I was never around livestock growing up and neither was my husband. To be honest a two ton animal that I had no previous experience with intimidated me. So it made sense to start with something a bit smaller that still served the same purpose. At their full height some mini zebus are just as tall (or should I say small) as our English Mastiff. All of my mini zebus have been no taller than waist high and probably weigh around 350lbs. I'm sure there is an argument out there for the gentle giants of the cow world, and now that I've been homesteading for a while, I find most cows are very docile both big and little, but we still chose to raise mini zebus.
I'll tell you exactly how we raise our mini zebu here on Sugar Hill Homestead , and by the end of this article, you'll be online looking for your closest mini zebu breeder so you can get one for yourself. trust me, almost anyone can raise these awesome little cows.
This is kind of a "no-brainer" but you need water. Fresh clean water available 24/7. Cows drink a lot of water, and you need a way to keep up with it. We have two 10gal automatic waterers in the pasture for the cows. I felt those big water troughs you can buy might be more difficult for mini zebus to drink from and they can be costly to purchase and replace down the road. So, instead we bought two 10gal galvanized tubs and plumbed a float valve on each, so we're not constantly filling their troughs with the hose. A side bonus to the tiny troughs, is how easy they are to just dump and clean when algae and other gunk starts to accumulate. I usually dump and scrub them about once a month in the winter and twice a moth in the summer. See? So far pretty simple.
Moving on to feed, I would say about half an acre of good grazing (AKA grass) is required if you want to minimize your costs. We keep 4 full sized cows and a calf on 2 acres of sandy grassy-ish land and they thrive. So, if you have half an acre with lush grass you could probably keep two mini zebus out there at a time (I say "probably" because each yard is different and even the type of grass you grow can impact that estimate). Down here in Florida we grow Bahia. We have a mix of both Pensacola Bahia and Argentine Bahia in our pasture along with plenty of weeds, sand, and a couple of live oaks that provide shade and shelter.
During the months when grass doesn't grow, the cows get hay. No sweet feed, no corn, none of that nonsense. just a good quality, fine stemmed hay. For us "when grass doesn't grow" means winter and any dry spells when grass in the pasture isn't growing fast enough to keep up with demand. We don't have irrigation in our pasture, so we rely on the rain. That means when the rain doesn't come, we have to buy hay until it does. Sometimes I'll rotate our cows into the front yard if I feel the pasture is too low to graze. They just mow my lawn for a couple weeks and trim up any tree branches their little necks can reach before I move them back to their pasture.
Grass and hay, that's all I feed my cows. The only exception is a nursing cow. I give my nursing cows peanut hay (which is the south's equivalent to alfalfa) it's higher in protein to help the mamma cows keep up their condition during lactation. I also give them treats of nutrebeef cubes because I feel it's important for the calf to see that I'm friendly and approachable by their mom (which makes the calves more approachable during the weening process). I don't currently bottle feed calves. Milk replacer can get pricey and mothers milk is always best if possible.
As far as shelters go, we have live oaks. We didn't build any sort of shelter for our cows. Our weather is mild in central Florida and mini zebus love the heat. They do have the oaks to stand under when they need shade and shelter from the elements. There is one very large pine tree in our pasture that they usually choose to sleep under in the winter, but the rest of the year they sleep wherever they happen to be be grazing at sun down. I would recommend if you live north of USDA zone 8b to build at least a 3 sided shelter to keep them from getting too cold. Mini Zebu don't tolerate the cold well and definitely prefer hot sunny days to the cold. We have noticed though, that our zebus grow a thicker fluffier and darker coat in the winter and shed it in the summer, so if you live somewhere cooler mini zebus could still be on the table for you.
Shelter may be necessary, not only for protection from elements, but also from predators. Mini zebu calves are very tiny (think fawn) and could become prey to a pack of wild dogs or other large predators especially if not locked up at night. Use your own discretion, if you know or think you have a predator that could injure or kill your calf, then please do what you need to in order to protect your livestock. We are lucky enough not to have any large predators where we live. our biggest predators are foxes, raccoons, and owls, so we only lock our birds up at night.
Besides water and food, we do give all our cows a pour-on parasiticide twice a year. Once in the late fall and once in the start of summer (which is our rainy season). Because we cant rotate pastures, we control parasite load by using a pour-on ivermectin. I use the formula HEART GIRTH x HEART GIRTH x BODY LENGTH / 300 = ANIMAL WEIGHT IN POUNDS (heart girth will be the measurement around the cows chest approximately where the heart is). This gives a good estimate of each cow's weight, then follow the instructions provided with the pour-on to administer the ivermectin. I usually do this while giving them some nutrebeef cubes so they're distracted. Giving your cows a parasiticide is a personal decision especially if you intend to raise your beef organically, so it may not be necessary for you. However, we feel it is necessary to keep our cattle healthy and that's why we chose to do it.
Ultimately, how you choose to raise your cattle is up to you. As long as you can provide them with water, food, space and adequate shelter you can be successful. The only livestock we owned before cattle was a handful of miscellaneous chickens, and I'll take my cows any day over the chickens. Our mini zebus have been so easy to care for and they have provided us with some food security in some crazy times. I hope, if you're a new homesteader or even just new to cattle, that you consider the mini zebu for their many benefits and ease of care.
If you're interested in learning why we decided to choose mini zebus as a beef cow, check out my article Mini cows for Beef Production. Then, check out how to harvest your own beef: Harvesting Mini Zebu: Start to Finish.
Until then, sweet homesteading,
Katheryn Williams
If you're interested in purchasing some mini zebu from me near Gainesville Fl, fill out the contact information here and I'll get back to you with what I have available.