The National Western Stock Show has a cure for your animal fix, from alpacas to zebus.

Zebu who? asks you. Read zis, to learn about the world’s most adorable cow. 

The zebu is a flop-eared miniature ox that will steal your heart with one doe-eyed look. It is one of the many cattle breeds which can be found in its own designated corner in the NWSS livestock barn.

Last Tuesday marked the NWSS zebu competition. 

Zebu are known for their dorsal hump, harmonious nature and high tolerance for extreme heat. The meat from the hump on their shoulders is not bone, but fatty tissue, considered a delicacy as delectable as Wagyu or truffles.

Their A2 milk, at 6% butterfat, is said to be delicious and easy for humans to digest.

Full-grown, a zebu bull can get to about three and a half feet tall and 400-450 pounds. 

Though they’ve been around since 3000 B.C., mostly raised for meat and milk in Africa and Southern Asia, miniature zebu were first seen in the U.S. at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

One hundred and thirty years later, several Colorado ranches are breeding zebu, including Will and Julie Hughes — whose small acreage, JW’s Mini Moos, is eight miles east of Pueblo.

“Zebus are like Lay’s potato chips. You can’t only have just one,” said Julie Hughes, who makes a living doing medical coding from their ranch home.

The Hughes’ mini moos are more of a hobby than a moneymaker.

“The only way that we could make a living on our animals would be to sell the entire herd,” said Will Hughes, who is the IT manager for the State of Colorado.

Growing fascination

People are catching on to the tiny cattle, as evidenced by this year’s zebu show attracting the largest audience ever since Denver’s National Western Stock Show welcomed the breed.

Desiree Gallegos-Barragan, straining to see them better at the metal arena gate, thought maybe it would be cool to have one in the back yard.

“They’re so adorable!” she said.

Some in the arena crowd, like Angela Baier, of Denver, slick in a pink checked wool western jacket, traditionally schedules her stops around “unique animals like alpacas, lamas” and now, the zebu.

A kid’s kind of cow

The Zebu is a perfect breed for 4-H projects, and the undisputed princess of the National Western Zebu show is Harley Rummel, of Bennett, Colorado — a confident 9-year-old in a pearl-buttoned purple shirt, jeweled belt and round-toed cowgirl boots.

At 3 years old, when most kids were swinging from tires in the back yard, Harley was showing zebus at big-time rodeos alongside her mom.

Tuesday, Harley’s steer, Lucky, won Champion Challenge Bull. The lavender ribbon and flag she received were almost as big as her.

“She’s got great showmanship,” said Julie Hughes. “Harley knows how to make eye contact with the judge and use her show stick properly.”

During competition, judges look for exemplary breed characteristics like a nice coffin-shaped head, depth of body and placement of the hump.

Another youngster, 8-year-old Autumn Happs, battled boredom between shows building castles from the dirt in the coliseum floor.

But when it was her turn, she was all business — leading her 6-month-old zebu steer by a halter attached to his head, guiding him left and right. When Autumn ordered him to stand still, he did, and the duo won the prize for best junior bull.

The Hughes Mini Moos — maybe they should call them ze-moos — also had a ribbon-filled day. A heifer named Delilah won Best Overall Female in Show, Maximus was Grand Champion Junior Bull and 5-year-old Pueblo was the Grand Champion Steer.

Pueblo is a celebrity in the town he’s named for, chosen to be the mascot of the Pueblo Bulls Hockey Club when he was just two days old.

An expanding herd 

Like the zebu, the Hughes started small with a pair of sires named Caesar and Blackjack.

The couple now have 16 of the docile, humped oxen including the afore-mentioned Maximus and Pueblo, Tiberius, Fortuna, Wall Street, Fancy and Hi Lo Yo — a gentle silver stud.

Karen Pantello, Julie Hughes’ mom, is the self-proclaimed grandma of the Mini Moo herd. She runs her palm down Hi Lo Yo’s soft back, which is right at waist-height, and remarks on his soulful eyes.

“Women would kill for those eyelashes!” she said, but she didn’t mean it literally.

Zebu are bred as a beef cow, but on this ranch they’re a holy cow.

Whenever her son-in-law has a barbecue, Pantello laughs that she “counts to make sure all 16 are in the pasture.”

And they always are.