FAQs
Do you offer Trained Milked Cows?
We specialize in breeding and raising dual purpose registered Dexters. We retain a consistent breeding program keeping the true feet, legs, and udders conformation of the Dexter breed. We do not tolerate cattle with bad dispositions, so our cattle are well mannered and can all be handled daily. Our Dexter herd consists of ADCA registered as well as a handful of unregistered Dexter cattle. The herd is a mix of horned and polled, non-chondrodysplasia, and non-PHA. Our herd is genetically tested at UC Davis. We do not vaccinate.
As a breeder we want to ensure we are only working towards the betterment of the breed and as such we only offer 1-2 fully trained milk cows a year. We really wish we could keep up with the demand, but the quality of the training would be greatly diminished, and that's not what we want for the animals leaving our farm. A good milk cow is worth her weight in gold and will take care of your family for a long time to come.
All of our Dexter milk cows will train for a minimum of two lactation cycles. One lactation cycle is generally 10 months. We milk twice a day and use the milk for drinking, cooking, and making butter, ice cream, and cheese. We've also had quite a few bottle baby lambs and kids raised on these girls' milk! Our Dexter milk cows sell for $5,000. The price includes two animals, a registered Dexter cow just freshened with a young steer calf (minimum of 2 months) at her side. To be fully transparent with price: $2,500 is the minimum value of the cow, $500 confirmed bred back, $500 value on steer calf, and $1,500 for our time to train. We do not sell cow/calf pairs with heifers.
If you have questions on availability, please send us a message. If you have questions on milking, please also send us a message! We are always happy to help.
What does the pricing look like on Dexter cattle?
We get a lot of questions about pricing our cattle. Quite often people who haven’t bred cattle are shocked as to how much a quality animal costs. Let me preface the rest of this by saying: We breed quality animals. If you are looking for a cheap animal, purchasing from our farm is probably not for you. We take pride in how we run our farm, the care given to our animals, and the care in breeding them. There are weeks where this place looks a hot mess due to whatever our focus for that week may be, but rest assured our hearts are still poured into our animals and our farm daily.
Registered Dexter quality animals are relatively inexpensive compared to the top 10% of larger registered cattle breeds. Many Dexter breeders do not price by conformation, but by genetic traits like color or horned vs polled. Because of this, if you know what you are looking for, you might be able to find a good Dexter priced for less than other lesser-quality animals from the same herd. We occasionally hear the “we got a deal” from another breeder comment. The fact is the animal may be the best-conformed (or worst-conformed) animal in the herd, and priced lower because it is horned, black, or red.
Alternatively, some breeders specialize in producing top quality conformation. This has largely occurred through very selective breeding. Cattle from our herd will run between $1500 and $5000, depending on conformation, age, breeding status, and bloodlines. When you pay this much for an animal, you are paying for time. You will not have to go through generations of selection to breed out certain problems that are otherwise common in the breed such as weak udders and feet or bad dispositions. We were blessed to start with a great foundation herd and now our focus is on maximizing genetic diversity. The resulting animal is what we sell to you.
Our goal as a breeder is to not just introduce you to Dexters, but to introduce you to THE BEST Dexters.
All of that being said, we understand not everyone can afford nor wants top quality animals. We will occasionally have those Dexters on the lower end of the price range as we breed out conformation problems in our herd. These animals will solely be sold to individuals who homestead or own hobby farms and simply want a pet or a nice cow in their pasture. Understand if you choose to breed these animals, you could still get a bad udder or disposition in its progeny.