Why mini cows could save the planet

Farmers in the US are getting excited about miniature cattle that are less
than a metre tall – and may be the future of sustainable beef farming

Richard Gradwohl with a miniature Holstein Richard Gradwohl with a miniature
Holstein called Paula Sue.

When you hear the words “mini cows” they sound as if they are the result of
someone’s daft hobby. But miniature cattle
could be the future of
environmentally-friendly beef.

In the US where around 30kg of beef is eaten per person each year farms
are ditching Holsteins and Aberdeen Angus for their smaller counterparts
and there are now well over 20000 mini cows in the US. Professor Richard
Gradwohl is responsible for 18 new
breeds of miniature cattle on his Seattle farm including a Miniature Panda
– a fluffy eye-patched little cow just 107cm high. (His micromini cattle are
less than 96.5cm tall – those shorter than 92cm are known as “teacup
cattle”.)

“When I started frittering around with miniature cattle everyone thought I
was nuts” he says. Since the 1940s US farmers have been breeding cows for
size making them much larger than their British cousins. But with
Gradwohl’s farm being swallowed up by rising taxes he had to give up 60
acres of land. He discovered that it is possible to raise 10 miniature cows
on five acres rather than just two full-sized cows meaning that land could
yield up to three times as much beef – but the cows only need one third of
the feed.

“These little cows were just right for me” he says. And given worries
about cows’ contribution to greenhouse gases it takes 10 mini cows to
produce the amount of methane of one full-sized cow.

Gradwohl now ships semen embryos and cattle all over the world – except to
the UK where 1400 farmers already breed Dexters
which are 96-111cm tall.

And the mini cows’ beef tastes great. The bigger the cow the longer the
cells in the muscle are. A shorter cell means more tender beef so smaller
breeds have naturally better flavour.

Although they sound innovative mini cows date back to the 1600s says
Gradwohl when “British farmers developed small breeds because they only had
five-acre farms”. Now with a bit of luck more farmers of the 1.3
billion-strong cattle worldwide might also try them out for size.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/25/miniature-cattle-en…
ntally-friendly-beef

All we need is mini people to eat them!!!