Mini Cows!

Well this cute little guy would be one of what's being called miniature panda cattle. It's just one breed of a growing trend of miniature cattle. We owe credit to the mini panda cow (along with many other miniature breeds) to Richard Gradwohl, of the International Miniature Cattle Breeds Society and Registry, in Covington, Washington. For many years he has been breeding down cattle to miniature size for milking, beef, and the pet industry (Actually don't think I'd mind having a panda cow as a pet but they cost way too much). These cattle run about half the size of they're bigger counterparts and are said to be more environmentally friendly as they require less food, less land and produce less methane, well at least in theory.

Though the methane thing isn't totally proved yet, I do have to say some things about requiring less food and less land things. I commend these people for trying to help the environment as cows are said to be the cause for a lot of extra greenhouse gases but I'm not sure what they're doing will help all that much. While it is true that one mini cow will need less land and food then its bigger version, I don't think they are thinking in terms of how beef and dairy farmers who are trying to make as much money as they can, would. For beef and dairy farmers wouldn't it just make sense to have double the amount of cows since they require less? Since they would be able to produce with double the mini cows on the same amount of land why not? Or why not make the same amount with the bigger cows? I could be totally wrong about this but I'm not sure the mini cow idea is actually better for the environment. I guess time will tell though.