The Peevlers have built their herd up to 16. One steer provides enough beef to fill the couple's freezer for a year. Carolyn Peevler also considers them "green" red meat: They cause less wear and tear on her pasture land and fences and, she said with a laugh, they emit less methane gas.
"I'm 5-foot-2, and a regular cow is just too much animal for me," Peevler said. "Besides, these are adorable."
Their size does have some drawbacks for farmers, who've learned they must also scale down their operations.
Richard Gradwohl, a minicow farmer in Kent, Wash., installed partitions in his 24-foot-long trailer to prevent the animals from getting jostled too much. He also got feed troughs and water tanks that sat a foot off the ground because the old ones were too tall. Even his fencing had to be modified.
"You'd be surprised how small a space they can get under," said Gradwohl, who has written a beginner's guide for minicow owners.
Martha Mintun and her partner, Fred Joosse, switched to a female veterinarian after they found that the hands of male vets were too large to examine pregnant minicows.
They also had a tough time finding collars for ID tags small enough to stay put on their calves. So the owners of the Sonoma Little Cattle Co. in Santa Rosa, Calif., 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.
But no big adjustments have been necessary for student 4-H groups, which have embraced the smaller breeds because they are cheaper to raise and easier to handle. State fairs have expanded their lineups to include miniature classes.
There are even rodeos for kids and their wee bucking bulls: The Stephens County Fair & Expo in Duncan, Okla., will host the Mini Bucking Bulls World Finals next month, when 45 riders, ages 7 to 14, will vie for $9,500 and a rhinestone-encrusted belt buckle the size of a tea cup.
The 4-H minicows are a far cry from the full-sized black bull Kristie Petersen had showed when she was in high school. The animal weighed nearly 2,000 pounds. Kristie, with a slender dancer's frame, barely clears 5-foot-2 when she's standing tall.
She gritted her teeth when the bull dragged her across the barn.
Now, she shows the family's minicows at state fairs with pride. But she does try to give the animals a bit of a pep talk before they enter the barn.
"They cower a little bit when they spot those big bulls," she said, patting the head of Stud, her mini Hereford bull. "But really, who wouldn't?"
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p.j.huffstutter@latimes.com
