mini cattle

[Ejtrout31]

my daughter who is 13 wants to start raising mini cattle. We currently raise black angus Hereford cattle but the barn is across the field at my moms house so she wants to buy a small barn. Any ides for cheap supplies or cows? Is this a profitable idea?

 

[Ejtrout31]

she shows for 4h and thought minis would befun

 

[farmerjan]

Okay, lots of questions. Where are you located? Please add it to your profile that shows up when you post because I for one can never hardly remember where a person is from unless I can see it in front of me....It's that getting older thing....LOL..
Are there any mini's in your area? What is the plan except to have fun and show a few?

Mini's are cute to look at. They are horribly overpriced most places when they are available. They are great for meat for a smaller family. They have some serious breeding concerns. If anything, I would go for "lowline angus" which now have a new name but they are essentially a "mini sized" angus. The mini herefords have some very concerning breeding/calving problems. As well as some dwarfism concerns. There are mini Zebu's which I think are cute but I don't know anything else about them.

They will bring giveaway prices if you market them through normal channels like the local sale barn. If you get too attached to them, then killing excess animals for beef will be something to think about.

Do you raise black angus or herefords or cross them for black baldies?

I have had some lowlines. Realize they will still weigh 5-800 lbs at full maturity. The one thing I did was use an easy calving bull on mine and they had nice calves that grew more like the normal angus and at weaning of 500 lbs + were nearly as tall as the cow so sold well at normal sales.
I liked my lowlines. I liked most of their dispositions. But they still had some size as adults.

Maybe she should find a calf or 2 to raise of normal size animals, for 4-H. Put a small "run in barn" that you can get nowadays from many different mfgs., and some fencing there and just let her raise them up. If she raises something that is somewhat popular, she will have more competition also.

There are small breeds of dairy type animals. Mini jerseys, but I have never had anything to do with them. Jerseys are small enough in my opinion. Dexters are a more dual purpose breed, many being milked, and are smaller. Kerry cattle are a smaller breed.

Understand that most "mini" breeds have a unique set of problems with breeding and calving. Dwarfism is common in some mini breeds. Getting semen to breed them can be a hurdle.
I am not trying to be down on the idea. But you need to be very careful going into this so that you realize that there will be some issues you may have never faced with "normal" sized cattle. We have enough problems with them as it is.
There will be no cheap way to get into them.