Cattle as Cute Companion Animals
OK, this may seem like an off-topic post (see subject line). But bear with me, because it's really not as off-topic as one might think.
I've been doing some thinking on the subject of livestockism. Which would be a term for strong prejudice for or against a particular kind of livestock; a term for attributing positive or negative qualities to a group based on personal belief. (Think racism.)
Many people exhibit what could be called livestockism when it comes to horses (noble, helped us settle the West, deserve to run free if born free, subjects for rescue and adoption, great companion animals, should not be considered as food, etc.), and when it comes to cattle (fair game for horseback sport, socially acceptable to be raised as food, livestock vs. a pet/companion animal, and so forth).
Just to underline how deeply ingrained our cultural livestockism can be, imagine a flipflopped world, in which cattle were the pets/companion animals, and horses were the fair game for cattleback sport. Picture donating funds to a cattle rescue, or conducting a circle ceremony at the gravesite of a euthanized steer, or sending your heifer over the Rainbow Bridge.
Then pay a visit to this Website, cutecattle.com, and share your thoughts. (I found this by doing a Google search for the phrase 'cute cattle'--just to see if anything would turn up--and lo and behold, it did).
posted by Juli Thorson @ 9:56 AM
14 comments
14 Comments:
I love the 'cute cattle' website!
We have some near-retirement friends who recently divested themselves of all their super-sized versions (horses and cattle) and have started a herd of miniature cattle.
They live in a very affluent community, and reasoned that the minis will be the most economical way, long term, to maintain their ag exemption.
But I wonder: where will they find a vet tiny enough to palpate them?
I had never even considered the idea of cows being pets, until two years ago when I got two steers to show at our local fairs. They are fat, giant pets who think they are horses. They eat carrots and love their scratchy spots to be scratched. They are easy to catch and lead, and one of these days if I find a cinch big enough to fit around their bellys, I plan to ride one (a friend of mine also has pet cows, and we ride her steer all the time!).
Every year at the fair I get jokes about my cows ages (2 and 3) as most steers don't make it past 1! But I love my boys, and I could never imagine them as supper!
Cows make much better pets then people think!
Aww geez. You had to bring this up today. We are picking up our beef cow this week, that we plan to butcher in Jan for meat for the year. Wade tells me this morning they've set a heifer back for us. I'm thinking "Ok, a heifer we should breed, and then eat the calf, right?" I'm having a hard time considering eating a female for some reason. Why didn't he pick a bull calf? Can I really do this??? Agghh!
Do come over and see the dump puppy I picked up yesterday. Sooo cute!
I LOVE miniature cattle!!!
I want one!!!
They are cute, but I'm such a beef eater that my mouth waters when I drive past a pasture of steers. So, mini-burgers? I do buy hay/straw occasionally from a guy who has a pet blind steer that is 7 years old this year. He's a hoot!
I came close to buying a Dexter from a breeder in Moscow as a milk cow. Dexters are small but not considered miniature since they weren't selectively bred to be small. Anyway, I'd love to have a pet milk cow and be able to get emotionally attached. We raised a couple calves for beef and they were great. Our heifer loved to lick us and be scratched and babied. We ate her as planned though.
Mikey, don't feel too bad for your beef, I bet it had a better life than the beef you get at the store.
On the rodeo note, I don't go to rodeos. Besides not liking to hear the calves cry, I don't like seeing all the horses with their heads tied down and their mouths yanked on. A lot of the rodeo sports strike me as inhumane. But I don't generally go shooting my mouth off about it, or judging people who like to watch, I just avoid watching them myself.
When my youngest was in 4H she had a red angus cross that she used for her breeding projects. The cow was broke to ride all in all
the walk was too slow
the jog was real comfy
the lope was terrible.
I just figured she was too proud to ride one of her pigs.
She now has a replacement redX but is too busy with babies of her own :)
She will get there again :)
Enjoyed your post
What about Pigs? We used to have a pig stud (yes they get collected just like horses and cattle) and I had 4 or 5 that would usualy snort at me when I came in the barn and who always wanted a scratch when I walked by.
We had been told by some farmers to be extra carefull of the boars as they can be really dangerous (esp to a friend who had 40 stiches as a teen from a loose boar) However we found that the younger we got them and the easer we handled them the better behaved they were. There were some that you didnt go in the pen with but most were ok to handle. Our vet said we had the most well behaved pigs he's ever seen (and that was just before he retired!)
We usualy kept them untill they were 3 or 4 years old and by then they were about 3 feet high, and almost 900lbs, usualy when we put them down it was due to illness or old age. And no, other than bacon and the odd ham I dont eat pork any more :)
Oops......The pig comment was due
to the fact that my youngest rode
everything except the pigs. When she was real little it was dogs and
the tom turkies. As she got older
it was ewes and then cows. In all
those years she never once showed
any interest riding our pigs thus
the comment. She always had the
horses to ride
ps pigs are great at getting rid of snakes in the pasture. :) FWIW
Only slightly off topic:
The comments remind me of the county fair we went to and saw the cutest little boy laying on top of his adorable huge hog.
"We won a blue ribbon!”
He was so excited and proud, rubbing his pig’s ears and patting his neck.
We wondered if he realized what winning first place meant for his hog pal...
Price per pound, etc. Of course he did!
Farm kids understand (usually and eventually) that their prize winning livestock will end up at the butcher.
But that cute factor: Enough to turn one vegetarian… if the smell of MEAT sizzling on the grill wasn’t downright intoxicating.
Enough said,
Cute cattle for pasture pals! Sure, why not.
And have you seen the latest craze? Teacup Pig pets: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33205603/
Its ok I understand, my friends were able to ride there pigs but were unable to teach them anyhting more than "go" and "stop!"
lol
Julie did you ever see the Brahma Bull that Joey J had for a pet and rode English in a class in a horse show in West Fargo. It was too funny. That little bull was so cute.
I could never raise these cute little guys. They would never get sold.
I had my geldings portrait painted at www.lavinstudio.com
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