Mini Breeds

[pattyjean73]

I'm thinking about getting a small herd of mini cattle (1 Bull and 3 to 5 cows). We are a large family (family of 8) and we're interested in cattle for two reasons:

1. To assist in managing our land/grass
2. To provide part of our own meat and/or milk

The animals are tended to by me (female) and we only have a few acres of land so this is why I'm interested in the mini version instead of their larger counterparts. What would be an easy breed for a beginning to start out with and still fulfill these needs?

Thanks for your advice and suggetions in advance.

ETA: Oops... found other threads with similar questions.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

One thing I want to point out, is that mini breeds tend to cost more than standard breeds. If your fine with that, go for it.

With wanting a meat/milk breed I would look into a cross breed. They may be cheaper too. As for specific breeds, I'm not familiar with the mini's and breeds out there but, if they have a milking shorthorn I would go for it. We have full sized holstein and holstein/milking shorthorns in our herd and the milking shorthorn crosses are much sturdier and have more muscle/meat on them. The calves seem to be much hardier too.

How many acres do you have for them?

 

[pattyjean73]

As I understand it...

3 acres should support 10 goats, 10 sheep, and 3 mini cows, because they eat different things. Goats forage, sheep forbs, cows grass. Plus with letting the chickens free range in the pastures they'll help keep the parasites down and keep the herding animals healthier and less likely to have a parasite problem. I'll partion off 2 sections of 3 acres for the animals. And rotate pastures every two weeks. All the males and open females will be fed pasture and hay. Only the pregnant and nursing females will be fed grain and I'll train them to be "tied" to their stantion for their grains. That way I can make sure each animal is getting what they need as their grain needs are different.

I'm thinking a cross bred would be best. And if I buy them as young calves they should be less expensive. I think I'd like 2 heifers with one bull. I would think that would be enough for our family????

Any input in regards to this method would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jhm47]

That's an awful lot of animals for 3 acres. I would definitely try to see if you can't find someone to AI your heifers/cows. Keeping a bull for 2 head is not very cost effective. Bulls are also harder to keep, tend to wreck fences and feeders, and are a danger to people and pets. At least try to find another person who would share the bull with you, so you would only have to keep him 6 months of the year.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

I agree, that is an awful lot of animals on three acres. Even if you have alot of brush etc. for the goats they will eat everything in their reach and move on to grass, etc. I know sheep eat grass as well as the cattle.

jhm is right about keeping a bull but, I'm not sure if any of the A.I. companies deal in mini. You would have to check around.

 

[lupinfarm]

Dexters are lovely, we're thinking of getting a couple Dexter calves, they're dual-purpose for milk and beef...

Minis DO tend to be spendier, but we have an auction locally that has a lot of Dexters come through it so we're set.

Dexters I believe are naturally polled, but you have to look out not to get the "short legged" Dexter which have a lot of problems and don't do well with breeding.

 

[pattyjean73]

even with them switching from one pasture to another? The two pastures together would equal 6 acres... just not used all at one time. I could just as well set up a 3rd 3 acre pasture and rotate every 5 days. Would that be better? What would be an appropriate amount of acreage for this set up? Goats only need 200 sq ft per head (according to my reading) and I assume sheep would be pretty close to the same. Mini cows on the other hand I'm sure would need ALOT more space than that. But I believe I read somewhere that 1 acre would support 3 mini cows.

BTW... I had questioned rather or not to get a bull. (Not getting any until I learn the facts and basics of cattle management).

 

[Farmer Kitty]

I would still hesitate to go with that many.

Do you have any of the animals yet? If not, my suggestion would be to cut back on the numbers. See how the pastures handle them and you can always add more later. Of course, if there is a reason for the numbers, you can still do it but, be prepared to supplement feed as I think it will be needed.

 

[pattyjean73]

The only thing I have right now are the goats and a few baby chicks. I'm adding only one animal at a time in a slowly to make sure I don't get in too fast and have more than what I can deal with. I can adjust the number of animals... I'm just throwing out a number in regards to space. Eventually I only want about 6 head of sheep, 10 head of goats (between meat and dairy), 50 chickens, 6 rabbits, and maybe 2 to 3 miniature cows.

Another thing I didn't point out. My DH and a friend of ours bring ALOT of brush home from their jobs. They are both contractors and frequently get hired to clear out fence lines, cut back low hanging limbs, trim tree limbs away from roof lines... etc. Between the two of them, they average 3 trailer loads of brush a week. We toss the brush over into the goat's pen and they devour it. I then pull the remaining limbs/branches back out of the pen and run them through a chipper and use the shavings for bedding, mulch, etc.

I doubt the sheep or cattle will eat the brush but the goats love it. I feed them very little grain and they are continually growing and putting on weight. I wouldn't feed them grain at all except most my herd right now are young and still growing.

My goats are not eating the grassy plants in either of their paddocks so that's why I want to add the sheep. For land management.


LOL... this thread has gotten off topic and probably should be moved to a more appropriate section.

 

[kstaven]

If you where just going goats and not sheep with PRIME forage I may say it could work by using mini cows. This would also require prime weather conditions for growth.

200 sq ft of brush will be bare ground in 10 days with the average goat.

Sheep will compete with cows for the grass. Dexters will compete with goats for the tall weeds and brush. Be very cautious on the Dexter lines. Many are far from the dual purpose feed efficient cows advertised. This I know from personal experience. Many of ours ate as much as a full size jersey.