May 2026

🚜 The Irish Dexter Cattlemen Forums Are Now Open!

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🚜 Welcome to the New Forums Dashboard at IrishDexterCattlemen.com

The new Forums Dashboard is now live and built specifically for Irish Dexter cattle farmers, ranchers, breeders, homesteaders, and regenerative agriculture enthusiasts who want one place online dedicated to helping their farms become more productive, sustainable, and profitable.

This is far more than just a discussion forum.

The Irish Dexter Cattlemen website is becoming a complete online resource center designed to help support nearly every part of your farm operation.

🤝 A Better Place for Real Farm Discussions

Today, many farmers are finding that traditional social media platforms are becoming increasingly difficult places to have honest conversations about real farming issues.

Too often, farmers asking sincere questions are criticized, attacked, ridiculed, or judged by people who may not understand the day-to-day realities and challenges involved in operating a farm.

Questions about herd health, grazing, breeding, processing, land management, costs, sustainability, regulations, or farm practices should not turn into arguments or personal attacks.

Farmers should not feel embarrassed for wanting to learn more.

The Forums Dashboard was created to encourage respectful farmer-to-farmer conversations where people can ask questions, share experiences, learn from one another, and discuss practical farm issues without unnecessary hostility or censorship.

This community is designed to support learning, collaboration, and the sharing of real-world farming knowledge.

🌱 Free Registration Unlocks Access To:

🚜 The New Forums Dashboard

Connect directly with other farmers and participate in discussions including:

• General Forum
• Herd Health
• Farm Management & Grazing
• Rotational Grazing
• Milking
• Historical
• Regenerative Agriculture
• Homesteading
• Selling & Branding
• Technology
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Frequently Asked Questions forum includes help and answers on how to use the website dashboards and tools available throughout the website.

Ask questions. Share ideas. Learn from experienced ranchers. Help other farmers. Build relationships with fellow cattlemen from across the country.

📰 The Monthly Irish Dexter Cattlemen Tips & Tricks Guide

Every free registered user also receives access to the monthly Irish Dexter Cattlemen Tips & Tricks Guide newsletter filled with:

✅ Farm management ideas
✅ Herd health discussions
✅ Grazing and pasture strategies
✅ Regenerative agriculture content
✅ Technology discussions
✅ Homesteading ideas
✅ Marketplace listings
✅ Podcasts, articles, and educational resources

The newsletter is designed to help farmers discover practical ideas, opportunities, and resources that can strengthen their farm operations.

📋 Farm Resource Dashboards

Free registration also unlocks access to a growing collection of specialized farm dashboards and resources including:

🐄 Cattle Registry Resources

Access information related to:

• Cattle registries
• Registry forms
• Irish Dexter regional groups
• International Dexter groups

💧 USGS Water Dashboard

Access water-related tools and information valuable for farm and land management decisions.

🌱 NCAT Agriculture Dashboards

Including resources focused on:

• Building Healthy Soils
• Pasture Composition Monitoring
• Establishing Native Meadows
• Carbon Farm Planning

🌾 Land Access Dashboards

Including tools and resources related to:

• Organizing A Farm Business
• Mid-West Land Link
• Farm access and land-use resources

🛒 The Marketplace Dashboard

Registered users can also freely post ads in the Marketplace to sell:

• Dexter cattle
• Farm products
• Equipment
• Services
• Homestead products
• Farm-related items

And here is one of the biggest advantages:

Every Marketplace ad is automatically included in the monthly Irish Dexter Cattlemen Tips & Tricks Guide newsletter sent out each month to buyers, subscribers, and fellow farmers just like you.

Your listings continue working for you long after they are posted.

🤝 Why Registration Is Required

While registration is completely free, it is required before posting or participating.

This helps ensure that real farmers, ranchers, breeders, and legitimate users are participating in discussions while helping reduce spam and fraudulent activity.

🚜 Built for Real Farmers

Whether you raise Irish Dexters for:

• Beef production
• Dairy and milking
• Breeding stock
• Homesteading
• Grass-fed operations
• Regenerative agriculture
• Farm-produced products

…the Irish Dexter Cattlemen website was built to help connect farmers with the information, tools, resources, and community they need to succeed.

📢 Join Today

If you already have an account, simply log in and begin exploring the new Forums Dashboard and farm resources today.

If you have not registered yet, now is the perfect time to create your free account and become part of the growing Irish Dexter Cattlemen community.

🚜 IrishDexterCattlemen.com — Your Resource for Everything About Your Farm.

Register Free Here

🚜 The Irish Dexter Cattlemen Forums Are Now Open! Read More »

General

What’s in Your Feed Podcast

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https://open.spotify.com/episode/6amxiH5l51EjTCfFVaNMNn?si=TV70ib-AToWXXcZWqXyQ-w
SUBSCRIBE TO THE FREE TIPS & TRICKS GUIDE NEWSLETTER

A Deep Dive Podcast, brought to you by Irish Dexter Cattlemen, on topics of interest to all farmers and ranchers. Subscribe to the free, monthly Irish Dexter Cattlemen Tips & Tricks Guide to get early access.

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Podcasts

May is Beef Month

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Here is a cut that is not so well known.

In the battle of Kansas City steak vs New York strip steak, they are in fact, the same cut. The Kansas City strip bone attached, New York does not. The New York strip typically has the tail section removed, the Kansas City does not. The cut originated in Kansas City and gained popularity when chefs in New York started calling it the New York strip.

Source Matthew Eads

May is Beef Month Read More »

Beef

Dual-Purpose Dexters winning off their own backs

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Dual- Purpose Dexters for an Equal Show

This article written in 18 September 1989 from Reading Evening Post lets us know that much of the confusion on judging dual-purpose Dexters has been around for a long time. Dexters are a dual-purpose breed, so both dairy and beef traits are supposed to be considered equally, therefor a well-balanced Dexter in both traits would be most apt to win a show if a judge were to judge accordingly. The common problem is that when judges consider a Dexter they will look at it with their beef or dairy perspective and have a hard time balancing the two as many judges are most accustomed to judging one or the other. The only thing that keeps judges in line with a breed is having an accurate standard to breed by and a scale of points to score by. No judge should be asked such a difficult task of judging a breed without the standard of the breed as it sets him up to only fall back on his personal area of expertise which may be dairy or beef.

              This article gives a quote by a Miss King, it says “preparation for shows really took place the whole year long, but she did not believe in doing too much to her cattle before they were shown.” She went onto say “If my herd is not good enough to win off its own back, then I shouldn’t win”. The value in this statement is that one must properly care for their livestock all year round if you expect them to win a show, but good quality cattle look great even when just standing unprepared in a pasture.

              It is interesting to note that this Jay king would have been the woman who owned the Saltaire herd. The Saltaire herd produced one of the most well-known bulls in all of history due to his major impact on the breed by spreading polled genetics far and wide. He was born about 1 year after this article on Sep 29th 1990. Here is a photo out of the 1989 DexterCattle Society Herd book of a Saltaire Bridie both bred and owned by Jay King.

Saltaire Breeding Record for 1989

Here is the breeding record for the Saltaire herd in 1889 from the Dexter Cattle Society Herd Book. It is interesting to note that only 15 out of 27 calves were living calves. People often wonder if Chondro carriers were much more prevalent in days past and the answer is yes, they were. We can not go back and genetically test them to prove their chondro status but the notes of bull dog calves shows that a large majority of Dexters were chondro carriers and the pictures tend demonstrate this by their phenotype often times. Reasons like this is why no one could ever deny that the chondro dwarf Dexter had a major role in the History of Dexter cattle.

This Article was written by Danielle of Bryn Mawr. If you wish to reshare this article, please contact the writer first. This article was written to share facts and let the reader use those facts for their own education.

Dual-Purpose Dexters winning off their own backs Read More »

Historical

Are short leg(Chondro+) registered Dexters in decline? And should we be asking why before it’s too late?

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The article below was written by Matt McCollum, a concerned Dexter breeder. The numbers are a collaboration of a few folks from the three registries. While there maybe duplicates and possibly a few triplicates in the numbers w are working on identifying those animals that were dual or triple registered, but it will take some time to get these all identified.

The point is the numbers are in decline. Another important point is there is only ONE facebook site that does not support or welcome accurate discussions about a foundation trait of the Dexter.

Thank you to Matt McCollum for addressing the concerns of the dwindling numbers and for some photos of your dwarf dexters.

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In 2016 a Dexter Facebook group was created to spread awareness and propaganda about the Dexters that carry Chondrodysplasia. The creator of this group was also banned from many other online Dexter Forums prior to the creation of this group. This Facebook group also promotes the elimination or culling of Dexters that carry this genetic mutation to is 45,000+ followers. This group is also a Public Dexter Facebook group, so Google will scrub this site for data on questions searched about Dexters. Newcomers searching for Google answers are now getting inaccurate information that fits an Anti Chondro narrative. The fear based propaganda is filled with misinformation sprinkled with some 1/2 truths.

Chondro+ dexters carry a genetic mutation which makes leg bones shorter. Many people call Chondro+ dexters their short legged cattle. These short legged dexters fit the dexter breed description and were apart of the original breed in the early 1900’s. Prior to genetic testing breeding two Chondro+ Dexters together created a Bull dog calf that would be delivered pre-term, deformed and deceased 25% of the time. Today we easily test for the gene mutation and can breed a Chondro+ cow with a Non Chondro Bull. This recommended breeding results in a 50% chance of a non Chondro calf and 50% chance of Chondro+ calf. One thing to note is that every living creature carries some sort of a gene mutation other than this specific gene mutation that we are discussing. Sometimes a gene mutation doesn’t show up or isn’t noticed in breedings.

Chondrodysplasia in particular was noticed due to the deformed dead calves being born. They are also commonly identified by visual appearance of being short and stockier.

So back to the original question. Are short legged registered ADCA, Legacy and PDCA Dexters in decline over the last 10 years? And does this 2016 Dexter Facebook group have any influence from its efforts in the elimination of Chondro+ dexters? I’ll let you be the judge.

I’m not sure but it’s definitely time to hit the alarm bells before it’s too late. So we know that Chondro+ Bull calves probably won’t get registered and will end up mostly going to beef. And it’s a 50/50 chance of a boy or girl and this will affect the total number of registered Dexters we see today. Also we know that only 50% of the time when proper or advised breeding is done we can get a Chondro+ calf. We also know that testing for Chondro+ isn’t required for ADCA, Legacy or PDCA registration, only required if you want to have it listed on the animals certificate. Some people will register their Dexter cattle and NOT share the Chondro test data results with ADCA, Legacy and PDCA. This could be for a number of different reasons such as privacy of data. All three registries view all forms of dexters to be deemed of equal value when registering including Chondro+ dexters. The only requirement to register is parental verification of the calfs Sire and Dam. Since the advent of testing I believe more breeders are shying away from using a Chondro+ Bull because they want bigger steer beef carcasses and avoid having to deal with testing each individual offspring. Also the ADCA has software that is currently being updated to provide more accurate information on each registered Dexter. Breeders may also be behind on paperwork or just decided against registration due to higher beef prices and quicker sales. We can definitely make many more possible assumptions as to why we are seeing less Chondro+ dexter being registered with the registries. Feel free to add your thoughts or comments.

Below is a 10 year history of Chondro+ ADCA, Legacy and PDCA registered Dexters calves born.

Screenshot

Are short leg(Chondro+) registered Dexters in decline? And should we be asking why before it’s too late? Read More »

General

udder differences in goat and cow

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Many of us raise more than one species of livestock on our homesteads. There are many benefits to both the pastures and the livestock worm loads with either running them together or rotationally one after the other.
But there are many differences in them including the udder. Here is a article and graphic explaining the differences in the goat and cow.

https://extension.msstate.edu/publications/educational-tips-for-farmers-dairy-goat-versus-dairy-cow

udder differences in goat and cow Read More »

Homesteading

irish Dexter Cattlemen website

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One site …all the links!

Have you ever wondered what that little blue button thingy is on the home page of our website? For me it is gold! One site and the links to EVERYTHING DEXTER.

If you think we are missing something let us know

Here is the key.,,,,

P = PDCA

L = Legacy

A = ADCA

I = Irish Dexter Cattle Society

The others should be easy…they are our social media links

Facebook

Instagram

TikTok

YouTube

So, I have the Irish Dexter Cattlemen as a favorite and then when I need register, check out a registration from another association or registry…I just click the the button in the semi circle thingy. Sorry, I don’t have more technical term…it is just the best explanation I have for this powerful tool I use. 😂

irish Dexter Cattlemen website Read More »

General

Article from 1906 Ladies Field

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This article mentions some interesting information about Dexters.

  1. The owner of these Dexters mentions having pastures that were rough and neglected with no accommodation for heavy cattle, so Dexters were the most suitable cattle for the location.
  2. She received young 2-3 year old heifers who had been out doors their whole lives and therefor needed no buildings to shelter them, and throve well, having plenty to range, on the rough pastures. In frosty weather they were given a little hay, but they have no concentrated food of any sort, except a handful of oats now and then from Mrs. Hoare’s coats pockets. (I personally can relate to this comment on Dexters just getting a treat here or there but not needing a concentrated feed regimen)
  1. Though they were wild they became pets in short time except for one shy heifer.
  2. Five of the heifers were bought in calf but two of them were Aberdeen Angus crossbreeds. Miss Hoare had a first intended to sell these for veal, as she had at first only intended to keep store stock, but when the little curly-coated (pure Dexters historically were known to have fine and silky hair) babies arrived she was so charmed she decided to keep them instead. In the picture of the four calves, the cross- bred one may easily be distinguished by the absence of horns and the peaked forehead.
    5.Perhaps the prettiest of the cows is Daisy, whose portrait is given above. She is an Irish bred one, long and low, with a very stylish head and horn. The most perfectly shaped of all is Brindle, as her name implies, she is not a fashionable color (Did not meet the breed standard), otherwise she would be good enough to win in very good company, but her calf is black as coal.

Article from 1906 Ladies Field Read More »

Historical

Bantam is what a Champion prize Dexter looked like in 1897.

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This picture is very interesting for quite a few reasons.

First Dexters though many were black in the early days compared today this bull Bantam was red.

Second and most interesting point to note, this bull was bred by the Prince of Wales at Sandringham in 1896. This location is situated in Sandringham, Norfolk, England. Dexters had a very early start of popularity in England being bred by some very noteworthy people. In 1862 Sandringham Estate was under 8,000 acres were as today the acreage is closer to 20,000 acres. If you look at the second picture you will see that in 1914 Dexters were still being breed at Sandringham by the King. The first bull Bantam has a good broad form for a Dexter of his day but when you compare him to the form of the Dexter bull that the King had in the photograph in 1914 you will see he has a broad back end as well as his front. I do wish this photo was better, but I think you can still make out the bull’s form. While improving on beef traits one must always remember to improve dairy traits equally too so as not to diminish dairy traits in favor of beef. When both traits are in harmony you get a great dual-purpose Dexter.

Bantam is what a Champion prize Dexter looked like in 1897. Read More »

Historical

What is the Best Way to Sell Your Cows?

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Online sales, live auctions, on-farm sales, Facebook (if they don’t delete your post), Craig’s list, your own website…how do you get the sale?

The secret is…it doesn’t really matter what platform you use.  The secret is to educate your buyer.  

Whether you are dealing with a person brand new to cows or to your breed, or if it is an experienced person that knows exactly what they are looking for…

It all comes down to education.  

Yes, educate your buyer.  

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What is the Best Way to Sell Your Cows? Read More »

Selling

Breed standard…Detailed English Dexter Breed standard that well defines Dexters unique traits.

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Breed Standards define breeds so that people know what unique traits the breed possess. Dexters were known to have extremely fine quality beef, it turns out that the original genetics Dexters process may actually help them to have finer quality beef because they have “skin that should be soft and mellow, and handle well, not too thin, hair fine, plentiful and silky”. Consider this quote from the first screen shot “This cow has a very soft supple skin with short sleek shiny, silky hair. She has a well developed gland system. Note the wrinkles in the skin. The softer the hide the closer the wrinkles are.” This well describes Dexters, they have both good overall butterfat and fine textured meat, and they are wearing the signs, if properly bred on their backs. Another good reason to not deviate away from the original Dexter breed standard.

Breed standard…Detailed English Dexter Breed standard that well defines Dexters unique traits. Read More »

Historical

Don’t Get Scammed

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The internet has become an invaluable tool to ranchers, farmers and homesteaders looking to buy or sell livestock. But, scammers have infiltrated the industry making online sales and/or purchases more difficult to navigate. Here are some great tips to avoid getting scammed. And, as a bonus they can help you develop great contacts and relationships with the people you are buying or selling to.

Awareness and Preparation: Avoiding Potential Scams When Buying or Selling Cattle Online

Don’t Get Scammed Read More »

General

Game Changer – Genetic Tenderness Testing

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This morning I just received my package from Callipyge Genetics Lab in Selah, Washington. This is very exciting because it could be a game changer.

The package is from W.F. Hendrix, DBA (Doing Business As) Callipyge Genetics, LLC. The first thing I noticed is it cost $2.04 to send it to me in Calfornia, which is just south of Washington State. I ordered a set of 25 Tenet Certification Cards for $47.50, including postage, from their website April 22, 2025 and they were able to ship it May 9th. So, they have to be really busy.

If you recall, in last month’s Irish Dexter Cattlemen Tips & Tricks Guide, April 2025 Issue, Jeff Reusser, Royal Fare Farm submitted an article titled, “Who Knew Tenderness is Directly Correlated to Easy Keeper“. If you haven’t read the article, just click on the tittle. This article is about predicting exceptional beef tenderness with 100% accuracy. Now that’s exactly what I am looking for!

Our ranch started in 2009 by purchasing 3 Irish Dexters, a bull, a cow, and one male calf. Right away I knew what we would be doing with that calf. Much to our surprise, the day it was being slaughtered on our farm, the guy preparing the steer to be delivered to the butcher looked at our pasture and declared, “This is going to be great tasting beef” Boy was he right. Not only did it have an amazing taste, but it was tender too. Over the years I have learned the techniques to insure the best tasting grass fed, grass finished beef by carefully monitoring the grass they eat. But what good it it to have the best tasting beef when chewing on tack room leather? Both taste and tenderness are critical if you are going to provide a product folks really love. Testing for tenderness? Now that’s a game changer.

After a bit of tugging and pulling, I was able to open the package without cutting it. Sure enough, inside were twenty-five “Tenet Beef” cards. Each one labeled with their logo, bar coded, and included their website address, www.tenetbeef.com.

On the back of each card is space to write your Ranch Name and Date. The next line down is for the Animal ID. Then the third line is for a 15 digit EID number. Below this is another bar code, which is the same bar code on the front of the card. Every card has its own unique bar code.

Opening the card, things get a little tricky. There is a list of three things to do and the first thing to do on the list is a globsmack.

  1. Fill the ENTIRE circle with blood – Yup! That’s what it says. How am I suppose to do that? I got this bull. It’s got horns. It’s got WILD eyes. You want me to do WHAT? That’s not a small circle!

Stay tuned. There maybe more to come. Honey, were we serious about doing this testing thing?

Game Changer – Genetic Tenderness Testing Read More »

Beef
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