Category: Livestock

We hate to come over all smug, but when the mainstream media pick up on a story almost a year after we first brought it to your attention, it’s hard not to. Such is the case with The Guardian’s recent discovery of the environmental and eating delights of mini cows. Our post more than a year ago featured a discussion on minicows on DAD-Net ((Which is in the news again for us.)) which, among other things, objected to the word “miniature” because it is misleading. The Guardian has the latest on minicow taxonomy:

Micromini cattle are less than 96.5 cm tall (at the shoulder, presumably, ed.) — those shorter than 92 cm are known as “teacup cattle”.

The major outstanding question now is whether teacup cows will prove to be cuter or more adorable than pocket pigs, our number one search term. Personally, I doubt it.

The discussion of livestock breeding continues apace on DAD-Net, touched off by a comment on a Science paper (picked up by the BBC among others) on African livestock genomics. ((DAD-Net is a very active information forum on animal genetic resources facilitated by FAO, to which we have alluded in the past. I wish we had something as vibrant in plant genetic resources conservation. Although of course on the plant breeding side we do now have the Plant Breeding Forum.)) It’s a very rich exchange, but unfortunately I can’t find a way of linking to contributions online: it seems to be entirely based on email, with no central, public archiving like with Yahoo or Google Groups. Anyway, I just want to pick out one thing. Philippe Leperre, a vet based in Laos, has this to say:

I am one of the very many specialist that advocate for selection/improvement of the local breed rather than mostly useless, haphazard, costly and non sustainable import of bulls and semen from “developed” countries. I think we are a majority in that respect, but what can we do when the local ministries and the donors prefer to buy from big foreign multinationals rather than from the (poor or at least poorer) local producers?

Now, I have two questions about this statement. To livestock breeders I’d like to ask whether they agree that there is a majority among them which advocates selection/improvement of local breeds. And to plant breeders I’d like to ask what percentage of their community would advocate such a strategy. Because it doesn’t seem to me to be anything like a majority. ((Although as luck would have it there’s an example just out.)) But maybe I’m wrong.