Dairy cross finish?

Anyone have pics of dairy cross steers when they are finished? How old are they? @farmerjan-you process a lot of Jersey, any pics? I have a jersey/lim x, 20 months old. I’m used to processing all beef around 20 months. He’s been on feed and pasture/hay over a year (not full feed like some do, but definitely not just a handful).

Here is a half Jersey x Angus( with a little Hereford) 19 months old at process time picture was taken a day or two before processing. He and another steer a 1/4 Jersey had been been on moderate feed since weaning and then pushed to full feed about 4 months prior to processing.

No wonder the dairies have gone to the beef on dairy thing. With the low price of milk it must keep them in business.

TexasJerseyMilker said:

No wonder the dairies have gone to the beef on dairy thing. With the low price of milk it must keep them in business.

Click to expand...

Spring 2024 we bought an Angus from a breeder whose daughter and sil dairy in Stephenville. At that time, they were selling all beef on dairy bull calves for $800 at 1 day old!!!!! No telling what they getting for them now.

Most black 3 day old calves... usually beef on dairy.... most are angus x holstein or limi x holstein, are bringing 1500-2100 as of today... Even holstein bull calves at the stockyard today were in the 1500 range for 90-100 lbs...

In this country the primary aim is to get them gone before their second winter, and most calves are born early to midspring.
So 15 to 20 months, basically all grass.
Beef farmers would buy those and put a whole 'nother year on them. But I can't see how that is efficient, feeding rising two year olds all winter and presumably their growth is slowing up by age three. 18 mths is good enough, 2.5 - 3 yrs should be finished.

farmerjan said:

Most black 3 day old calves... usually beef on dairy.... most are angus x holstein or limi x holstein, are bringing 1500-2100 as of today... Even holstein bull calves at the stockyard today were in the 1500 range for 90-100 lbs...

Click to expand...

I’ve seen you post that you primarily process Jersey steers. What age/weight or degree of finish do you send them? This is the steer in question (I had posted last year that I basically stole him at $700 as a weaned calf last January. Won’t ever see that again)

My own jersey steers were in the 24-28 month range when they got butchered. Have to do them before 30 months due to the BSE rules... to prevent transmission of mad cow disease... anything over 30 months you cannot get back any backbone related cuts or T-bones etc, that have bones from the backbone... Otherwise over 30 months you have to get boneless cuts from around the backbone area...
None of my jerseys were ever as nice looking as your pictures...
Mine were 95% grass/pasture raised. The only grain they got was a couple times a week, a couple pounds to keep them coming in the catch pen lot.... I like really lean beef... and I do not "cook it to death"... preferring rare finish on my steaks. Even my hamburger is leaner type, I was never a big fan of fatty stuff.
Maybe that is why the couple pieces of Wagyu tasted greasy to me... did not like it much.

And I have never taken pictures of the beef in packages... never thought about it in the past.. Not going to happen anytime soon now unless I can get this Alpha Gal meat allergy "tamed" to the point I can eat red meat again...

farmerjan said:

My own jersey steers were in the 24-28 month range when they got butchered. Have to do them before 30 months due to the BSE rules... to prevent transmission of mad cow disease... anything over 30 months you cannot get back any backbone related cuts or T-bones etc, that have bones from the backbone... Otherwise over 30 months you have to get boneless cuts from around the backbone area...
None of my jerseys were ever as nice looking as your pictures...
Mine were 95% grass/pasture raised. The only grain they got was a couple times a week, a couple pounds to keep them coming in the catch pen lot.... I like really lean beef... and I do not "cook it to death"... preferring rare finish on my steaks. Even my hamburger is leaner type, I was never a big fan of fatty stuff.
Maybe that is why the couple pieces of Wagyu tasted greasy to me... did not like it much.

And I have never taken pictures of the beef in packages... never thought about it in the past.. Not going to happen anytime soon now unless I can get this Alpha Gal meat allergy "tamed" to the point I can eat red meat again...

Click to expand...

Thank you-that helps with my expectations . I hope you get red meat again. That would be awful…

farmerjan said:

My own jersey steers were in the 24-28 month range when they got butchered. Have to do them before 30 months due to the BSE rules... to prevent transmission of mad cow disease... anything over 30 months you cannot get back any backbone related cuts or T-bones etc, that have bones from the backbone... Otherwise over 30 months you have to get boneless cuts from around the backbone area...
None of my jerseys were ever as nice looking as your pictures...
Mine were 95% grass/pasture raised. The only grain they got was a couple times a week, a couple pounds to keep them coming in the catch pen lot.... I like really lean beef... and I do not "cook it to death"... preferring rare finish on my steaks. Even my hamburger is leaner type, I was never a big fan of fatty stuff.
Maybe that is why the couple pieces of Wagyu tasted greasy to me... did not like it much.

And I have never taken pictures of the beef in packages... never thought about it in the past.. Not going to happen anytime soon now unless I can get this Alpha Gal meat allergy "tamed" to the point I can eat red meat again...

Click to expand...

Have you tried acupuncture for your alpha gal? A friend of mine had it bad and acupuncture got rid of it, beforehand he had to carry an EpiPen

Jersey dam
Hereford sire
He's not finished here but getting close.
This is an orphan that Bessie raised and a neighbor finished and put in the freezer. I have a pic of its mother somewhere.

Found it. There's mama! And him as a newborn.

Little Joe said:

Have you tried acupuncture for your alpha gal? A friend of mine had it bad and acupuncture got rid of it, beforehand he had to carry an EpiPen

Click to expand...

Thanks @Little Joe ; I posted it in the thread that I started about Alpha Gal.... I immediately looked into the acupuncture treatment... S A A T.....
Turns out I am allergic to the adhesive in the bandage that they use to cover the ear while the accupunture needles are in the ear "working their magic".... and they will not do it without being able to bandage and protect the ear...
I am doing an alternative treatment with "tinctures" that are sprayed under your tongue 3 x a day... and doing treatments also for several other things I tested positive/allergic to... seems there were several that I had very allergic reactions to.. I knew about the adhesive/glue they use in the bandages because I had severe and excruciating pain and reactions to the tape they used when I had my knee replacements...
If nothing else, hoping the tincture type sprays will kick in the "ramping down" reactions and allergic responses... either to be enough to stop the problems, or to where I can then go ahead with more "treatment" with the accupuncture SAAT procedure...

Oh, and by the way, @kenny thomas ...thank you for the tip in another post.... BUT.... I tried a small piece of venison like you said some of your friends can tolerate that... NOPE..... didn't work... and I am not going to try anything else until I go back for a reassessment of my allergic reactions so maybe it won't keep it in high gear.....

Even some types of bread cause allergic reaction symptoms...constant coughing, runny nose.... due to the guar gum and xanthan gum they use as emulsifiers... :( .

Sorry to hear you couldn't tolerate the Venison either.

Can you tolerate pork?

I cannot tolerate ANY mammal/red meat. Pork may have been called the "other white meat" but it is not.
Tried some chicken "sausages" and after reading the FINE PRINT.... they use bovine casings.... so back to sq one.
I seem to have constant reactions to the xantham gum and guar gum used as emulsifiers... and they are in nearly EVERYTHING.....

How about eggs? Beans and rice make complete proteins.

You might be tired of suggestions, but how about rabbit??

Field trip day today-live weight was 1020. (He’s on the left in the trailer loading pic). We’ll see in about 3 weeks how the final product turns out.

Hpacres440p said:

I’ve seen you post that you primarily process Jersey steers. What age/weight or degree of finish do you send them? This is the steer in question (I had posted last year that I basically stole him at $700 as a weaned calf last January. Won’t ever see that again)

Click to expand...

Looks like he'd eat to me. Nice finish for a dairy cross.

And the final product: 1060 live weight morning of processing, 606HW, 415.9 in cuts extra 30 lbs of fat for rendering and 20 lbs of dog bones. 68% in cuts. Fat was not the yellow I was expecting. I’d do it again