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Greg Judy, Joel Salatin, CarbonCowboys
Just some loose thoughts on the small red cow idea.
One of the things I've always found interesting is that some of the most highly bred (for efficiency), ancient European farm breeds are WHITE, such as the leghorn chicken, the saanen goat (both below). Another reason (besides coolness in summer as the video says) could be about lower copper needs to make melanins. An animal with low copper will get more internal parasites (interesting that parasite resistance is mentioned in the vid). Is this also a reason that whiter humans evolved? (internal parasite control in a low-copper area?). (I wonder if the places white breeds came from were chronically low-copper?)
Yet another reason could be that the breeders wanted white fur and feathers to work with. Yet another reason is that the more you choose for tameness, the less wild (the more odd) the colorations become, and they were just showing off!
I actually would wonder if darker animals "use up" more of the building blocks of excess plant pigmentation than white ones do! (which might create lower vA food for the farmer?) Is that another reason that darker skinned humans live in more fruit-and-vegetable-heavy diet-areas like hot and tropical climates (ie to use up the building blocks of excess plant pigments?) I have also read that darker human skin is more resistant to *external* parasites than whiter. I wonder if this is the case with animals too? Red (like the story) is probably still protective... I wonder if white animals would struggle with tropical external parasites.
A small-cow back-yard milk (or meat) mini-herd sounds much better (to me) for a family than a large-cow herd. My neighbor and I both read a book on how to have a family cow. She is a much more experienced farmer than me, and it was even beyond her and her endless energy. Lots of infrastructure needed for a milk cow to work out! When your family cow escapes or panics, smaller is better.
In a way, sheep and goats are the answer to the "cows are too big" question. A fancy mini-cow will cost you a pretty penny, while basic sheep and goats are dirt cheap. Twice, I tried to get a milking habit going with smaller milk animals (goats, sheep), but I just didn't take to the challenges. I admire people who do take on backyard herding and milking and make it work. Milk and meat animals and skills probably enabled the early North American European settlers to survive. I think skills/abilities like this need to be instilled young, and that was what clubs like 4H were/are all about. Young and strong kids with good backs need to learn this stuff, LOL!
Oops wrong thread.