American Dexter Cattle Association

Serving  Members since 1957
ADCA
4150 Merino Ave
Watertown MN 55388
adca@dextercattle.org
952-215-2206

Pedigree

Register
Transfer
Payment
Membership

Home

 Basic Information Breeders/Members AI Bulls For Sale
Leadership Links DNA Testing Youth Genetics Info
Dexter Archive Region Pages

Annual General Meeting

YOUTH PAGE
Youth are the future of the American Dexter Cattle Association. 
This page and future pages will be specifically for the promotion of youth and this great breed.

2012 Chris Odom Award Junior Division Entry Form

2012 Chris Odom Award Senior Division Entry Form

 

2011 Chris Odom Award / Exhibitor of the Year - Junior Division Winner

Michael Cuevas, 11 years old,  of Antelope, Oregon

Michael's Essay

May 2, 2011

  1. My Mom, Sandi Thomas, helped me get started with Dexters in the year 2003. We attended the Yakima State Fair until I started school and had to quit.

  1. I’ve learned the basics on how to show a cow including straightening its feet with a show stick. My favorite thing is brushing and petting them. I like taking them across the United States to the ADCA shows. I’ve learned a lot since I started doing this. Did you know you could make yogurt, butter and ice cream from Dexter milk?

  1. Dexters are a great breed of cow. They are fun to be around. They’re a good choice for families with small farms and are easier for kids to handle. The three accepted colors are red, black, and dun. There are 11 regions in the American Dexter Cattle Association. There is a American Dexter Cattle Association Meeting Show and Sale every year. I’ve been to them every year since 2001. People use Dexters for beef, milk & draft (which means using a cow, bull or steer to pull logs, trees, and wagons anything you want they can pull it!).

  1. I plan on getting a job and a nice farm and a car. I’d like to have room to keep some Dexters and other animals to have meat and eggs. I don’t know what kind of job but a good one for sure. It is very frustrating with all these jobs to choose from. My “want to be” jobs are the Police Force on a Swat Team, Border Patrol, or Navy Seals. They are all dangerous jobs and honoring.

  1. My involvement with Dexters has changed my life by letting me go on trips that I wouldn’t be going if I wasn’t to attend the Dexters Shows. I’ve learned to care for animals and be responsible for them. I meet other people with Dexters every year and some of them are very special friends now.

Bonus) I feel that I deserve the Chris Odom memorial award as Junior exhibitor of the year because I work hard with the cows every day at home and tell other people about them. I share pictures and tell my class about them and talk to visitors to our farm about them. I’m trying my hardest to get everything right and hope I can help other people learn about Dexters.

Michael Cuevas


 

 

     

 

 

2011 Junior and Senior Exhibitors of the Year

Michael Cuevas and Abigail Metallo

2011 Chris Odom Award / Exhibitor of the Year - Senior Division Winner

Abigail Metallo

Abigail's Essay

Hello, my name is Abigail Metallo. I am sixteen years old and in tenth grade. I first discovered the breed of Dexter cattle at FarmFest in Springfield, Missouri in October 2009. FarmFest is a huge local event to educate the public on the farming lifestyle. While I was there I talked to some very nice people representing the breed. I had shown Limosine cattle for the past two years through the NLA youth program. As soon as I got home, I visited the ADCA (American Dexter Cattle Association) website. Less than 2 weeks later, I bought two Dexter calves!

I have learned so much through working with my Dexters. While working to register my herd, I have learned more about breeding, DNA, and cattle diseases. The biggest thing I have learned is the responsibility and commitment in caretaking for my Dexters. Responsibility in the fact that I work and care for my Dexters daily. Commitment because I work and train with them every day, 365 days a year.

My favorite thing about my Dexters is their personality. Each cow has a certain attitude and disposition that allows me to treat each cow individually. Its also a challenge to figure out what works with one cow and what doesn't work on another. This is a challenge that I enjoy while working with my Dexters.

The Phelps County Fair Board was gracious enough to grant me a class for my 4-H Dexters at our annual fair. This opportunity allows me to answer questions asked by people who have never heard of the Dexter breed. A couple of facts I like to include are how you can have more Dexters per acre than larger breeds, which opens up more options for smaller farms and allows the ability to harvest more beef on smaller amounts of pasture. I also like to include hardiness the Dexters possess, along with their ability to be grass and hay fed year round, saving on feed bills. I also like to mention the ease of calving and the wonderful mothering nature Dexters have. Mostly though, I've always told people who are new to the breed about how good natured the Dexters are and what a great family cow they make. I truly enjoy Dexters and I encourage people to visit the ADCA website to learn more about the breed.

In the future I hope to continue to have and maintain a healthy Dexter herd throughout my adult life. I've been around many other breeds of cattle and I favor the Dexters over any other type of cattle breed. I've met many very nice people who share a similar love for the breed and I look forward to many years of showing and raising my Dexters.

I feel my involvement with Dexters has enlightened me to the different breeds of cattle and changed my thinking about how beef is raised. For example a farmer on 100 acres can have maybe 15-20 grain fed Angus cows and have to feed grain and hay through the winter and into the summer. If that farmer switched to Dexters he could have twice as many cows and lower his cost of buying feed. You could raise a cow the natural way, without all the grain fillers and expense that comes with it.

I feel that I deserve the Chris Odom Memorial Award as Junior Exhibitor (Senior Division) of the Year because, as an avid member in good standing with the American Dexter Cattle Association and Phelps County Young Riders 4-H Group, I have enlightened fellow cattle owners and 4-H'ers to the Dexter breed. And by setting up information tables to answer questions about the breed at multiple local fairs. I have encourage others in their pursuit of their own Irish Dexter cattle.


 

Thank you for reading my essay, and God Bless.

Abigail Metallo

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here to go to the Youth Photo Archive

 
 


ADCA Youth Committee Members
Warren Coad, Sally Coad and Charles Townson
along with all of the Youth Dexter Exhibitors at the Western NC Spring Fling


 

 

Reserve Grand Champion Steer - Promised Land T-Bone - Owned by Elizabeth Edwards

 

 


 

     Elizabeth Edwards spending some quality time with one of her Dexters         

Grant Butler from Sapulpa Springs, OK,

Pictured with his mentor Joe Reynolds

and Pansy RRV at the 2011 Tulsa State

Fair.Grant was chosen as a receipent

for the Oklahoma Dexter youth program.

He is a member of Pretty Water 4 H.  

He won Grand Champion Female Dexter.

Grant's parents are Wes and Rachel

Butler of Sapulpa.