Miniature cattle are popular because of their small size, ability to provide high-quality tender meat, and raw milk fans use these miniature cattle for home milk production.

Learn more about miniture cattle breeds at the International Miniature Cattle Breeds Registry, INC. More from Macleans.ca:

Richard Gradwohl, of the International Miniature Cattle Breeds Society and Registry, in Covington, Wash. has seen a 25 per cent increase worldwide in miniature cattle year over year during the past 15 years. Despite its big-sky, red-meat reputation, Alberta is the centre of the movement in Canada, with perhaps half of the country’s Dexter population and the first restaurant to serve exclusively Dexter beef—Apples, in Bashaw, an hour and a half northeast of Red Deer.

Mini-cow breeds weigh between 500 and 700 pounds, about half the size of regular breeds, and are either bred down from Hereford, Holstein, Jersey or Angus lines or, like the dual-purpose Dexter breed—good for both milk and beef—are naturally tiny.

A recent explosion in small hobby farms catering to niche markets helped boost their appeal even prior to the economic downturn, as did growing concern over food safety, sustainability and the environmental footprint of beef. Fans of raw milk are more and more turning to mini-cows to produce their own; the efficiency can be startling: a Holstein-Jersey miniature cross will eat a third of what a larger dairy cow will but produce two-thirds the milk. In the U.S., mini-cows are more and more popular as pets, particularly among women.

Enthusiasts, meanwhile, extol the excellent quality of the meat, which is said to be more tender. “They taste like good beef,” says Hykaway, a retired electrician who has 45 head at Tandria Dexters, just east of Fort Saskatchewan. “Because a lot of us aren’t using grain, they have that nice distinct grass taste.”

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