Now that you're all fired up !

Here are several ways to get started with miniature cattle.

Breeding Up (or should we say down):
Slow - low budget start up. After selecting the miniature cattle breed your interested in you could begin breeding your cow, or one you purchase locally, to a miniature bull of the desired breed. You could purchase semen of a quality bull to artificially inseminate (AI) your cow or you could take her to someone who has a quality miniature bull of your selected breed to get her bred. After she is bred nine months or so later you should have a calf. If luck is with you and you get a heifer, in fifteen months you can get her bred or AI (normal success rate: 65%) to a different quality bull of your choice. After the forth generation you will have a 93.75% miniature you can classify as a fullblood (1@50%,2@75%,3@87.5%,4@93.75%). This will take eight years to complete assuming your very lucky and get a heifer each time (highly unlikely). Also you will *never* want to have more than a 50% genetic influence from one parent in any calf (inbreeding).

Embryo Transplant:
This will be the faster budget alternative start up. Here you would start with or purchase a recipient cow. You would purchase an embryo of your selected miniature breed and have it implanted in the recipient cow during the latter part of her heat cycle via a qualified technician. Virgin heifers usually make the best recipients, although highly fertile, good mother cows are also good candidates. If all goes well and you get a pregnancy (normal success rate: 60%) you will have a fullblood calf in nine months.