Mini Cattle: A Better Fit -- And Cute, Too
US - Ranchettes have replaced working ranches in much of California, and now there are pint-sized cows to match.
25 September 2007
1 minute read
| Mercedes Danekas works in the ring showing a miniature Hereford calf and mother at the California State Fair last month. The cow/calf pair won first place. |
In the past two years, Bev Boriolo, 72, and her husband, Don, have built a herd of 12 miniature Hereford cattle, all well under 4 feet tall.
The couple, who live on a grassy 30-acre parcel near Plymouth, are raising animals for a small but growing niche in the livestock business: little cattle for little ranches.
The smallest of the miniature breeds stand less than 3 feet tall, full grown. They're cute, they keep the weeds down, and, as Boriolo says, "they're as sweet as the dickens" -- something she attributes to their small stature.
"They think that since they're looking up at you, they have to do what you tell 'em," she said.
On a recent breezy evening, the herd, with furry red coats and placid white faces, gathered by the fence behind the Boriolos' pool. There was not a moo of complaint.
For now, the money in micro-beef is in breeding: raising adorable cattle and selling them -- for $3,500 and up -- not as meat, but as the parents of another herd-to-be.
Source: Sacramento Bee
