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Miniford®
Miniature Herefords
Why Minis?
You might think that it is not very often something really
new comes along, but this is far from the current truth. So
many of our ideas are changing, old products and ideas are
developing into completely new values and meanings.
Traditionally, farmers have spent the last 30
years breeding their cattle larger in order to equate more
returns from carcass prices paid by meat processors.
Today, with the explosion in numbers of small
acreage farms, owners are looking for business opportunities
that are financially viable and easy to manage. They are looking
for meat carcass yields to give them good dollar returns but
also ease of handling and manageability on small acreage is
essential. Miniature cattle can offer these opportunities
and out-perform the larger breeds in many important ways.
The History
Since 1902 the Largent family of Texas has been
involved in raising and showing purebred Hereford cattle.
Family photo albums contain pictures of cattle shows with
winning Largent stock that go back to the mid 1930's.
The breeding program put in place to develop
the Miniature Herefords was commenced in 1970. A total of
seven bloodlines were utilized in the initial stages of the
Miniature Herefords breeding program.
These bloodlines were:
- Husker Mischief from New Mexico
- Zato Heir from Oklahoma
- Colorado Domino from Colorado Springs
- Real Onward from Fort Worth Texas
- Mill Iron from Childress Texas
- Britisher from Nebraska
- Real Silver from Fort Worth Texas
These seven bloodlines were all checked free
of dwarfism by the American Hereford Association, and represented
the top winning bloodlines in America at the time. These bloodlines
can be traced back directly to Anxiety 4th, who is acknowledged
by most as being the father of American Hereford.
Today's Miniature Herefords can be traced back
to these top-winning bloodlines, which represented the Hereford
breed prior to the increase in the size and the change in
style of Hereford cattle since the early 70's.
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