Miniature Cattle Breeds?

I got some interesting information this week about mini breeds. I was talking to the guy who does most of the meat processing in my area. I ask him if he knew anyone who had mini breeds. His answer shocked me. He said he has customers all the time who have what they call "dwarf" cattle. They were created by line breeding a single bull. The third generation creates a dwarf of the breed. He also said it can create many deformities so any program has to be carefully watched and many culls are produced during the process. The ranchers in this area have a lot of cattle that run free in the hills so you never know which bull breeds which cow. Sometimes they get the dwarfs and they consider them throw away cattle.

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[QUOTE=pygmywombat] The only breeds I know of worldwide that are true miniatures are the old world type Jerseys and Dexters. Other breeds are just regular animals, although some are smaller, depends on their use and where they come from. /QUOTE]
In china they have two breeds of very small cows adapted to the tropics they are yellow cattle and cheju hanwoo

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marching to the beat of a different drummer

Ok, I have been quiet and read this link for several days now. Many of you have done some research before responding and others have just general questions. I want to share some insight from raising miniature cattle. When I first started researching minis I read about the professor and that is all I am going to say about that. There are several breeds of very sall cows and none of you have touched on the breed that has been used to reduce the size. Zebu cattle are purebred and you could learn much from reading about this breed for starters, woops I have to go for now, my wife is calling but I will respond more later.

For 2 years I had a Mini Zebu steer as a pet. he was cool. You could lead him all around brush him and had the cutest little horns.
This picture really doesn't do him justice, but he was neat, at 38 inches~!.

I traded him for a Miniature Donkey, some guy wanted the Zebu and I wanted a mini donkey so we swapped Cool Eh?

My friend had miniature Zebus. Cute little buggers. And I mean little. A two year old bull calf maybe weighed 400 pounds. But I'm not sure they were used to reduce the size on Dexters and Jerseys, any more than Chihuahuas were used to reduce the size on Shetland Sheepdogs. Here's a paragraph on Zebu cattle from Cattle Today http://cattle-today.com/Zebu.htm :

Zebu is a term which is synonymous with "Bos Indicus," the scientific name for the humped cattle of the world. The major Zebu cattle breeds of the world include Gyr, Guzerat, Indu-Brazilian, Nelore, and Brahman. They originated in India, and are thought to be the world's oldest domesticated cattle. They were introduced into the United States as early as 1849. The Zebu Association was formed in the US in 1946. The first importations of Zebu were bullocks for draft purposes, but they later interbred with other cattle breeds and produced hybrids which were bigger, faster growing, and more thrifty. These cattle often did better than the cattle which the colonists had brought from Europe.

This link has some GREAT Zebu pics! They're so darned cute! http://www.drzoolittle.net/zbucows.html

And this site seems to have some pretty reasonable prices: http://www.buffalohillexotics.com/zebu.html

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The basic message of liberalism is simply: The true measure of a society is how it treats the weak and the needy. A simple Christian message (Matthew 25:40). -Garrison Keillor

From what I have read, there is at least one MiniJersey breeder that has used Zebus to keep the animals as small as possible. In an effort to stamp the small genes in.
I know there are smaller Jerseys around, but a nuber of the miiautre Jerseys marketed do carry other breeds in their lineage and, unfortunately, without pedigrees I have a hard time accepting them as purebred (and yes, I know not all papered Jerseys are completely purebred either).
That's just me, though.
We live quite close to one of the largest breeders of MiniJerseys in the States. I considered getting some semen at one point but dad pointed out that pretty much flew in the face of what this farm had decided to breed for. Production and with production comes size (look at Holsteins afterall!) to support the production.
So our particular herd of Jerseys, which trace back to very early Jerseys, are on the larger side. The School Farm didn't breed the exact same way and their raising program is different. There Jerseys, for the most part, are on the smaller side, especially when compared to ours. There is one cow is quite short and her calves are small (she's had two heifers so far and it already bred back). She is a wonderful little cow.