it worked well.
th-cam.com/video/cfhGHe09hok/w-d-xo.htmlsi=ZubKTgPT5E0K5CxJ
@@SweetBriarFarmMichigan Thank you for the videos! It answered my questions and also was great to see more cow content!
Out of curiosity, why keep two bulls for your size herd? It seems like extra cost. Am I missing something?
We traded a Bull calf for a bull calf with another farm. We will use him on a few cows this summer and sell him as a proven halter trained bull. We will likely keep 2 bulls for the added genetic diversity, breed heifers we decide to keep, and sell off trained milk cows. Our cattle plan is more for breeding and less for beef production.
What age do you breed your heifers?
Around 14-15 months old.
I believe we talk about that in this video
th-cam.com/video/5LOD2Fh1SfY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=dKQqVd6QO4pua9FZ
How much does Mr. President weigh?
He is probably around 1100 lbs.
That's interesting. The bull is half the herd and a worthy investment for retaining quality heifers that meet your goals. A recent article claims that a good bull is worth around 5-7k to herd improvement.
Around here, calves that are small, that look like dairy mix would get beat up at the sale barn.
Bulls that are angus/ simmental usually hit 18-2200 lbs at maturity, did have an angus bull that hit 2600 tho.
2 different sides of the cattle game that are catering to different markets.
@@CrawfordFamilyFarm dexters are more of a niche market. The hanging weights of 2 year old steers are anywhere from 300-500lbs (all on grass/hay). I would never take one to a sale barn I have heard people that have and they do not get good prices.
5 month old Weaned dexter steers go anywhere from $450-$600. Registered weaned heifers anywhere from $1200-$2500 depending on the genetics.
th-cam.com/video/hDCnr2Cs4Z4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=jfXP7UpqBS2B0VE4
It's a safe bet that our calves gain about 100lbs a month when there is grass. They do have a choice to get limited creep feed as well, so a 6 month old steer should be around 600lbs. Heifers grow a good bit slower. The numbers bounce up or down
But the growth rate will slow as they mature. Got 2.60 a lb live weight on 4-600 lbs stocker calves , 2.20 on females before price dropped.
Our mature cow size is around 1300 lbs but have sold a few 1700 lb simmental mix cows that were older and not milking as well anymore. Most cows start going down hill after 6 years old. We have kept cows past 20+ years of age before.