Registered Polled A2A2 White Dexter Cattle

White Dexter Cattle:

  • Docile

  • Compact

  • Friendly

  • Adaptable

  • Hardy

  • Resilient

  • Adorable

  • Delicious

Dexter cattle are a heritage breed originating from Ireland in the early 19th century, where they were bred as a dual-purpose breed for both milk and meat. White Dexters, which arose from selective crossing with White Park genetic stock, are a stunning new color variation that are said to also have improved milk compared to traditional Dexters.

White Dexters come in three main colors: white with black tips, white with red tips, and white with dun tips, reflecting traditional Dexter colors.

Dexter milk is rich, and cows tend to give anywhere from 1 to 3 gallons of milk a day. Dexter beef is prized for its rich marbling and delicious flavor, outperforming even Wagyu in blind taste tests.

Their genetic foundation as Dexter cattle provides White Dexters with exceptional hardiness and adaptability. These cattle are known for being able to thrive on sub-optimal forage, allowing them to flourish in various environments. Their compact size and friendly, docile natures makes them the perfect “backyard cow”.

To learn more about White Dexter cattle, click here.

About Our Cattle

WDCR Registered

Our Registered White Dexter bull, Jonathan, is the current sire of all calves offered for sale. Jonathan is heterozygous polled and heterozygous white. He has excellent conformation and temperament, and this is passed on to his offspring. Several of our dams are Registered White Dexters, while others are tradtional Dexters registered with the ADCA. Bear Mountain Farm calves that meet the coat color qualifications are registered with WDCR by us, and we will transfer the registration to new owners at the time of sale.

Genetically Tested

We test all of our registered calves for the following traits: milk protein, horns, dwarfism, and color. Our herd is 100% A2A2 and non-chondro or PHA. Because our cattle do not carry the genes for dwarfism, which may cause pain to cattle who do carry the chondro or PHA gene, our cattle are average height for this “miniature” breed, coming in at 41” - 45” at the hip. While our bull and dams are polled, the bull and most dams are heterozygouns polled, produciong an occasional horned calf. Our bull is heterozygous white with black tips and carries red, and we have cows of various colors, resulting in a variety of potential colors in our calves. Like their sire, white with black tips will be our most prevalent calf color, but we have also had beautiful red-tipped calves, as well as solid black or red calves.

Johnnes-Free

Though we have not tested all of our cattle, the ones we have had tested are Johnnes-free, and BVD and BLV-free as well. These diseases are more common in dairy cattle, and while White Dexters are considered dual purpose milk and beef cattle, they do not fall into the “dairy cattle” category and are at low risk for these diseases. In order to minimize risk, we keep a closed herd and introduce the rare new addition only after a quarantine period.

Diet

At Bear Mountain Farm, we prioritize a biologically appropriate diet to ensure health. Our cattle are rotated through 20 acres of lush, biodiverse pasture year-round, and supplemented with unsprayed hay and silage in the winter. We give a daily ration of alfalfa pellets and less than 1/4 lb of fermented organic grain per head to reinforce bucket training and friendly behavior. This is top dressed with kelp, minerals, humates, and garlic to ensure they receive essential nutrients, Additionally, their daily treat offers the opportunity to easily administer herbal medicine by mixing it into their food when necessary. Cattle are also given access to free choice salt and minerals.

Holistic Practices

White Dexters are naturally resilient and hardy, and by starting with excellent genetics and an appropriate diet, we are able to rely on rotational grazing and mineralization to minimize health issues. Intense rotational grazing is a key component of our regenerative farm. Cattle are moved to fresh pasture at minimum every three days, and every day when possible. Carefully managed rotational grazing improves pasture dramatically, increasing nutritional value, biodiversity, water retention, and resilience. Rotational grazing also reduces disease, flies, and parasite load. When the need arises, we use Dr. Paul’s organic herbal products for livestock. We use a multi-faceted approach to reducing fly pressure in order to avoid chemical fly controls. All fly control products are detrimental to dung beetle populations, and their use exacerbates the fly pressure problem in the long run.

Natural Rearing

Bear Mountain Farm calves are born on pasture in late winter to early spring, in a low-stress environment, and live side-by-side with the rest of the herd until we fence-line wean at 6-8 months of age. At that time, we will begin the process of halter-training so that calves may be loaded more easily when it is time for them to travel to their new homes. We find that White Dexter calves that are not hand-reared tend to be reserved until older, but with patience and treats they soon overcome their reticence and enjoy human companionship.

Meet our All Stars

  • ALL HEAVEN JONATHAN

    Herd Sire

    3/8/2019

    Hetero White, BlacK-Tipped, Carries Red

    A2A2, Hetero Polled

  • THAT ONE FARM ROISIN

    Grand Dame & Herd Boss

    1/22/2015

    ADCA Red

    A2A2, Hetero Polled

  • DFF BUTTERCUP

    Town Crier

    9/28/2019

    Hetero White, Red-Tipped

    A2A2, Polled

  • ALL HEAVEN SHEBA

    Safety Officer

    10/9/2021

    WDCR Dun, Carries Red

    A2A2, Hetero Polled

  • BAR NONE'S SOFIA

    Herd Nanny

    01/01/2023

    Homo White, Black TIpped

    A2A2, Hetero Polled

  • DRY CREEK SUGAR

    Newbie Arriving Feb 2025

    April 2024

    Homo White, Black Tipped

    A2A2, Homo Polled

Next Availabilty:

Late Summer 2025

Check back in March for details on our spring-born newborn calves.

White Dexter calves are absolutely adorable.
Red-tipped White Dexters are more rare that black-tipped as black is dominant.
If a heifer calf has at least one registered White Dexter parent, and the other is either ADCA registered or also White Dexter registered, the heifer calf can be registered as a White Dexter even if she is solid colored.
White Dexter bulls have a gentle, non-aggressive disposition.
Carefully managing your pasture with ruminants increases your soil health and improves your pasture.
White Dexters are curious and friendly cattle, ideal for homesteaders.
White Dexter cows make excellent mothers.
Good conformation is a key trait when buying a White Dexter.
Always providing fresh water can be one of the more difficult aspects of mob grazing.
This calf is black tipped but carries dun, as you can see by the lighter shade of black that appears under the sun.
White Dexters are a "miniature" breed, as you can see in comparison to a Jersey cow.
White Dexters can be held with one line of hot wire, but it's best to use more during calving season.
White Dexters are usually easy to manage and train to a halter.
White Dexters do well in a variety of climates and on a variety of forage.
Polled (no horns) is dominant over horned.
Rotational grazing improves pasture so that you need to use less hay in winter.
Grass-fed beef is best!
White Dexters with a heterozygous white coat color can have differing amounts of speckling, from almost none to quite a lot.
White is an exciting new upgrade to this long-standing heritage breed.
Dexter bulls are "miniature" and tend to be 43 to 46 inches at the hip, making them more manageable in size and ideal as backyard cows.
A Dexter bull can cover a Jersey cow and get the job done.
Dexter cattle are just the right size.