The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Cattle => Topic started by: cloddopper on October 01, 2015, 09:47:50 pm
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I'm currently playing at a small holding site where the owners had ditched the bigger cattle and moved over to Welsh Blacks
A few days ago they showed me their latest home chest freezer sized cattle .
They are about the same body size as an almost fully grown St Bernard & stand about a metre tall at the top of their heads when they are heads up.
I've never seen such small compact cattle as these before but can see that this may be the way forward for meat eating small holders who want to grow their own .
Evidently there is a membership interest group thing for these mini cattle ..
Has anyone else considered growing them or do any of you know the in's & out's about these small cattle ?
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Confused. Welsh Blacks are normal-sized native cattle. What is it these folks have?
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Lowline, maybe? Very small derivations of AA bred in Australia http://wessexlowlines.com/ (http://wessexlowlines.com/)
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My neighbours have lowlines and the nextdoor have longhorns. At the moment they are all running together and this springs longhorn calf is bigger than the lowline yearlings. I am awaiting the taste test but apparently they are too expensive to eat. He does have one of this years bull calves to sell.
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I know miniature / babydoll breeds are very popular in the states but I think they are kept more as cute pets.
I think one of the main issues for smallholders regarding cattle though is to do with the breeds temperament, ease of handling, infrastructure requirements etc. Some small animals have big attitudes like terriers or shetland ponies. Bigger breeds can often be more docile and biddable.
My Sisters Fleckveihs are much nicer than my short little Dexters were. But hey I think different strokes for different folks so I would be interested to see how the breed develops.
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Sounds like the micro pig fad - breed small individuals from small breeds and you will mostly get small animals, but not guaranteed and especially uncertain when buying youngstock.
I would think best steered clear of!
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Mydaughter worked on a small breeds farm last summer. The miniature Zebu were vicious!
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http://toplinelowlines.com/lowline-cattle-information.htm (http://toplinelowlines.com/lowline-cattle-information.htm)
Been bred for quite a while in Australia and now in US. Maybe a focus on the "investment opportunity" at the moment - the pyramid selling? But they might suit some folk - especially if the temperament is good. Wonder if you can market as pure AA?
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If you look at old pictures you see small herefords / angus they were bred small as once slaughtered there was enough room too hang them up on ships so they were ready when arrived at destination weeks later. Also a number of these small breeding stock exported all over the world where they still breed them small, while uk market has gone for bigger and high growth rate cattle.
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There recently was (and maybe still is) someone on preloved selling miniature Herefords. They are apparently bred from standard Herefords, registered with the Hereford Society, and allegedly breed true to size, and have the laid back character of the traditional Hereford. So, on the face of it, a pleasant animal to keep, that will not overface you with meat when slaughtered. However, there was no price which suggests "expensive". And no matter how rare and exclusive they are, you can still get a run of bulls for which you will get very little in a commercial market.
However, you can achieve something similar by crossing a short legged dexter with a Hereford bull. Maybe not quite as small. But then you're not paying inflated prices for getting in (as mentioned) at the top of a pyramid selling scheme.
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Talana,
in my Dexter book their were old photos of very tiny cows with children leading them and when I worked on a rare breeds farm some years ago all the old livestock buildings, milking parlours etc were clearly built for shorter bodied animals.
I guess we are so used to the american mass production influence that Bigger is Better. We have forgotten that , that wasn't always seen as the case. I think that there are lots of smallholding advantages to smaller breeds but LLR is right that there would be little interest in the stock at commercial markets.
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I worked on a dairy farm 35 years ago and we had an AA bull to use on the heifers and I'd guess he was the size of the Lowline. THis was before the influence of Canadian and American bloodlines and the huge AA of today.
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On YOUTUBE MUD SWEAT AND TRACTORS THE STORY OF AGRICULTURE BEEF about 27mins in, the vern herd dispersal , enjoy
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Have a look at this http://www.chatervalley.co.uk/rare-breeds/miniature-hereford-cattle/ (http://www.chatervalley.co.uk/rare-breeds/miniature-hereford-cattle/)
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Were they Miniature Herefords? What colour were they? Would love to see some in the flesh. I think they are good natured from what I've heard but there are not many in the UK. Would be ideal for many people I would think.
Oh and by the way re the "Mud Sweat and Tractors" programme - good programme and very interesting BUT although the Traditional Hereford is not as tall as the modern commercial Hereford, they are not miniature by any means. They are quite large cattle - they simply have shorter legs. We have a yearling heifer whose sire was born in 1973 and whose grandsire was Vern Sulkey - she is not tall but she is very wide. She weighed 254 kg at 205 days and we just weighed her again, she was 440 kg and we expect her to be over 600 kg at maturity, on nothing but milk, grass and hay. Not small!
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just looked them up they're magnificent beasts :farmer:
https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=lowline%20cattle (https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=lowline%20cattle)
Question is though what would be the cost of one?
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Remember that in UK we still have the Native (Traditional, Original Population) Angus - they are also a rare breed and until recently were classed as Critically Endangered by the RBST. These old bloodlines should be preserved, and people who are not too bothered about too much size, such as smallholders, are ideal folk to keep them going. They are the home grown version of the Lowline Angus (and cheaper, I suspect).
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One of the sites says 100% AA, just bred from required conformation I suppose.
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Remember that in UK we still have the Native (Traditional, Original Population) Angus - they are also a rare breed and until recently were classed as Critically Endangered by the RBST. These old bloodlines should be preserved, and people who are not too bothered about too much size, such as smallholders, are ideal folk to keep them going. They are the home grown version of the Lowline Angus (and cheaper, I suspect).
I somehow think they would be more expensive, as they are relatively new to the UK, in canada they cost about $600 for one animal, not too bad.
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Remember that in UK we still have the Native (Traditional, Original Population) Angus - they are also a rare breed and until recently were classed as Critically Endangered by the RBST. These old bloodlines should be preserved, and people who are not too bothered about too much size, such as smallholders, are ideal folk to keep them going. They are the home grown version of the Lowline Angus (and cheaper, I suspect).
The original population are a smaller version of the AA you usually see. Small, light cattle to finish on poor grazing and outside all year. Whether it's Suffolk sheep or Modern Hereford cattle, when you breed for greater size you also lose some of the characteristics that made it a good breed in the first plce.
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Anyone interested in Native Angus should Google website of Dunlouise Angus - sorry I'm not good at posting links.
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Confused. Welsh Blacks are normal-sized native cattle. What is it these folks have?
It's a mini version , the animals stand about three foot six to the shoulder now they are fully grown .
I spent a few minutes stroking & talking to them some of them .. found it very therapeutic indeed for me , :idea: possibly for the beasts as well :roflanim: .
Next time I go there I'll ask for more info .
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Anyone interested in Native Angus should Google website of Dunlouise Angus - sorry I'm not good at posting links.
Quite fascinating. The bulls on their bulls page (http://www.dunlouiseangus.com/bulls.html) have a much more rounded backside than I'd expect - if we see a backside like that on a commercial Angus we mutter about 'a touch of Limi or British Blue' !
I was getting quite interested in them until I saw the pic of the bull next to a person - he'd be lost without a trace in our Cumbrian wet lands! (And the one standing in mud has his wizzle far nearer the mud than I would like my bull to do.)