Working with Mini Zebu

[PulpFaction]

So, out of all the kinds of cows out there, the only ones that really appeal to me are the miniature Zebu. I worked with some for a bit when I used to volunteer in the "Farm area" at the Memphis Zoo as a kid, and have never been able to get over them.

Anyone know anything about them? Things that appeal to me about them are their storied disease and heat resistance couple with the small size, plus there "soft" look in the face and eyes and those bizarre humps! To me, they are the best of the Jersey and those fantastic, exotic Brahmin all rolled into one teensy little package. I like that you can keep 10 mini zebu in the same space you can have 2 full size regular cows. I like that, if I were to butcher some steers if I couldn't sell them, I would be dealing with a much more manageable amount of meat for one person.

Can anyone see how these guys could be PRACTICAL, though? Seems like there is probably a pretty good market in some areas for pets and sell of breeding animals...but with their slow maturity rates I'm having trouble imagining how these could be practical meat animals, even if they do thrive well on less than even other similar sized meat animals.

I've heard a milking Zebu can produce a gallon a day of high butterfat milk...

So I guess it just comes down to the fact that I really just LIKE them.

Anyone have any ideas or experiences with having a more practical working herd of mini Zebu?

Could I keep a mini Zebu bull to use on a smallish Jersey to make "Mini Jerseys"? (Hopefully they wouldn't be too "humpy".) I'd have to do AI, I know, but my main fear would be the the calf would be TOO small for the mom, since there are a lot of mini Zebu out there between 34" and 35". Is that possible? This might make for more productive small milkers....might it also produce faster growing steers, or are Jerseys slow growing too?

[Drew Cutter]

I don't think you can't cross a zebu bull with small jersey . You can mix jersey with angus . mix white park with jersey , jersey and heford . The bull has to be a mini jersey , mini white park , mini angus . I have not seen anyone who has experimented with a zebu and other breeds.

[catdance62]

We just bought 4 miniature Zebu and so far, so good. I do believe that owning them will be just like owning "regular" sized cattle, but on a smaller basis! I dunno about the milking part. We have dairy goats and they are really easy to milk, so I dont know if I'll be trying to milk these cows because they are a little spooky (they'll come to a feed bucket, thats it). Most dairy cattle in the US, just like goats, were bred specifically for udder production. SInce Zebus arent, I dont know what their production or lactation cycle would be like, but I'm sure that one would provide enough milk for a family milker.

[lasergrl]

Ive seen lots of jersey zebu, and lowline zebu (mini brangus) crosses. It works just fine.

[copperhead46]

Sure you can breed a Zebu to a Jersey, maybe you'd get a really cool tiger striped Jersey, wow, that would be cool..............P.J.

[francismilker]

Farmer in my area that knew he was getting out of the business in the near future and wasn't going to need anymore replacement jersey heifers went the last three years of his business putting a brahman (big zebu) bull on all his jersey milk cows. He kept all the heifers and started his beef herd with them. Those were some of the coolest looking cows I've ever seen. All of them were coming out gray with reddish-brown highlights on their muzzles, feet, tails, and ears. Those cows produced good calves and good milk way up into their teens and his beef herd, (which is now mostly black) is still heavily influenced by those original seed cows. Now that the question was asked about how "humpy" they would be, I don't remember them being humpy at all. In fact, they didn't have the normal flab in the dewlap/brisket area and the females didn't have a prevailing sheath hanging off their belly.

[PulpFaction]

So I ran a search on zebu jersey cross-breds and came up with this interesting experiment using Jerseys and Holstein bulls on a larger variety of Zebu: http://www.lingueremilk.org/early-results/

Some of the most interesting findings in these crossbreds:

The crossbreeds are so far largely meeting the expected results:

- they are resistant to the heat. They feed all day as oppose to the pure breed Holstein and Jersey that stay in the shade and feed in the mornings and nights when the temperatures are lower.

- at first calving the crossbreeds produce eight to ten liters of milk per day as compared to local cows that produce one to two liters per day. Similarly, the Holstein/Zebu and Jersey/Zebu crosses produce the above quantities of milk per day as opposed to other crosses such as Montbéliarde/Zebu that produce five liters per day at first calving. There have been no studies carried out on this; however, these are direct observations with the few crossbreeds around Linguère. We do suspect that other factors such as feeding and proper care of the cows may be at play.

- the crossbreeds are resistant to disease. In 2006, there was an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the country. Despite early vaccinations against this disease one Holstein bull and several Zebus were affected by the disease but none of the crossbreeds. Likewise in 2008, there was an outbreak of Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD). At our crossbreeding center, a Zebu and a Jersey pure breeds contracted the disease but no crossbreed did.

- the body condition of the crossbreeds stay generally very good throughout the year while the pure breeds tend to loose weight late in the dry season.

- the crossbreeds are fast growing, start to calf to age two as compared to zebu whose first calving is from four to five years of age. The crossbreeds also calf every year as opposed to zebus that calf every other year.

- under the same feeding conditions (quantities and types of feed) the crossbreeds produce the same amount of milk per day as do Jersey pure breeds.

The whole thing is really interesting. Sounds like it makes for much more thrifty, economical milk cows than the modern behemoths many US dairies use. Might be ideal in the hot Mississippi delta...

[copperhead46]

If the Zebu is like it's larger cousin, the Brahman, or as they are known around here, Brammers, , the can sweat, where as other breeds don't, thats why they can take the heat so well, they should be perfect in the hot and humid south.
P.J.

[tailwagging]

I milk my mini-zebu. I only milk once a day and then the calf is put on the rest of the day.
I get about 1 to 1 1/2 quarts. We put last years calf in the freezer at about 9 mouths old. I can't remember how much dress out he was but we got 72lbs of ground beef alone and I would say about 10 to 15 lbs of stew.

[Levonsa]

We have a few crossed bred mini cattle that are part zebu. The miniature zebu can add the same desirable characterstics to mini cattle that their larger counter parts did to the regular beef cattle, heat tolerance, disease resistance, good mothering and milking abilities. I didn't realize how many different breeds included brahma until watching The Cattle Show on RFD TV Tuesday. Our bull is sired by a lowline bull and out of a zebu cow, I love the way he looks and can't wait to get calves by him next year. Have fun with them.