History of Thomas' Dexters
We began our "Life with Dexter's" in January of 1976. Our search found a 3 month old bull calf available on the West Coast. He was 2 before we found a female, she was bred, and soon we had 2 males and 1 female. After breeding our pair, we found ourselves with 3 males, 1 female!
We have found through the years this was the 1st of many "Dexter Tests" as a Breeder!
In 1983 our all Black Dexters produced our first Red calf. Within three years we had three Red females. After researching pedigrees, we found there were large numbers of Reds registered in the older Herd books, but none were currently listed. We decided to attempt breeding more Red colored Dexters while improving the conformation and production capabilities. Our herd numbers over 150 head at this time, about 50% are Red.
We have great concern for the integrity of the Breed. We guarantee honest, timely paperwork, and are available to assist in any way we can.
Our Sires have all been Parentage tested.
In the 80's we Blood typed with Ohio State Univ., then DNA testing was developed and we used the ImmGen Lab.in Texas. They closed and we transferred all our records to Texas A&M. We now do our DNA testing for Red, Dun, Chondrodysplasia and Parentage Genotyping with Texas A&M .
We began testing for Chondrodysplasia with Bova Can in Canada, and the test for red began with Genetic Visions Lab.
All our sires, including the bulls we've had collected for AI sales have been tested for Chondrodysplasia & PHA. (all are Non-Carriers for both) .
We're getting our females tested, albeit a few at a time. All of our Chondro and PHA results have been released for posting on the ADCA On-Line Pedigree site.
Our herd bull remains with the breeding age females year around. The cows almost always produce offspring 
within 12 months of each other.
The only Vet expenses we've had for the Dexters in the last 15 + years has been for Health Certificates (required for Out of State transported animals) and the heifers State required Brucellosis vaccination.
The Dexter is truly a Productive, Healthy, Thrifty Breed!
Cinderela & her Triplets 2006 (2 black females 1 red male)
We offer young heifers, bulls and steers year around. Check with us for breeding age or bred females. (multiple purchase discounts offered)
We're happy to direct you to other breeders & offer assistance in any way we can!
