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. (all are Non-Carriers) We're getting our females done albeit a few at a time. All of our chondro results have been released for posting on the ADCA On-Line Pedigree site.
Our herd bull remains with the herd 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 10 + years has been for the State required Brucellosis vaccination (adminstered by Vets only) and Health Certificates required for Out of State transport of stock.
The Dexter is truly a Productive, Healthy, Thrifty Breed! Cinderela & Triplets 2006 (2 black 1 red)
We offer young heifers, bulls and steers year around. Check with us for breeding age or bred females. (multiple purchase discounts offered)
We will help direct you to other breeders too
