I was researching beef breeds on the net this morning, and came across a great surprise: Miniature Herefords! They stand between 36 and 42 inches high, and are docile and easy to handle. Of course, they are expensive to buy, at $3,000 to 10,000 an animal, but you can order semen and have the strain crossbred into your present stock. I am toying seriously with crossbreeding my little Jersey with a miniature Hereford to hopefully produce a good milk producer that needs little grain, if any at all.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), August 06, 2001

Answers

They have miniature Jerseys as well. I have read that of all the dairy breeds, Jerseys are the ones best adapted to grass farming (no grain). By crossing with a beef breed, you could be sacrificing both milk production and length and persistency of lactation.

-- Laura Jensen (lauraj@seedlaw.com), August 08, 2001.

Consider AIing that jersey of yours with beefalo. I know folks who raise them, and they are hardy, great on even poor pasture, give a great lean beef carcass, and when crossed with their Jersey milk cows give steers that are good quality meat and heifers that milk as well as their mothers. They've also got the lowest incidence of calving problems of any breed of cattle I know of. Its a trait from their bison ancestry to drop small calves that grow fast.

-- Sojourner (notime4@summer.spam), August 08, 2001.