Pros and cons to raising jerseys for freezer beef....

[raykour]

CAn anyone give me some pros and cons to raising up jersey steers as freezer beef? How much beef do you get in comparison to a traditional beef breed? At what age do you slaughter for maximum quality? And most importantly, what are the actual flavor/texture differences between a jersey and say an angus? If a person is used to traditional grain finished beef of choice or better grade, can this be achieved with a jersey?

[mlazyj]

Yes you are going to be close in quality , providing you take the time to feed the jersey out to finish . Down side is , your dairy steers are most likely going to be bottle babies , so you have a big up front cost in milk replacer , bottle babies tend to get sick more often and do not gain as well as a nursed calf . Dairy breeds spend better than a year just growing ,then it seems to take forever to get them to put on weight and finish . With a jersey finish weight will be somewere around 900 #'s mite make it to a thousand . Your going to yield 50-55%

[raykour]

Thanks. I would buy 300 lbs +. A lot of times they come through the sales up here in that size range. Or even bigger. If you are paying by the weight, it is about .70/lb. I wouldn't buy bottle babies.
A similar question would be about the holsteins....same story? Do they just take forever to grow?

[Crazy Farmgirl]

I raise several Jersey steers every year, purebred Jersey no crosses. I grass feed, no grain finish. Here is what I have learned thus far...Meat texture and quality is excellent, I butcher before 24 months as this produces the best quality meat. The flavor is very comparable to my grass fed herefords.. EXCEPT the fat that has a different flavor (if you eat/like fat on your steaks or roast this could be downside) The cuts are typically smaller than you get from a beef breed (any larger framed breed). I find for cooking the meat is closer to venison or goat in that you can turn it to shoe leather in a heartbeat! Burger is extremely lean, never have to drain it! Yeild is 50-55%. My typical weights are 850-900 lbs at 22 months.

[mlazyj]

Holstiens get BIG , they grow up and up then finally start fleshing up . You just cann't get in a hurry , they take time . My opinion is you need to grain them to get good marbleing , I'am not a fan of grass fed/finished beef , my personal preferance .

[thendrix]

I don't know first hand because I have never raised any dairy breeds, but I have heard they have a large carcass and you loose alot in bone weight. Makes sense because they are made to breed and carry the large milk sacks and they have to have a good foundation to do that

[ohiosteve]

I have also raised jersey steers on 100% grass and in my opinion there is no better ground beef on earth. It is not only extremely lean (and healthy) but has the best flavor of any ground beef I've ever had. The steaks and roasts are up in the air for me. They are quite a bit smaller than a beef breed and definitely have a unique flavor, some people love it, others don't care for it. One other thing I will add is that If you are raising small #'s jersey cattle have a personality like no other. In my opinion they are the smartest breed out there. I really had a hard time taking mine to the butcher. I swear they knew what was going on.

[ohiosteve]

I forgot to mention the yield from a 2 yr old Jersey steer will be considerably less than that of a 2 yr old beef steer.My memory of numbers is horrible but it seems like my biggest jersey steer was about 1050 at 2 yrs old and I'm positive I got less than 400 lbs. of beef out of him in comparison to the last angus steer I brought in which was right at 2 yrs old as well who wieghed 1300 lbs and I'm positive I got over 500 lbs of freezer beef from him. Both were on 100% grass (very high quality pastures not scrub grass).
Here's some pictures. I do miss the personalities of the jerseys.

[ohiosteve]

One other HUGE benefit of the jersey breed is you can by bull calves for next to nothing. Over the past 3 years I bought 8 bull calves and paid 25 bucks for 6 of them still on the bottle and paid 75 bucks for the other 2 that were ready to wean. I fed the bottle calves dump milk from a neighboring dairy and got it for free. (milk from cows treated with antibiotics that they had to dump down the drain.)
In my opinion the money saved from the purchase cost of a beef feeder more than makes up for the loss of yield, but I am no financial expert for sure.

[harry]

I don't know much about feeding Jerseys or Holsteins for that matter, but there are those that can feed Holsteins to 1100 - 1200 # in 13 months or so, by feeding shelled corn with a specifically designed protein pellet with very minimal amount of hay or forage. The secret is to get them fat before they gain the extra frame. I have never tried it but have seen it done with Holsteins.http://www.admani.com/Dairy%20Beef/Dairy%20Beef%20Index.htm When I was familiar with this pellet it was a Moormans product that has evidently been bought out by ADM.

[TexasBred]

I don't know much about feeding Jerseys or Holsteins for that matter, but there are those that can feed Holsteins to 1100 - 1200 # in 13 months or so, by feeding shelled corn with a specifically designed protein pellet with very minimal amount of hay or forage. The secret is to get them fat before they gain the extra frame. I have never tried it but have seen it done with Holsteins.http://www.admani.com/Dairy%20Beef/Dairy%20Beef%20Index.htm When I was familiar with this pellet it was a Moormans product that has evidently been bought out by ADM.

Moormans has always been a subsidiary of ADM.

[Scroote]

Pro's

very tasty
very tender
nice to look at

Con's

Take too long to finish
Not enough beef on them to profit per animal

Ohio,

Stop bragging about lean grass-fed, that is what gives industry bad name.

[raykour]

Thanks all.
This hasn't given me quite enough courage to try it.

If I did it, it would be for myself. I wouldn't dare try to sell the meat until I had figured out what it was like.
I'd finish it on grain.

But, it is encouraging enough that if I come across a real good deal on a jersey steer I won't be so afraid to try it.

[ohiosteve]

Point taken Scroote. You got me thinking. I guess I think of lean as non-greasy with fine bands of marbling throughout, where others think of tough dry beef without flavor. A marketing genius I am not. Luckily I don't have to market my freezer beef, word of mouth does that for me.

[Scroote]

CAn anyone give me some pros and cons to raising up jersey steers as freezer beef? How much beef do you get in comparison to a traditional beef breed? At what age do you slaughter for maximum quality? And most importantly, what are the actual flavor/texture differences between a jersey and say an angus? If a person is used to traditional grain finished beef of choice or better grade, can this be achieved with a jersey?

Knew someone who finished them on pasture, took 30-36 months and only got 400-550 pound hanging. Would guess grain could up that by 100-150 maybe. Just not enough beef to make a business out of. Once again it is excellent beef to eat. Even with low inputs, don't pencil out.