Small steer big project

Though her older brother had taken a market beef to the fair every year he was eligible during his 4-H career, when it came time for Sage "Benny" Brown of the Bear Paw Beavers 4-H Club to follow in his footsteps, she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"I don't really like the big ones," she said. "I'm kind of scared - chicken," she added with frank humor.

Not wanting to give up on the idea of taking a market steer, the 13-year-old started looking into miniature cattle with the help of the Hill County Montana State University Extension Office.

"Benny had a great interest and was very proactive in looking into the miniature beef option," Extension Agent Nicole Gray said. "I know I had mentioned it to her and her mom once just as another option because Benny did not feel comfortable handling some of the larger steers. ... It's a little bit more manageable and not quite as intimidating for someone that might be of shorter stature, or another option for kids to do."

The goal, Gray added, is that the miniature beef program "would hopefully tailor into the market steer project and give these kids another opportunity to get plugged into the cattle industry."

While 4-H market steers have strict size guidelines that are based on weight - they have to weigh more than 1,000 pounds by requirement and buyers don't pay for any extra weight beyond 1,500 pounds - the only requirement for the miniature steers, Brown said, is that they be no taller than 46 inches at the hip.

While miniature cattle come in different breeds, Brown's is a Hereford, registered with the American Hereford Association.

The mini cattle were bred selectively from smaller Herefords by Roy Largent of Texas in the 1970s, said Christina Evelo, owner of E/6 Miniature Hereford Ranch in St. Ignatius where Brown's steer was purchased.

Brown said she expects the steer, which she named Peanut, to mature at 38 inches and about 725 pounds.

While this is roughly half the weight of a full-sized, modern Hereford market steer, by comparison, mature Herefords in the late 1700s and early 1800s were weighing in at more than a ton, the Oklahoma State University livestock breeds website says.

It was in the 1980s that Largent's line of miniature Herefords was finally sold on the market in Texas, Largent says in a post on the website miniatureherefords.org.au.

Benny Brown and three other Hill County 4-H members, Erika Holsapple, Jordan Smith and Grace Brown, who is not related, will be participating in the pilot program this year, Gray said.

The miniature market beef will sell along with the other market livestock - beef, swine and lambs - at the 4-H livestock auction Sunday at 1 p.m., but they will show in their own category at the fair and during carcass judging after the sale.

The mini market beef will show in the morning Friday at the Bigger Better Barn.

"They're going to have a little more leg work for marketing to sell that steer at the sale because it is a new product," Gray said. "It's probably going to take a little bit more information availability and education sharing with potential buyers about 'this is a beef product that can be consumed at home and here's some of the pros and cons,' which Benny has done a wonderful job researching."

Like all 4-H projects, this one is meant to teach the members to be self-starters. While the Extension office researched how to set up the mini beef market program and where to find breeders, it was up to Brown to contact breeders and, with help from her parents, to decide where to get the steer.

Brown, and her parents, ultimately went with the breeders in St. Ignatius, Brown said, adding that fellow program participant Grace Brown traveled with them to get her steer from E/6 Miniature Hereford Ranch also.

The program participants all have to complete the same paperwork, project books and level of interview, as well as answer similar questions from the judge as the members in the regular market beef program, Brown said. The one difference will be that their judge during competition at the Great Northern Fair will be specifically knowledgeable about miniature steers.

The judge is coming from Missoula County, she said.

Missoula County is the only county in the state that has a completely separate mini market beef program in place, Gray said, with separate showmanship classes and carcass judging – and Hill County is modeling their pilot program after the one developed there over the last seven or eight years.

Lake County also has a mini-beef program, but it differs from Missoula County, said Evelo. The showmanship portions of the competition are separate, but the carcass judging combines the miniature and full-sized steers.

Evelo said that this has made it virtually impossible for the 4-H'ers with miniature steers to win at carcass because they lose points due to lack of weight.

After the livestock auction, the carcasses will be judged for the same attributes as the full-sized animals, including meat quality, marbling and fat, and the mini beef projects will be able to earn merit certification, but because only one other county has the program they will not have a state competition.

If the pilot program goes well, Gray added, then the Extension office and 4-H leaders will work to make it a regular part of Hill-County 4-H offerings.

One of the points that Gray said they try to emphasize with the 4-H members "is that if this option is going to be available in the future, it's for those kids that might be nervous handling those full-size beef, and I want to create an environment that they do feel comfortable in that ring with other miniature beef and not also intermixing with the full-size beef."

Other benefits to the 4-H'ers is that this option could make market beef available to members who might not have enough space for a full-sized steer, Gray said.

"The goal of the project – it doesn't matter if it's market beef or if it's market lamb – is for these kids to gain a skill set, learning a little bit about business, about the industry itself, getting that quality assurance training certification that they are selling a wholesome product that does provide a good eating experience to that consumer," Gray said, adding that this skill set isn't necessarily available in a classroom.

The measure of success of the program in Hill County, Gray added, will be that the kids and the consumers have a good experience.

"The main concern is that we do have buyers, and we aren't flooding the market with a new product, potentially ending up in a situation that we may not have enough buyers for the miniature beef due to not contacting enough people that might be interested," she said. "Or maybe the consumers are just interested in a full-size beef product."

Marketing will be a key factor in the success, Gray said, likening the process to when a grocery store starts selling a new cut of meat, someone is on hand in that department to tell customers about "how you are supposed to cook it, the benefits, the pros and cons, or why you should pay more or less for this versus another cut."

"These kids will have to know that sort of information when they are advertising, so when they go up to talk to people and invite them to the Hill County 4-H Livestock Sale they'll have to be able to answer some of the questions: why buy a miniature beef, what are some of the pros of buying a miniature beef versus a full-sized beef, and why it might be a good fit for them," she said.

Brown listed off several attributes during her interview, including smaller portions of meat, not having to fill an entire deep freeze with beef to get all the different cuts of meat, or missing out on some of the cuts by buying only quarter or half of a beef, and the meat is supposed to be more tender than that from a full-sized steer.

"They're supposed to be tighter (muscled) because he doesn't have to hold up as much weight, and he's not as tall so the (muscle) fibers aren't as long," she said.

"Benny has taken a little bit more aggressive approach, and she's done a great job researching and becoming very knowledgeable," Gray said. "It wouldn't be a surprise if we'll be printing off a few paper copies of some of the research we've helped her with."

Two months prior to the fair, while picketing her mini-steer in the yard to give him his daily ration of green grass and a quick brushing, Brown debated the idea of doing the project again given the chance after the fair is over.

"It depends on how I feel about going up to the next level, but I'm pretty sure I'll do another one," she said. "I want to do another one."

(This story originally ran in the June Hi-Line Farm & Ranch publication.)