# Does anyone have Mini Herefords?



## GBov (May 4, 2008)

Someone near us is selling a few and I am at the planning stage of getting my cow/steer/heifer for meat. Having now filled my freezers to the bursting point with pork and still have a pig leftover eating his head off, a full sized beef beast is out of the question. It will just be too much meat all at once so I am looking at smaller breeds. 

I really like what I read about Dexters but they arent the only small cow in the pasture lol.

Does anyone have Mini Herefords and can tell me about them? Flighty? Docile? Mean? Lovely? Easy/hard keepers?


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## kycrawler (Sep 18, 2011)

I have a mini herford heifer she is about 500 lbs she is docile not mean at all almost curious . If someone in the indiana /kentucky area would be interested in her she will be for sale reasonable as she doesnt fit in my herd well as i dont have any other mini's


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## 65284 (Sep 17, 2003)

GBov said:


> Having now filled my freezers to the bursting point with pork and still have a pig leftover eating his head off, a full sized beef beast is out of the question.


I hope you realize that after about a year or less most pork starts to become rancid and almost unfit to eat.


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## kycrawler (Sep 18, 2011)

your pork will not "go rancid " in a year you may get some freezer burn but it will not turn bad in a proper temp deep freezer 


back on topic if the mini herfords your looking at are tempered like the one i have and priced reasonable i would go for it if you only need a small beef , may be more cost effective to feed out a jersey steer and butcher him younger though if you have to pay alot for the herford


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## lakeportfarms (Apr 23, 2009)

We have one mini Hereford in a herd of 25 Dexters. She is flighty compared to them and we've never been able to tame her down. It's hard to find them selling for the same or less than an average Dexter, they are usually more expensive.


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

I seller hasn't gotten back to me yet - e-mail and phone message left - but they have a 10 month old and a 9 month old heifer for sale for $250 each and a twin set heifer/bull 6 month old for $450 the pair. Is it true that the heifer will be sterile as a female half of a twin set?

Not being all the way ready for one I haven't chased them up but by weeks end I should be ready and will be actively hunting my beef.

The only Dexters I have found for sale lately have been over a grand so well out of my budget :runforhills: 

And we have vacuum packed our pork so it should stay good for a year or more. That is one of the reasons why I like to butcher my animals myself. I can vacuum pack them instead of getting them back in butcher paper. Well, that and I am SURE my animal is hte one in my freezer!


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## mitchell3006 (Apr 1, 2010)

Yes in all likelyhood on the sterile heifer on the twin set. I forget the term for her but she will be to eat only.


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## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

Freemartin. Heifer with bull calf as twin will be sterile 93 % of the time. I just cull


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## lakeportfarms (Apr 23, 2009)

Yikes! That's pretty cheap, most of the mini-herefords I've seen listed (registered though) have been North of $1500.00 each.

The twins are terminal though...freezer only.


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## Lazy J (Jan 2, 2008)

I get a kick out of these threads. Hereford breeders spent decades trying to elimnate dwarfism in the breed, now we have mini-Herefords. Boy times do change.


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## BarbadosSheep (Jun 27, 2011)

myersfarm said:


> Freemartin. Heifer with bull calf as twin will be sterile 93 % of the time. I just cull


Wow! Learn something new every day. I had no idea this happened. What about twin heifers....they are OK? That is very interesting.


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## kycrawler (Sep 18, 2011)

twin heifers are a ok $250 a head for calves that old is a steal you could buy the 2 good heifers to keep and buy the other twins to go to freezer camp with beef prices this year that is probably the best deal you will find


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

kycrawler said:


> twin heifers are a ok $250 a head for calves that old is a steal you could buy the 2 good heifers to keep and buy the other twins to go to freezer camp with beef prices this year that is probably the best deal you will find


You read my mind wooooOOOOooooooo lol.

Having read about the breed over the last few days and talked to you guys, I am DEFF. going to give getting these ones a try. I find buying off Craigs list to be 50 50 for actually getting what one wants.


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## BarbadosSheep (Jun 27, 2011)

For that price, I'd buy them all if you have room. If the bull calf is unrelated, hold off steering him until he has had a chance to breed the heifers. Even if he is their half-brother, use him as a terminal sire. Once they are bred, then send him to freezer camp as ground meat and roasts. In understand young bulls are fine and dandy to eat, although maybe a little tougher than a steer would have been.


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

Lots of people are buying dwarf and mini cattle nowdays.
If people will keep accurate records of the cost of these animals these type of cattle would become much less popular except to those who want lawn ornaments.


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

pancho said:


> Lots of people are buying dwarf and mini cattle nowdays.
> If people will keep accurate records of the cost of these animals these type of cattle would become much less popular except to those who want lawn ornaments.


Why is that? From what I read they eat less and cause less damage to your land. With teh plus that they will fit into a freezer.

So what is the down side to minil or dwarf cattle?


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## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

GBov said:


> Why is that?
> 
> 
> From what I read they eat less
> ...



the PRICE PER POUND ...you start out in the hole..$1500 for a 500 pound animal.....or a normal at 900 lbs for a average of $1.43 right now $1287 at that price I can give away all that does not fit in freezer

if you buy as calf small will be $600 and a normal will be $200 at the same age lose one of those and YOU WILL lose a animal if you have a animal

If you butcher the killing and gut disposal and butcher prices usully run the same no matter what the weight so figure that in to the pounds of meat you bring home NORMAL WINS EASY but if you slaught at same size even

YOU Can never sale at sale barn if YOU NEED MONEY TODAY..you have to deal with people one on one and run ads


this is my outlook on small and normal size notice I never said DEXTER OR MINATURE HEREFROD OR ANY BREED JUST SMALL


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

GBov said:


> Why is that? From what I read they eat less and cause less damage to your land. With teh plus that they will fit into a freezer.
> 
> So what is the down side to minil or dwarf cattle?


Look at the price most people charge for the minis. Figure that out to per pound of meat in the freezer. Then you still have the same type of cost that comes with any cow. Add the total cost up and you will see quite a bit of difference in the cost of the meat.
If you do not overcrowd the land a cow isn't going to do any real damage to the land. They eat less because they produce less.


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

If you want a mini, that's fine. But if freezer space is the issue, you can raise a full size steer and sell a side on the rail.


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

oregon woodsmok said:


> If you want a mini, that's fine. But if freezer space is the issue, you can raise a full size steer and sell a side on the rail.


As I butcher my animals myself, size is DEFF! an issue lol.

But yet again my attempt at land has fallen through, turns out our 4H club cant rent me an unused corner of the land because I am not a non-profit organization. So I am back to haunting CL. With so much land around, why is it being so hard to find some :grumble:


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## Patrick (Sep 13, 2011)

Lazy J said:


> I get a kick out of these threads. Hereford breeders spent decades trying to elimnate dwarfism in the breed, now we have mini-Herefords. Boy times do change.


I agree, although the bred down mini herefords are not genetic dwarfs. 

It's been some years since I looked into them, but at that time, the mini Herefords were considered less efficient than the Lowline Angus. The Lowline breeders did a very good job at keeping production traits, while just reducing size. 

Other than Lowlines, Mini Herefords, Dexters and Zebus, just about all of the other so-called mini cattle are nothing more than grades given a breed name, or normally small individuals of a breed. It continues to amaze me the mentality of people who you can't convince that one generation or 5 does not yet make a true breeding breed. The same is happening in dairy goats. People weren't satisfied with Pigmys, they had to create the Nigerian Dwarf. Fine, but now they've taken to fooling themselves that Lamanchas and Nubians have also been miniaturized into true breeds. They have not. I understand how somewhat smaller cattle can still be desireable. That's how the Dexter came about, but anything less than a normal sized dairy goat is just false economy. Still, you can't convince the bleeding heart, misty morning and rainbow crowd. PT Barnum was right. There are any number of enterprising "breeders" who gladly part people from their money. Just add mini to the front of the breed, and an emoticon at the end of your email, and you've as good as made a sale.


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

Patrick said:


> I agree, although the bred down mini herefords are not genetic dwarfs.
> 
> It's been some years since I looked into them, but at that time, the mini Herefords were considered less efficient than the Lowline Angus. The Lowline breeders did a very good job at keeping production traits, while just reducing size.
> 
> Other than Lowlines, Mini Herefords, Dexters and Zebus, just about all of the other so-called mini cattle are nothing more than grades given a breed name, or normally small individuals of a breed. It continues to amaze me the mentality of people who you can't convince that one generation or 5 does not yet make a true breeding breed. The same is happening in dairy goats. People weren't satisfied with Pigmys, *they had to create the Nigerian Dwarf.* Fine, but now they've taken to fooling themselves that Lamanchas and Nubians have also been miniaturized into true breeds. They have not. I understand how somewhat smaller cattle can still be desireable. That's how the Dexter came about, but anything less than a normal sized dairy goat is just false economy. Still, you can't convince the bleeding heart, misty morning and rainbow crowd. PT Barnum was right. There are any number of enterprising "breeders" who gladly part people from their money. Just add mini to the front of the breed, and an emoticon at the end of your email, and you've as good as made a sale.


Nope! I cant let that one fly! The NDDs have been around as long as teh pygmies. They were bred for two compleatly different reasons but BOTH have been for as long as each other.

And if you are like me, a full sized dairy goat isn't an option but our Little Girl (ND) gives a gallon of milk every four days so she is no ones idea of a second rate goat.

And Dexter's were bred in Ireland for small holders who had no room for large cows and no feed for un-thrifty breeds. They have been around for ages too.

When the dairy down the road would loose a cow or two and they would come wandering round our two acres (When we lived in Ireland) the full sized beasts would do damage it took MONTHS to get rid of. On clay based always wet soil, their hooves would knife easily a foot deep into the land, churning it to a mire in to time. I have no doubt that Dexter's could do as much damage but being smaller, it would take them longer.

Having said that, the new trend for smaller dairy goat breeds has made me smile but its something needed, not everyone can FIT full sized animals in their yards but EVERYONE is worried/afraid of what is getting into our food supplies and wants to get safe food for their families.

Having gotten our goat, I have learned we need one per milk drinker to have enough left over for cheese, yogurt and ice cream making but just having a glass of her sweet creamy milk is worth anything it takes to have her and she is a darned sight cheaper to feed than our worthless dog.

Home butchering is hard work - worth it though - so being small myself, a small beef breed is going to be easier for me. Our last pig is getting a bit intimidating with his size, he is topping 300 pounds now and its a good thing he is friendly. My lovely hubby has gotten me another freezer so in the next week or two I shall scratch Ham's belly, get him to fall over in a happy daze and shoot him in the head. He will never know what hit him :happy2: But if he is 300 pounds and is such hard work, having a 1000 plus pound animal to butcher and pack is out of my league lol.

I would LOVE a Dexter cow calf pair and am saving for it now. 

Try for a little patience for the small, round, not too young folks who like a smaller animal than you do eh?


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## Patrick (Sep 13, 2011)

GBov said:


> Nope! I cant let that one fly! The NDDs have been around as long as teh pygmies. They were bred for two compleatly different reasons but BOTH have been for as long as each other. *Not true. The pygmies were first imported more or less in their current style, small, cobby, meat type. Not until people started crossing them with normal dairy goats did some enterprising individual decide to promote the grades as a new "breed" and focus on dairy type.*
> And if you are like me, a full sized dairy goat isn't an option but our Little Girl (ND) gives a gallon of milk every four days so she is no ones idea of a second rate goat. *I don't mean to insult, but there are plenty of people who would consider a goat which only milks one pound a day as second rate, regardless of size.*
> And Dexter's were bred in Ireland for small holders who had no room for large cows and no feed for un-thrifty breeds. They have been around for ages too. *Well, not ages. A little over 100 years, yes.* When the dairy down the road would loose a cow or two and they would come wandering round our two acres (When we lived in Ireland) the full sized beasts would do damage it took MONTHS to get rid of. On clay based always wet soil, their hooves would knife easily a foot deep into the land, churning it to a mire in to time. I have no doubt that Dexter's could do as much damage but being smaller, it would take them longer.
> 
> ...


I have nothing against this mini movement per se, but I just don't like to see people get taken, and fed a bunch of hype that is not true, and buy animals that are represented as a pure breed, when they are not.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

If I were zoned for livestock I would get a mini: I have no need of a gallon of milk a day. Even if I make butter about 1-2 quarts a day would be about right.


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

Patric, http://www.dairygoatjournal.com/issues/88/88-6 /breed_history_of_the_nigerian_dwarf_dairy_goat.html According to this they have been around in this country as long as each other because they came from the same stock. I am not arguing the breeds age, esp. because I thought it was older and came over from its native land as two breeds, not as lion food lol.

I just missed a chance at a dexter cow calf pair at a really really good price. $700 for a 3 year old cow and lowline cross month old heifer and they have a year and a half old heifer for $400 or $1,000 for all three. So I got permission to keep them at our 4H grounds if I built the pen but then was told I couldnt. Committees eh, doncha just love em 

And each time I get my pig fat enough for me to kill it, he turns the fat into meat adn grows two inches taller. He is then a long lean pig again so I work on getting him fat and we do it again lol. He is for the chop this Monday. I like pork with fat on it and he is once again nice and plump :bouncy:

I am not going to look at Craigs list again until I have a place of my own where NO ONE has a say but me! So I am now saving for a 10 acre parcel not too far from us. I am then going to fence off three, one acre and four half acre parcels and rent them to people like me who want to raise good, safe meat and veg and fruit for their families. It will leave me 5 acres for myself and pay my monthly payments.

So no more looking until I sign on the dotted line. 

Being a craigs list addict, any bets on how long I can keep from looking?  lol.


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

Terri said:


> If I were zoned for livestock I would get a mini: I have no need of a gallon of milk a day. Even if I make butter about 1-2 quarts a day would be about right.


We have found with our one goat milking its just the right amount for one person. So my mum gets most of it. We were going to get more but am really glad we didnt. Its hard to hide two goats in the back yard, never mind a herd lol.


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## farmgirl6 (May 20, 2011)

I am getting Maria's shorty, I am just looking for a pet but if she were to be safely breedable not opposed to a tiny milk cow giving just enough, I have small amount of land.


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