Posted on 10/28/2004 3:13:00 PM PDT by sociotard
RAUL Hernandez, a Cuban rancher, claims to have bred a family pet that pays its way - a mini-cow about the size of an Alsatian dog.
Although the same basic shape as any of the world’s famous breeds of cattle, such as Holstein or Aberdeen-Angus, those bred by Mr Hernandez are less than half the size.
Standing about 23 inches (58 centimetres) to 28 inches (71 centimetres) tall, the mini-cows can be kept in a small area, graze simple grasses and weeds, and are, Mr Hernandez says, "a perfect source of milk for Cuban families".
"They are patio cows - easy to work with," the 74-year-old says, smiling. "They give less meat, but they can deliver four or five litres (about a gallon) of top-quality milk to a family every day."
After retiring from a state ranch where he worked for more than 30 years, Mr Hernandez decided he wanted to remain busy and useful. He acquired the Santa Isabel Farm in the tobacco-growing region of western Pinar del Rio province, about 125 miles west of Havana.
Amid the rolling hills surrounded by towering palm trees, Mr Hernandez worked with local agricultural labourers to plant food crops. Then he decided to try breeding miniature cows.
By his own account, there was nothing notably scientific about his attempts. He simply began with a tiny bull, which neighbours had ridiculed because of its size, and mated it with the smallest cows he could find.
With a speed which cattle-breeding specialists and geneticists around the world might envy, he claims that, five years on, he has reached his objective - a herd of cows that reach no higher than his waist.
He says his success has ranchers throughout the area pursuing breeding experiments to come up with their own tiny cows, while he is training local teenagers to help care for the little animals.
"Now the neighbours are excited by the idea," he said.
Dr Tim Roughsedge, an animal breeding research scientist with the Scottish Agricultural College, was not quite so impressed.
"It is possible to carry out extreme selection breeding programmes, with dogs the best-known example," he said. "From one ancestor, we have breeds that range from the tiny Chihuahua to the Irish wolfhound and most points in between, almost all produced by extreme interventionist methods.
"So, it is possible that Mr Hernandez has produced a breed of cattle barely the size of large dogs. Whether they would make useful family pets is another matter."
For at least the past 30 years, mainstream cattle breeders around the world, whether based on farms or in research stations, have worked at increasing the size of cattle breeds and the amount of meat and milk they produce.
A Holstein milk cow, which can produce about ten gallons of milk a day, will be at least twice as tall as a Hernandez cow. A beef cow, such as an Aberdeen-Angus, will be nearly twice as tall and up to four times as heavy.
But there are naturally small breeds, such as the Dexter, which stands about a metre (39 inches) high at the shoulder, and the native Shetland cow, which can survive on the poorest grazing.
These breeds, especially the Dexter, have been used by novelty breeders, mainly in the United States. One such operation is Pillard’s miniature cattle ranch in Iowa, which is trying to breed cattle less than 36 inches tall weighing less than 500lb. It seems that Mr Hernandez is ahead of the game.
Moonman, wasn't the farm at Greatersford Prison one of the first to produce Beef-allos back in the 70's?
Ah, yes, food. That's a very good point. Lets see, A gallon of whole milk is between $2.50 and $3.00 in my area. Ergo, this would only be worth it if you could feed the cow on less than $2.50 a day. I'll admit to knowing nothing of agriculture, so does anyone know how much hay 2.50 would buy? Do you think it would be enough to feed one of these dwarfish things?
That's your opinion. As a kid growing up in the late 50's, early 60's, we had a milk cow that we pastured on the vacant land next door. We fed out & butchered the offspring & ate fresh home-made butter & drank lots of natural milk with no growth hormones & who knows what all other icky chemicals in it. We weren't ''without refrigeration, without transportation, without capital'' and we sure as hell weren't ''without hope.''. And no one had to explain to us where milk comes from either.
I remember my Mother making goats milk gravy and we always had barbecued goat on the fourth of July.
I believe that if more people tried it, it would be more market acceptable.
A gallon of whole milk is between $2.50 and $3.00 in my area. Ergo, this would only be worth it if you could feed the cow on less than $2.50 a day.
When you add in SS, Medicare & FICA taxes, you have to ''earn'' considerably more than the cost of the milk. (The butter/ cream is a bonus.)
I want my pot-bellied elephant!
bump
A cow produces around 60 to 70 pounds a day averaged out over the lactation period. Feed costs run about $10 per head per day without a labor component. Dairying is not the bidness to go into to get rich.
There is something to be said however for fresh milk being available from a family farm from cows or goats.
I was talking about the savings on milking your own cow instead of buying milk, not selling it. As I understand it, you don't pay taxes on the milk your cow produces if you don't sell it. Clearly, this would be a purchase for a household, not a full size dairy.
We do TB test the goat once a year.
Most cattle in sub-tropical regions are much thinner than their well fed and cooler American cousins.
Assuming a 305 day lactation cycle, an average American Holstein milk cow will produce over 21,000lbs of milk per year, or almost ten times the milk the Cuban government claims for one of these little critters, plus the bull calves can be fed out for beef production.
Except as a pet, or curiosity in the vein of the Vietnamese pot-belly pig, (or as a propaganda story foisted on a naive and willing media) This animal would serve no economic purpose in a free 21st century society.
Amazing that the pinnacle of communism is to reinvent the idea.
Pass.
That is putting it mildly.
You're talking about a tropical region. There are weeds that grow 6 inches a week down there. Clear cut areas in the Caribbean would be completely overgrown in 10-15 years with oppurtunistic "weed" species if humans and grazing animals were removoed from the environment.
That being said, the Cubans should be driving a newer sub-compact American or Asian car to their local supermarket which should have refrigeration, 24 hour electricity, and a food selection at least equal to that available in the Dominican Republic. Instead they breed cattle. This is what America's deep green anti-civilization environazis want here in the USA.
Well, just as a frame of reference, consider how much it costs to feed a large dog. I would guess it would be similar. Unfortunately, I can't comment on this question since I don't have a dog.
In Cuba, where all the world's a shortage, I don't see it working out.
D
I'm not sure, but I do know that you need to milk them the same time every day, otherwise the milk production suffers.
Fortunately, it's only in leap years that that you have to do that 366 days a year. Other years you can get by with 365 days a year getting up at 5 AM, so you can be in the barn and started by 6 AM, And of course you have to be there again at 6 PM every afternoon.
Again, if you do decide to do this, it's only 7 days a week, not the 8 days a week the Beatles sang about! It will only SEEM like 8 days a week,
Yes but these little setbacks are good for humanity. Besides, the hydrogen/electric hybrid trucks can't haul real cows and real milk. Too heavy. Therefor the problem and solution is to counter evolve to farming with a stick in the dirt and to turn all the milk into cheese. Drinking milk is a reletively recent luxury to humanity. It was unheard of prior to refrigeration other than the farmers kids, who only got to drink what was left after the butter was churned out.
LOL. The idea of being off-grid, and self-sufficient in food, water, and energy has a certain appeal. At least that is until I try one of them.
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