"Dexters are addictive"
It all began with Steve's yearning for a few cattle & me spotting the Dexter cattle at the local agricultural show & jokingly telling him "you can have some of these". We started our herd in 1995 with an 8 year old registered pedigree Dexter cow & a mis-marked unregistered Dexter cow, with a calf at foot, purchased locally.
We rent grassland on an ESA site in the Cotswold Hills, near Cirencester. Our very high welfare standards enable us to raise happy & healthy Dexter cattle naturally on grass, with minimum use of anthelmintics & antibiotics, to produce quality Dexter beef at a sensible price.
We currently have around 100 head of Dexter cattle. Many of the cows are halter trained, as are the bulls, & all are friendly which usually makes daily management tasks fairly stress free! All cattle are housed & fed haylage in the winter, for ease of management.
The majority of the herd calve in the spring to allow us to make the best use of the summer grazing & the calves run with their Mums until at least six months old before weaning. Due to loss of grazing, we have been selling some steers as yearlings & some are finished off grass. They are slaughtered between 30-40 months at a local abattoir. The carcass is hung for 19-21 days & then packed at the same abattoir, & sold as a selection box of all cuts, ready for the freezer. Result : an affordable, quality product with low "food miles".
We used to enjoy showing our Dexter cattle, but sadly TB rules & increased costs have made this no longer possible.
Visitors are welcome, by prior arrangement.
We rent grassland on an ESA site in the Cotswold Hills, near Cirencester. Our very high welfare standards enable us to raise happy & healthy Dexter cattle naturally on grass, with minimum use of anthelmintics & antibiotics, to produce quality Dexter beef at a sensible price.
We currently have around 100 head of Dexter cattle. Many of the cows are halter trained, as are the bulls, & all are friendly which usually makes daily management tasks fairly stress free! All cattle are housed & fed haylage in the winter, for ease of management.
The majority of the herd calve in the spring to allow us to make the best use of the summer grazing & the calves run with their Mums until at least six months old before weaning. Due to loss of grazing, we have been selling some steers as yearlings & some are finished off grass. They are slaughtered between 30-40 months at a local abattoir. The carcass is hung for 19-21 days & then packed at the same abattoir, & sold as a selection box of all cuts, ready for the freezer. Result : an affordable, quality product with low "food miles".
We used to enjoy showing our Dexter cattle, but sadly TB rules & increased costs have made this no longer possible.
Visitors are welcome, by prior arrangement.
