Just out of curiosity, if the point to be made is that certain breeds have simply regressed to their mean historical size through the mini craze and that some people are finding commercial utilization in the inherent traits of some of these breeds coupled with their size regression, then why is the discussion about minis at all? I don't think there's a shortage of people on here who favor smaller mamas, I myself believe that there's a maximum upper weight range for achieving your best return in many regions, but does that really call for minis? If Scottish highland cattle or "heritage herefords" were historically belt buckle to belly button cattle and people are breeding back down to that then it isn't really a discussion about minis is it? Isn't is more of a discussion on the size you're finding your best utility at while achieving what you want within the market presented to you? And then, therein, if the burden of proof were to lie with the mini side of the discussion, wouldn't it be pertinent to lay out the arguments against the "frame race" within certain breeds? Several dairy breeds have become significantly more useful to society through being sized up, and allowing of course for the outliers that have a refined palate and set plate preferences, wouldn't it also stand to reason that by and large in any given society that has fled the country for the city that beef production would mirror dairy production and focus on animals with an overall higher yield of all things parted from the carcass? Especially in the age of scrubby-faced dude-bros who all fancy themselves beef conniseurs? Don't get me wrong, I can definitely look at the pictures of some of these cattle back in their days of more diminutive posture and see the meat on those critters, but is that really mirrored in most "minis" today? Most of the minis I see have lost a little more than just leg. Were we to go down that little alleyway, wouldn't we need to discuss the feasibility of safely breeding size into the calves on a terminal cross of a "miniature adjacent" cow covered by a more mainstream beef breed bull?
We're a-hackin' and a whackin' and smackin' here but it's mostly just been a few points scattered in the semantics and nobody's really standing much of a chance of coming away with anything to think about if the conversation persists as it is.