My love affair with Miniature Cattle began in 2002, when I returned, as a single woman, to 12 acres on the Mornington Peninsula and needed something to keep the grass down
Cattle were my least favoured option as I had become a vegetarian and was not intending to raise animals for meat. I looked at donkeys, alpacas, emus and goats, but nothing struck a chord. Then it occurred to me that if I could find some very beautiful stud cattle, I might be able to sell their progeny as pets or grass eaters to boutique properties on the Peninsula.
Somebody told me about a breed of cattle that had the most beautiful eyes they’d ever seen. I was on the trail of the Swiss Braunvieh. I arrived at the yards before the owner and climbed in with the cattle. When he arrived, he jumped up and down screaming hysterically to get out of the yards before I was gored by their horns. I hadn’t even noticed their horns, I was just trying to get a glimpse of their beautiful eyes. Nevertheless, it was at that moment that I decided to look for a hornless breed of cattle and preferably smaller than a Braunvieh.
An internet search led me to Peter and Gina Sutherland in Northern Victoria. I fell in love with a little heifer called Wannawin Thumbalina and Gina picked a heifer called Heather. My two girls were delivered a few months later. Heather was very reserved, but Thumbalina and I bonded from day one and she will always be my favourite cow.
Heather gave birth to a chocolate heifer from Wannawin Varsity and Thumbalina produced a little bull from Wannawin Chocolate Soldier. I was horrified. I hadn’t considered what to do with male cattle. I rang Peter and Gina to ask how I would manage a bull. Gina said that generally bulls were quieter than heifers. I put the phone down hoping this was true and my children wouldn’t read about the eccentric woman from Balnarring killed by her own bull. Such was my naivety about all things to do with cattle.
My next problem was what to do with two rapidly growing calves that I couldn’t get near. I developed the Pat Hunder method. On the weekend I’d run them into my backyard and give them treats. They grew so quiet, I was able to slip halters over their heads and they were soon leading by following my bucket of treats.
My lawn mower man said that Thumbalina’s calf Tom Thumb was a very nice bull and I should take him to a show. So, when Tom Thumb was five months old we put him in the lawn mower trailer and took him to Red Hill Show.
When I walked him into the ring, I could hear the judges and stewards laughing. My five months old bull, the size of a sheepdog, was parading between a 12-month-old Charolais and an 11-month- old Limousin.
One judge asked me if he was a runt. I didn’t understand the question. I was confused and humiliated. As I walked out of the ring a lady came up and said. “Your bull was the best in the ring, you should have won. Make sure you take him to Melbourne Royal when he’s fully grown”
I now know that the person who spoke to me was Alma Cole, a successful Poll Hereford breeder. Her words stayed with me and the following month I completed the Cattle Handlers Course at Melbourne Showgrounds.
My instructor was Fiona Lindsay (now Glover) and I learnt an enormous amount in those four days, but I was still very nervous leading and handling cattle. Fiona came to my farm to tattoo and tag the calves. When she saw my little bull, she echoed the same words as Alma Cole. “You’re going to Melbourne Show and I’m going to make it happen” and she did. She was a Godsend. She helped me with the entry form and come September she arrived with a horse float.
On the journey we had to stop and buy a rake, because I didn’t own one and we visited the vet because my little bull was scouring badly. I had a similar problem and wished we could visit a doctor, but I didn’t dare suggest it to Fiona.
The show was surreal. My little bull kept winning his classes, until, by the end of the evening he was pronounced Champion Miniature Galloway Bull and Reserve Champion in the Interbreed that followed.
Tom Thumb fathered three heifers and four bulls for me. Torcroft Miranda was junior champion in 2006 and in 2007 Torcroft Toby went one step further than his dad by winning the Small Breeds Interbreed at Melbourne.
I didn’t see myself as a successful cattle breeder until my cow, Charlotte, won Supreme Miniature Exhibit in 2009 at the Melbourne Galloway Feature show. I really didn’t want to attend that event as I’d sold my farm and moved onto a house block. My cattle were agisted half an hour from home and I was exhausted from working and looking after elderly parents. Also, I’d just experienced my first cattle deaths – a little heifer was breech and another got tangled in a gorse bush. Then my German Shepherd died of cancer. I was finding life a very hard grind and wondered if I should sell my cattle.
The phone calls and emails came thick and fast. “We’d like you to support the Galloway Association and enter the feature show”. “I can’t, my cows don’t have calves at foot.”
Then weeks after the entries closed Charlotte gave birth to a pure white calf, Verity (the first time I had introduced new semen into the herd). When I saw a call for late entries I decided to attend the show and I took Torcroft Toby as a companion for a nervous cow. The cattle had been on grass and I had no time to fatten them up. I just introduced chaff and pellets the last few weeks, so that they would cope at the show. I did, however, have them clipped for the very first time, because I didn’t want them to look poorly in a year when the breed was featuring.
The following year Torcroft Matilda won Supreme Miniature Exhibit at National Beef Bendigo, beating Torcroft Verity who was Champion Junior Heifer. Then the following year Verity was champion at Melbourne with her little calf Sylvia.
In 2019 Torcroft Sylvia was champion senior cow at the Canberra Galloway Feature Show and went on to win interbreed at Red Hill Show.
In 2019 at Canberra, Torcroft Thyme was Supreme Miniature Exhibit and went on to be Facebook’s Champion Bull of the World. Thyme was sold to Alan and Pauline Dunk of Tumblegum Stud as a youngster and has produced some superb cattle for them. It is always my aim to find the perfect home for my animals and this was the best, ever.
People ask me the secret of my success. They ask if I was bought up with cattle? If I’m experienced at Genetics? if I have a special feeding formula? The answer is No. No. No. I get by on a wing and a prayer. For the first ten years I mostly managed on my own, learning on the job and making heaps of mistakes. (Read my Blog) Now, I have a wonderful young helper who comes with me to shows and leads my cattle in the ring. However, I still do all the breaking and training on my own. I’ve developed gentle techniques that work for me and produce very quiet, relaxed cattle.
Over the years, I’ve only ever bought three cows into my herd – two white girls and a red girl with a black heifer at foot. I love colour. I love having a herd of contrasting colours.
My small herd brings me enormous pleasure and helps me feel centred and grounded. Each day I look forward to visiting them and I marvel at their distinct personalities and funny little quirks.
A thoroughly recommended hobby.
Patricia Hunder