It hasn't been an easy transition. When the Petersens bought their first dozen animals in the mid-1990s, friends told them they'd lost their minds. Some ranchers said they'd have trouble selling consumers on their mini-steaks. Even their youngest daughter was reluctant to show them at 4-H livestock contests when she was younger.
"I got tired of people sneering and hearing the jokes," said Kristie Petersen, now 23.
But gradually, a mini-boom in minicows took hold.
Today, there are more than 300 miniature-Hereford breeders in the U.S., up from fewer than two dozen in 2000. And there are about 20,000 minicows, compared with fewer than 5,000 a decade ago, according to the International Miniature Cattle Breeds Registry.
Still, the animals represent a minor portion of the 94.5 million head of cattle in the U.S. this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Here in Tekamah, a farming village of 1,900 about 40 miles north of Omaha, the Petersens' phone steadily rings with tour requests and orders for live animals. The couple have sold animals from the farm's 300-head herd to cattlemen from Indiana, a pair of bull riders in Texas and a retired couple moving to Missouri.
John Dunham came shopping recently for his 80-year-old father, who raises livestock in South Dakota's Black Hills. His dad's farm has been struggling to stay profitable.
"I'm thinking about sneaking a few of them onto the farm," said Dunham, 50. "Maybe he'll think his eyes are playing tricks on him."
The minicows have been a perfect fit with another trend in farm efficiency -- the move to ranchettes, smaller operations run by families or small groups of workers. The number of smaller farms has boomed in recent years, growing to nearly 700,000 in 2007 from 580,000 in 2002, according to the latest census by the Department of Agriculture.
"When you have a back four, instead of a back 40 [acres], you need to think small," said Carolyn Peevler, 60, who runs the Mini Moo Farm in Veedersburg, Ind.
She and her husband, Mark, used to raise goats on their 59-acre farm, but they switched to minicows last year because "we figured they'd be easier to handle as we got older."
They soon realized they had more field than cattle; one animal needed less than an acre for grazing. Because the minicows could be grass fed, the couple were spending at least half the amount on feed than they would have on regular-sized animals. The minicows also reached their mature weight faster, so they could be sold for meat sooner.
