And you thought Smart Cars were cute?

In the spirit of falling in love with anything “mini”, I share with you a heart-warming story of tiny bovines. The LA Times featured a story on the growing movement in the US of ranching with miniature cows and steers. Yes, you heard correctly. These little critters are less than half the size of their traditional land-hogging, food-hogging counterparts. But the milk or meat they provide is substantial. The coolest part of all is that the minis are not genetically engineered and are not dwarfs. They are original breeds that lost popularity when large farms were more common and land and feed were at less of a premium.

With the surge in minis, farmers can further participate in the small-farm and natural-feed movements, as the little guys need so much less space on which to graze. Plus, they are SO CUTE it’s just unbelievable. I call this a win-win!

I have a tie for my favorite quote from the story between:
“Farmers who raise mini Jerseys brag how each animal provides 2 to 3 gallons of milk a day, though they complain about having to crouch down on their knees to reach the udders.”
~and ~
“They also had a tough time finding collars for ID tags small enough to stay put on their calves. So the owners … went to a pet store and bought dog collars. ‘It wasn’t until later that we realized they had tiny hamburger and hot dog designs on them,’ Mintun said.”