Miniature Herefords

[Way of the Cross Farm]

Hi,
What are your opinions of the Miniature Hereford breed? Thanks for your time, Kim from GA

 

[cross_7]

Hi,
What are your opinions of the Miniature Hereford breed? Thanks for your time, Kim from GA

kinda like a regular chicken vs a cornish hen..
probably still taste like a regular hereford

 

[KNERSIE]

I see merit in the idea, but the practise got out of hand. I have no problem with anyone breeding smaller than my ideal hereford, but the goal must still be to achieve a genetically stabile, functional animal. If the miniature breeders have decided we need frame 1 animals or even frame 0 for instance I could have lived with that, but now they brag about frame 0000 animals when its clear to anyone with any breeding experience they have achieved that by breeding runts to runts.

What they are doing now isn't new, that is the exact method that was employed in the '40-'60s to go from functional to belt buckle high animals with no milk and no growth.

 

[rocket2222]

I see merit in the idea, but the practise got out of hand. I have no problem with anyone breeding smaller than my ideal hereford, but the goal must still be to achieve a genetically stabile, functional animal. If the miniature breeders have decided we need frame 1 animals or even frame 0 for instance I could have lived with that, but now they brag about frame 0000 animals when its clear to anyone with any breeding experience they have achieved that by breeding runts to runts.

What they are doing now isn't new, that is the exact method that was employed in the '40-'60s to go from functional to belt buckle high animals with no milk and no growth.

Looks like some folks are heading there again. Went by a grass fed Angus breeder the other day, he was right proud of his 2 and 3 frame two year old butterball bulls, very efficient he said.

 

[djinwa]

Hi,
What are your opinions of the Miniature Hereford breed? Thanks for your time, Kim from GA

What do you want them for?

If for edible pets, proabably doesn't matter how well they perform, though I just hope they don't get too small and have health issues like some small breeds of freak dogs.

If for production, as Knersie said, it'd be nice if they were selected for early growth, rather than runtism. Don't know if there's any serious breeders tracking weights to prove that or not.

 

[MO_cows]

The AHA does the registrations for the mini Herefords too. Maybe there's some info on the web site?

 

[novatech]

I could see some merit in raising them.
For parties where they would fit nicely on a rotisserie over an open flame.
In underdeveloped places where forage was at a minimum and refrigeration was not available to store a larger carcass.

 

[dun]

The do make a neat alternative to Dexters for light oxen work.

 

[Bez+]

Go here: http://www.mini-hereford.com/aboutus.htm

He has posted here in the past and does a nice job

We did a "horn weight" job via email on his outlaw bull - he was surprizingly weighty - if memory serves me he weighs in at around 1100 pounds maybe more now.

A good stocky little mini herf

I am sure he would help you

Bez+

 

[Brandonm22]

There IS a market here for the person with the deep pockets and the ability too create it. A mini-herf steer ought too finish out at ~800 lbs liveweight. At 63% dressing weight - ~50 lbs of bone waste cut into two sides yields 227 lbs of product. At $2.50 a lb that is a very affordable $567.5 for a side of beef small enough that in boxes it will fit in most home deep freezers and the bigger refrigerator freezers. I could see something like this really moving at Christmas time if there were only a way to affordably tap into the advertising of the general public (Ebay???) and have enough numbers to be able too deliver a reliable supply stream.

 

[Australian]

I have no problem with persons breeding smaller type cattle. Just wondering why most miniature Herefords that I have seen pictures of are very light coloured. Is that the usual colour or haven't I seen any good ones?

 

[Brandonm22]

When I was a boy, my Grandfather had a ~pure polled Hereford commercial herd (one set of horns would pop up every other year). Since he kept his cows at least 14 years (or more and some many more) he had senior cows in 1980 that were sired by bulls born way back into the belt buckle era. I am guessing, but 0-2 frame mostly. There were both light colored and dark colored cow families (the dark cow families were often also freckled). Supposedly the "yeller" (they looked almost orange too me) cows were better milkers and had supposedly come from Texas. Dark Red versus light red or feather necked versus red necked were both silly debates for Hereford breeders with too much time on their hands in my opinion.

 

[KNERSIE]

I have no problem with persons breeding smaller type cattle. Just wondering why most miniature Herefords that I have seen pictures of are very light coloured. Is that the usual colour or haven't I seen any good ones?

Please explain how the darker colour would make them supposedly better?

 

[Glenvale]

I have no problem with persons breeding smaller type cattle. Just wondering why most miniature Herefords that I have seen pictures of are very light coloured. Is that the usual colour or haven't I seen any good ones?

Please explain how the darker colour would make them supposedly better?

Better in this case is just a regional preference- a dark colour has always been much preferred in the Australian market. The folklore is that a lighter colour indicates an animal with a poor constitution which isn't taking up minerals and nutrients properly. A rough or coarse coat texture is also said to indicate the same so people prefer as sleek and shiny a coat as possible.

It's made introducing many North American genetics much more difficult due to the opposing market preference here. Given that many of the early North American bulls to have come in during the 80's and 90's with associated coarse, yellow hair were also much too tall, shallow and hard doing for our typical environments so it may have further hardened the prejudice.

 

[KNERSIE]

I have no problem with persons breeding smaller type cattle. Just wondering why most miniature Herefords that I have seen pictures of are very light coloured. Is that the usual colour or haven't I seen any good ones?

Please explain how the darker colour would make them supposedly better?

Better in this case is just a regional preference- a dark colour has always been much preferred in the Australian market. The folklore is that a lighter colour indicates an animal with a poor constitution which isn't taking up minerals and nutrients properly.

With the emphasis on folklore.

A rough or coarse coat texture is also said to indicate the same so people prefer as sleek and shiny a coat as possible.

That is a fact, Bonsma has done alot of work on the negative correlation between the felting quality of the hair and the adaptability of the animal especially in warmer climates.

It's made introducing many North American genetics much more difficult due to the opposing market preference here. Given that many of the early North American bulls to have come in during the 80's and 90's with associated coarse, yellow hair were also much too tall, shallow and hard doing for our typical environments so it may have further hardened the prejudice.

Introducing foreign genetics seldom have the desired effect in the F1 population, but when the F1 is bred back to the original local genepool it typically have much better results.

In my experience the rough coarse coats you talk about is much more prevalent in darker coated herefords than it is in the lighter shades of red. That being said in the registered business here darker cherry reds are certainly more popular than lighter shades of red, but it is simply a matter ofpersonal preference and showring presence and has no bearing on the inherent quality of the animal

 

[Glenvale]

Introducing foreign genetics seldom have the desired effect in the F1 population, but when the F1 is bred back to the original local genepool it typically have much better results.

In my experience the rough coarse coats you talk about is much more prevalent in darker coated herefords than it is in the lighter shades of red. That being said in the registered business here darker cherry reds are certainly more popular than lighter shades of red, but it is simply a matter ofpersonal preference and showring presence and has no bearing on the inherent quality of the animal

Agreed on every point Knersie- from what I've seen, folklore indeed. We've also had better results bringing a dose of outside blood in through sons out of our very best (and environmentally adapted) cows than using the outside blood directly. Of the 9 paddock sires we will use this season, 8 were bred this way.

Here I'd still associate both the yellow colour and coarse hair together more often than not- this is probably due to the large Canadian influence in the genepool here now with big impact sires like LCI High Voltage 80S where they seem to go pretty well hand in hand. Given their climate up there, I can understand why they're selecting for thick, curly, coarse coats rather than the sleek coats required in tropical/subtropical environments due to heat dissipation and external parasite issues here and in the work of Bonsma where you are. It's really interesting that in SA coarse hair is more likely to come with darker coats though given I imagine we've had a similar pattern of imports.

Interestingly, although also selected in a cold environment I'd still associate softer, darker coats with the traditional English cattle too- we were reminded again last year when we had a little fun joining heifers and got a couple of calves by Wenlock Gamecock (1969) on the side which had some really soft hair quality. Perhaps a bull like him might have a great impact on the miniature Herefords here in Australia!- would the miniature herdbook allow it??

That all said, I totally agree that hair colour doesn't really reflect the inherent value of the animal despite what the market might have historically believed.

 

[djinwa]

There IS a market here for the person with the deep pockets and the ability too create it. A mini-herf steer ought too finish out at ~800 lbs liveweight. At 63% dressing weight - ~50 lbs of bone waste cut into two sides yields 227 lbs of product. At $2.50 a lb that is a very affordable $567.5 for a side of beef small enough that in boxes it will fit in most home deep freezers and the bigger refrigerator freezers. I could see something like this really moving at Christmas time if there were only a way to affordably tap into the advertising of the general public (Ebay???) and have enough numbers to be able too deliver a reliable supply stream.

Yep, that's about the weights of a mostly lowline steer we butchered this summer - he was 754 pounds live. Our kids are gone, just the wife and I. We took half of him, and wife's mom and husband took the other half. With all the stuff my wife throws in our freezers, I don't think we could have handled more than the 105 pounds of beef.

I think there are folks willing to pay more than $2.50 per pound if grass fed, like ours. My MIL admits he was so darn good that she ripped us off on the price.