Mini-Cows Of The Future

[babylonsister]

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/environmentandenergy/archive/2008/08/18/mini-cows-of-the-future.aspx

Mini-Cows Of The Future


I'm really not sure how keeping a "pet" cow in the backyard fits into the whole eating-locally ethos, but here's an offbeat story from the Times of London:

Pic here:
?v=0

For between £200 and £2,000, people can buy a cow that stands no taller than a large German shepherd dog, gives 16 pints of milk a day that can be drunk unpasteurised, keeps the grass "mown" and will be a family pet for years before ending up in the freezer.

The Dexter, a mountain breed from Ireland, is perfect for cattle-keeping on a small scale, but other breeds are being artificially created to compete with it, including the Mini-Hereford and the Lowline Angus, which has been developed by the Australian government to stand no more than 39in high but produce 70% of the steak of a cow twice its size.

"People are realising that if you’ve got a couple of acres, you can just stick them there," said Sue Archer, the society’s breed secretary. "They eat grass so they are very cost-effective and they have a lovely temperament."

That bit about how they're "no taller than a large German shepherd dog" seems awfully suspicious: The Canadian Dexter Cattle Association says that full-grown cows stand 38 to 42 inches at the shoulder and weigh 750 pounds..

--Bradford Plumer

[Parche]

1. Udderly Spectacular

:woohoo: :hi:

[babylonsister]

3. LOL!

:hi:

[keroro gunsou]

34. way to milk it...

with a bad pun... good to see you're staying abreast of the issue.

[asdjrocky]

2. I always wanted my own cow.

[Pastiche423]

32. Me too

But I don't have any grass. ;(

(The kind of grass that grows on lawns.)

[MuseRider]

4. Somehow "family pet"

and freezer don't quite go together for me. I am a farmer and I still do not understand how they do that. It would be fun to have a cow around though but this vegetarian would keep it until it died of old age and it would have a place in my pet cemetery with the other dead livestock, all of whom died of old age. :shrug: I will never understand how you eat a friend.

[babylonsister]

5. I'm with you there; I couldn't eat the family pet either. nt

[dysfunctional press]

27. trade pets with someone at the butcher shop...

you and a friend each get one for your respective family- raise them as the pet...but then swap at the butcher's- that way nobody has to eat their own family pet. (just don't go to any of the same pot lucks...)

[thunder rising]

9. I wouldn't make it a "pet", but a well cared for future food item. Sorry folks, it's just meat.

[MuseRider]

11. To you perhaps

but I reserve the right to care about and care for other creatures without thinking of how they directly benefit me. Sorry folks, these are creatures with unique personalities and my personal preference is not to eat them therefore I do not consider them "just meat".

[Lorien]

13. I'm with you, MuseRider. A friend of ANY species is never "just meat"

and I know that I could never form a friendship with a human being that thought of any other thinking, feeling creature in such a cold blooded, selfish way. The Native Americans, who hunted regularly, NEVER thought of ANY animal as "just meat". They consider them brothers and sisters who share the earth with us all. If they take the life of one, they honor it with burned sage and a spoken prayer; gratitude for it's great sacrifice. My cousin is a Chippewa, and she even has stopped to perform this ceremony when she hit a squirrel with her car one morning. If only the rest of humanity could learn a little respect and love for it's fellow living things. Sadly, our society celebrates extreme selfishness and greed with ever increasing intensity.

[MuseRider]

29. I had to

leave for a meeting but was thinking about the way the Native Americans treated and celebrated everything they ate. They killed it, they dealt with the body, they used everything they could without much waste and they honored the life of the animal and thanked them for their life. I would like your cousin.

UppityPerson wrote a post about this here http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=268&topic_id=1667&mesg_id=1667
I did not respond and I should have because I have a lot of respect for someone who would learn and respect the process rather than just being on the end thinking we are owed this from the "dumb beasts".

I have never met a dumb beast and am now trying to make up for all the extreme selfishness I have participated in for so many years. Sometimes it takes a person a long time to become enlightened, some of us are slower than others. I do know that every animal I interact with teaches me something and each are capable of a relationship with you. I find it impossible to eat one now.

[pipoman]

14. A 6 year old (or older) miniature dairy cow

fed grass for it's entire life would make a small amount of crappy hamburger at best...I'll pass.

[BlooInBloo]

18. What a coincidence that I just got a ribeye and a chuck roast this afternoon! Best. Friend. EVAH!!!

[flvegan]

31. That's what the worms say about you.

Welcome to the bottom of the food chain.

[lonestarnot]

15. I don't get that either! Ever looked into a big cow eye? They are very sad.

[MuseRider]

30. I am surrounded by cattle

and it is hard for me to look at them. Not passing judgment on anyone here but damn, I hide when they start to gather them.

[keroro gunsou]

35. going to the RNC

convention are you? :D

[MuseRider]

40. Funny.

I was just on a plane, NWA headed for Minneapolis/St. Paul for a connection and their in flight magazine had a cover of 3 Republicans with the caption "The Republicans Are Coming" or something like that. I saw it and commented to my husband something along the lines of, "Good Lord, that is scary. Why aren't they going?" I had quite a few people who overheard laughing and stating that that was indeed scary and yes, they thought they would be going.

[Kitty Herder]

37. I think it's best not to get too close to an animal if you intend to eat it.

I grew up on a farm. My grandparent's slaughtered animals routinely. But there was this one pig that became me aunt's pet. We all loved that sow. She'd greet visitors in the road and beg them to scratch her ears. They couldn't butcher her. Just couldn't bring themselves to do it.

[amerikat]

6. I'm afraid they will step on my mini horses(pic)

[Indenturedebtor]

7. Haha awesome! Now get to work on my pot bellied elephant :D n/t

[Warpy]

8. Thinking small has been the way to go for a long time

for mini farms, only their milk producing animals are generally goats.

That there's a mini cow out there that will produce a gallon or more of milk a day is fantastic news for a lot of small land holders, especially in the third world where forage is a problem and goats destructive to the environment.

Plus, I'll bet the calves are just too cute for words.

[csziggy]

20. Here is cute for you

[dysfunctional press]

26. mmmmm...veal chops on the hoof.

get that lil' critter back in his pen or the meat is gonna get as tough as shoe leather.

and don't forget the i.v. of milk.

[csziggy]

28. Left to themselves, most cows will just hang out and graze

or lay down and chew their cud. They really don't run around enough to toughen their muscles.

Added: I wouldn't know about veal. Never had it, never been around where it is produced.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

10. Then people will say.... "if we aren't nice to the neighbors they

are going to have a cow, or two."

[Odin2005]

12. Well, that'll make suburbia more sustainable!

MOOOOO!!!

[Matariki]

16. "and will be a family pet for years before ending up in the freezer"

:P


I spent much of my childhood on a farm. My cousin and I used to use the cows as toys - big, organic, super-soakers.

[BlooInBloo]

17. I drink about 1/2 gallon of milk each day....

But I'm not sure I want to drink "raw" milk. Never tried it, it just sounds vaguely "icky" somehow.

[2KS2KHonda]

22. When I was a kid my mom would drive us 15 miles out in the country to buy

"Golden Guernsey" milk right from the cow. It's not legal to sell unpasteurized milk nowadays but we survived quite nicely...and would skim off the cream from the top and churn our own butter. (That's a lot easier than you may think) :D

[Odin2005]

23. There is nothing wrong with raw milk.

As a person who grew up in a rural area I know this for a fact. The beverage companies don't want you to know that, though.

[BlooInBloo]

24. I'm sure there's not. I'm just a grocery-store-raised kid. :)

[shanti]

25. it's great!

and raw cottage cheese is delish too! altadena dairy (california) still sells it, i think.

[csziggy]

19. Millions of 4-Hers care for livestock and treat them well but see them off the butchers

It is just a way of life for many livestock breeders. I raised a dairy steer and a couple of sheep that I bought from 4-Hers who had too many and sent them to the butcher. I never let myself think of them the same way I did my cats, dogs and horses. The steer was "Freezer" since that is where he was headed. The diary steer made very lean, tender meat - they have not been selected for the marbled high fat content of beef cattle.

Here is a picture of one of the Dexter mini-cows:


Kind of cute, but boy, you'd have to lie on the ground to milk one! Or do like the goat people do - train it to climb up on a platform to be at a handy height.

[JVS]

21. Do they come with a modified roomba that goes around milking it?

[cobalt1999]

33. Seems like it would pay for itself just based on milk, butter, & cream

Then there is the bonus meat after a few years.

Can't see this catching on in modern suburbia though.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

36. There's something incredibly appealing about the phrase

"mini-cows" to this Minnesota boy who's only one generation off the farm.

Moo.

[Hekate]

38. Or you could just get a couple of goats. They're much smaller than cows. nt

[pipoman]

39. Great fallacy

is the belief by many not familiar with beef cattle is that cattle graze grass for a while then are sent off to slaughter. Beef cattle require 14-20 months to bring them to optimum weight for slaughter. Grass doesn't produce the weight or fat which makes a meat animal good, sugars ad other carbs are needed to get the proper marbling needed for good beef. Most beef production cattle are grazed/fed hay or other grasses for the first 12-14 months, then the animal is penned to limit excessive movement (not restrained or mistreated, just put in a smaller area to keep him from too much exercise). During this penning the beef is fed grains sometimes mixed with molasses or other sugars. This increases fat weight which makes the meat good. If a person owns a few acres and wishes to raise a beef calf, without raising the grain him/herself, the beef will cost as much as 2x grocery store beef prices after processing. Done correctly the beef is much, much better than most grocery store beef, but it is expensive. A better option is to visit a local beef producing farmer and buying a nice steer at market price to take to a processor. This way you know what you are getting and are assured a young healthy animal as opposed to not really knowing what you are buying at the meat counter. Just FYI and my $.02