I have considered AI for my small herd of Dexters as it allowed access to bulls I could not afford or find. The advantages are there, but the cost is high. I have heard a lot of people on the forums talk about AI as the way to go for a small herd, but unless you have just a couple cows there is a strong case for getting a bull.

I found a local AI tech with reasonable rates. I looked at the bulls available and made a choice for the one I thought was the best for my use. For my small herd I am looking for several things besides good health:

1.  First all my registered Dexters are polled, and after having a horned cow I have decided I wanted all future cattle to be polled.The advantages for polled cattle outweigh horned for my use. I think a nice set of horns look good and it is different but it is not worth the price for me.
2. I have a preference for a good dairy line as I intend to get some milk.
3. A2 milk genes are a plus.
4. Red is my color of preference, maybe it is because I have looked at black cattle all my life and red is something different just like Dexters. From my research lighter colors do have a slight advantage in my climate. Color is not a deal breaker by any means but it may be a plus. After talking with several other Dexter owners and looking at prices I have come to the conclusion that red Dexter’s sell faster and are worth more money than other colors. If you can get several hundred dollars more for color why not?

As I have seven heifers to be bred the cost of AI breaks down like this for me. $25+ a straw for semen, $7 a head AI tech rate plus $30 a visit. It would probably take three visits in total for everything to be wrapped up for a total of $90. AI is not 100% so I am figuring on two visits for AI and 10 Straws for my seven cows so the AI tech per head rate will come out to $70 for the first visit $21 for the second and ten straws of semen for $250. This may be a high estimate but better safe than sorry. I would also have to pay a shipping cost of $200+ for the semen. $25 a straw is on the low end with most costing around $50 a straw. The AI tech I talked with stores the semen for free. I would order enough semen for two years from the same bull before switching to a different bull to get my future herd sire. So halving the shipping cost I come out to $100+ shipping. The AI tech would make an initial visit to check on the heifers and inject them with a drug to synchronize their cycles so they could all be bred on one visit and have a better success rate. The cost for that drug would be around $15 a head, $105 total. That brings my one year cost to $636+. Not real bad but a bull will do it for free.

Here are the advantages of a bull for someone with a smaller herd. You need to think of the initial price as a deposit that you get back, unlike AI where once the money is spent its gone. When you are through with your bull you can sell him to someone else or eat him, either way you get your money back. The actual cost of the bull is the feed and care to keep him. In my case the feed is baled by myself at very low cost. I added up my cost last year and it was well under $.25 a square bale, of course there is my labor as well. I am not at my maximum capacity with this small herd so I only have to feed him in winter. The cost of feed is very low and I could afford to feed him for well under the price of AI even considering my labor.

I needed an ADCA registered bull to go with the registered heifers. If I went the cheapest route I could get a bull calf for $400+/-. I have already listed my shopping list, so the cheapest route was not an option. I figured AI was my only choice to get a bull of the caliber I wanted. I am also limited by not having a good way to move a full size bull. I have brought all the cattle back to my place as a calf in the back of my truck. I am still waiting on a good deal for a cattle trailer preferably a smaller one I can pull with my Mazda.

Well sometimes you get lucky and I found a bull calf that is the correct age to be mature in time for my heifers and he is still small enough to bring home in my truck. Both his parents are polled and he is ADCA registered. He has good parents and is healthy. So now my choice has been made. When I get him home I will test for A2 status and decide if I need to keep my eyes open for another bull, but in the meantime I at-least get a calf crop and build my herd.