There are some good reasons for castrating a bull. One is to reduce aggression. Another is to prevent the bull from impregnating your cows. A third is to change the hormone balance so it puts on more fat.
Dexter bulls, left intact, are probably less aggressive than some other breeds after castration.
If you don't have to worry about him breeding your cows, say he's in a separate pasture, then he'll put on muscle weight faster if he's not castrated. According to many reports, the taste and tenderness of the beef is not affected.
A little fat in the beef is good for taste and tenderness, but a lot is not good for you.
The market for Dexter beef is certainly not at the auction barn. You'll take a beating there, for the buyers there will view him as a runt with troublesome horns and mark him down drastically. They've never heard of a Dexter.
Your feeding practices and treatment are selling points in a market of health concious buyers. Points like organic, grass-fed, no hormones, no antibiotics, no vaccinations, free ranged, humanely raised, all score well with the buyers you'll seek.
Being willing to sell a side instead of a whole animal is a plus.
List the qualifications of your animal in ads on Homesteading Today's barter board, on craigslist and on bulletin boards at gyms. In most states you can sell the live animal and deliver him to the buyer at a processing facility. They buy him live and have him custom processed to their specifications.
If you have him processed for resale at a fully USDA inspected facility, you can carry the cuts to your farmer's market and sell them individually.
Do an internet search for the taste tests that showed Dexter beef beating all other breeds and cite them in your ads.
If your beef is grass, direct your buyers to
http://www.eatwild.com/ to read about the health benefits of grass fed beef.
Do your homework and you may just end up with a customer base for Dexter beef. Yummm, it's tasty!
Genebo
Paradise Farm
