What is the point in a Zebu?

GBov · #1 08/14/13, 02:21 PM

Saw a nice little cow for sale cheap on CL and I suddenly wondered, what does one do with them? Meat? Dairy? Hides? They sure are a pretty color and the one in the petting zoo sure feels lovely and silky but, what is the point of them?

KSALguy · #2 08/14/13, 03:03 PM

in the states they are more just as a novelty item really as far as I can tell, some use them to cross over their small mini cattle for low birth weight, but over in their native lands they are much bigger and are used for draft meat and milk, Madagascar and the Philippines and a lot of the south east Asian countrys and in Africa zebu and zebu type cattle are very common,

HOTW · #3 08/14/13, 03:20 PM

THe Zebu is a bred down size int eh USA, they are usually referred to as Brahma cattle when they are full size. Although they are larger in their country of origin, they are cattle bred for meat,milk, hides etc.

Miss Kay · #4 08/14/13, 08:41 PM

It's beef. Their selling point is they do well in the heat. Here in South Texas they have been used to cross breed with English beef breeds to enable them to handle the heat here.

montysky · #5 08/14/13, 09:39 PM

Just my 2 cents, just a cool looking cow to put out front, I would have zero use for one, If you need ear you can find a better option. remember just my 2 cents.

**gone-a-milkin** · #6 08/14/13, 10:21 PM

One could make these same arguments about dogs, horses, even certain humans.

The world is filled with all kinds.
Variety is the spice of life!
There is something for most everyone.

G. Seddon · #7 08/15/13, 06:58 AM

gone-a-milkin,
What a nice presentation, both animal and person...not often seen these days!

tailwagging · #8 08/15/13, 09:33 AM

They taste good. will fit in a freezer. their milk is very rich and sweet (though not much, 1/2 gallon or so plus feeding calf) they can eat cow hay unlike a goat. eye candy for sure. can pull a pony cart. fills the cow fix need. moos are quieter yet still soothing. don't take much room. eat less. can handle the heat. worm resistant. easier to handle. small hooves are easier on the ground. poop is firmer more like a goats. drinks less water. uses less bedding. small land plowing...
oh and are NOT a man made mini they are small cattle from the island of Sri Lanka like ossabaw hogs on their island.

jwal10 · #9 08/15/13, 12:26 PM

Just the latest fad gone stale. People that got on board at the start made money, now just a novelty....James

tailwagging · #10 08/15/13, 01:18 PM

well fad for some maybe but I really like mine.
I have worked with big cattle before but I will never go back to them. If i need more of something like milk or meat I would just increase my number of zebu.
I like idea that they produce A2 milk.

GBov · #11 08/15/13, 02:48 PM

THANK YOU Tailwagging

I was hoping someone WITH Zebu would chime in!

What is A2 milk?

And what are their temperments like? THe only ones I have ever put my hands on were at the petting zoo, the cow would let me pet her nose and the bull would come right up to the fence so that when people would reach out to pet his neck he could whack their arm between his horn and the top rail.

They felt like velvet!

We are at the final stages of choosing a breed of cow for our first house cow and the one on CL looked really pretty!

tailwagging · #12 08/15/13, 04:18 PM

Here is a link about A2 milk. it is said that some people have a hard time drinking A1 milk.
http://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services/A2Genotyping.php

My bull would kill you. he really would if he could get to you. most bulls would (or at lest think about it) so a small bull is easier to contain. But i would never trust him. not a lb of his 350 lbs.

my first cow as very sweet kind. the one i have now is a first calf heifer so i am still working with her. she doesn't like to be caught but once she is she is fine with it. still won't let her milk down but like i said we are working on it.

the first one I ate was a really mean larger 4 year old cow named Milly that a friend had. she gave us some and boy those Milly steaks were good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that was one of the reason we got into zubes, we wanted more Milly.
we had a bull calf that we had done at 9 months and got 72lbs of boneless meat. not bad for just two of us.

they are very smooth to the touch.

with as many people in your family you may want to go with another breed unless you just LOVE them like I do.

cedarcreekranch · #13 08/19/13, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montysky

Just my 2 cents, just a cool looking cow to put out front, I would have zero use for one, If you need ear you can find a better option. remember just my 2 cents.

The Zebus don't really have a lot of 'ear' like Brahmas do. We have a couple of 'beefier' Zebu cows and a bull and so far, we've only sold the calves as pets or mini buckers. When we bought them, we got a mini hereford cow & her half Zebu heifer, too. That halfbred Zebu heifer has now raised 3 fantastic calves for us, with them weighing as much as she does at weaning, and they are making good beef. (Lowline Angus is our main breed so her calves are half Lowline). The amazing thing we've found with these Zebus we have is they stay fat on practically air, and the cows do that while raising calves that are fat, too. The halfbreed heifer stays fat and slick also, so we might try breeding a lowline heifer to the zebu bull and see what happens that way. Sure nothing wrong with easy keeping cattle!

cedarcreekranch · #14 08/19/13, 01:38 PM

Here are our Zebus - tame enough but not 'pettable'. The bull is a bull, not mean by any business, but we don't trust any of our bulls. The cows are not agressive, just cautious. This is Ace, our bull, and he stays that fat on grass and hay ONLY. he probably weighs 550-600# but isn't very tall. :-) Then Rusty feeding Ace & one of the cows treats. rusty is 6'4" so you can see they're not very big cattle.

GBov · #15 08/19/13, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cedarcreekranch

Here are our Zebus - tame enough but not 'pettable'. The bull is a bull, not mean by any business, but we don't trust any of our bulls. The cows are not agressive, just cautious. This is Ace, our bull, and he stays that fat on grass and hay ONLY. he probably weighs 550-600# but isn't very tall. :-) Then Rusty feeding Ace & one of the cows treats. rusty is 6'4" so you can see they're not very big cattle.

WONDERFUL pictures!!! I had to call my mum in to see them and we both had a good laugh.

I like the idea of staying fat on air, three of my rabbit does do that, all the rest get thin looking if the rations get low when I cant get ahold of my feed man.

cedarcreekranch · #16 08/20/13, 11:05 AM

Gboy, glad you enjoyed the pictures! We have the Zebus out by the road and they get a lot of attention. We have a neighbor down the way who raises bucking bulls and they are always saying they want to buy Ace just to haul around! But he stays here - we enjoy him and his 'girls'. :-)

tailwagging · #17 08/20/13, 04:18 PM

Just traded my 4 month old bull calf (pic above) for 16 months of free farrier service. =)

nice bull cedercreek
this is mine. pic taken a few years ago
you can see the top of the reg cattle panel in the last pic

cedarcreekranch · #18 08/21/13, 10:47 PM

Tailwaggin, good looking bull! Ours aren't very tall either but they sure are hefty! LOL!