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While it might sound ridiculous, miniature cows have become a much-requested holiday gift in recent years.
“Just had one picked up this morning,” Allie Sine, a rancher in Wright City, Mo., said Thursday.
The animal, a brown micro heifer, cost $10,000 and was headed elsewhere in Missouri to be a surprise Christmas present for a 3-year-old girl. It was one of more than 15 miniature cows that Ms. Sine, 27, said she had sold this holiday season.
"At Christmastime it really picks up,” she said. “Usually, the wife has been wanting one and the husband comes around to it.
The popularity of mini cows can be credited, at least in part, to TikTok, where videos of the creatures have earned millions of views.
Alyssa Rorah, a 30-year-old rancher in Maquoketa, Iowa, seconded that. “They’ll run around and play with you,” said Ms. Rorah, who also has a popular TikTok account devoted to small cows. “I get videos all the time from families who have their kids running around in the backyard and their cows are playing with the kids.””
I was thinking it was kids who wanted these, but . . . happy wife...happy life.
The article is a bit mooving, I feel behooved to post, need to milk this for all it's worth, even if I do get a bit cheesy.
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And how long will it be before the novelty wears off and these "gifts" are abandoned just like their puppy and kitten counterparts when the magic wears off and the reality of caring for a living creature becomes too inconvenient?
No three year old kid should be given an animal of any kind as a "gift," let alone a cow. Whatever happened to plushies?
Some more excerpts from the NYT article:
Quote:
The smallest cows, classified as microminiature, stand under 36 inches at full maturity, while a miniature can be as tall as 42 inches. About one-third the size of a standard cow, they are still plenty hefty. A miniature cow can range from 500 to 650 pounds, Ms. Sine said, and live as long as 20 years.
Quote:
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals recommends giving pets only to people who have demonstrated an interest in caring for them and urges would-be miniature cow buyers to think ahead. “There are fewer facilities that can take them in, should they not be a fit for the recipient’s lifestyle,” an A.S.P.C.A. spokesperson said.
Naturally, this silly little trend originated with TikTok. SMH.
Creating dwarf cattle isn't automatically cruel. The problem is that the people who are most likely to find them appealing are the least likely to know how to properly care for cattle. Mini-cows are still COWS (just as miniature horses are still horses)!
I'm seeing posts on my fb feed for these. They look adorable but they've been photoshopped to look like they are roughly the size of a housecat, like a kid could pick them up and carry them. Probably a ton of people falling for that.
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While much smaller than regular cattle, they ae still 500-800 lbs. It's not like you can pick one up and plop it into the SUV to go to the vet if it gets sick. They still need food and water, but even more care. You can't just leave them out in the back yard to graze. Here where we have Coyotes, Bobcats and Bears running around at night it would need a secure, closed shelter. I've always thought that I'd love to live in a rural area where the neighbors had cattle. I could enjoy seeing them every day while not having to do anything to take care of them.
While much smaller than regular cattle, they ae still 500-800 lbs. It's not like you can pick one up and plop it into the SUV to go to the vet if it gets sick. They still need food and water, but even more care. You can't just leave them out in the back yard to graze. Here where we have Coyotes, Bobcats and Bears running around at night it would need a secure, closed shelter. I've always thought that I'd love to live in a rural area where the neighbors had cattle. I could enjoy seeing them every day while not having to do anything to take care of them.
You might not enjoy the smell and the flies though. I had "farm" family relatives on both sides of my family.
I have seen these in the past, and while a "novelty" to some, they are an answer for some that homestead.
I would suspect there would be a "rescue" for these, and that they would be easily placed. I have seen farm animals that were available on Petfinder. I googled and there are SO many listings for farm animal rescue organizations. Feed is really expensive, and can be hard to get, and also water shortages drive people to give up the animals.
I would have many concerns having miniature cattle around little kids, health concerns for one. I suspect it is a "status" symbol to brag that you got your 3 year old a mini-cow.
. . . while a "novelty" to some, they are an answer for some that homestead. . . .
When I lived in Fairfax County, VA they had a law on the tax books that if there were cattle on your land, even a few days per year, the property qualified as a 'farm' and got a far lower tax bill, even in the heart of suburbia.
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