My understanding is they are in very high demand and the slaughter houses make a ton of money off them.It's also very difficult to sell a dead calf,
We used to use that in cell cultures when I worked in a lab. There was a shortage for about 4 months one year-had a lot of difficulty growing the cell specimens without it. Lots of new drugs being tested in cell cultures first...My understanding is they are in very high demand and the slaughter houses make a ton of money off them.
Look at the price for bovine fetal serum.
I was at a lunch meeting where a large dairy owner was one of the speakers. He said he gets a premium on pot loads of mrkt dairy cows if they are bred.Was told that this may be who is buying the pregnant heifers at the sale barn.
That's kinda gross. And we wonder why people don't want to work in certain jobs. Growing a calf for beef is one thing. Intentionally creating and butchering heavy bred cows for the almost-born calf inside for a hide is a whole level that I don't want to acknowledge.I was at a lunch meeting where a large dairy owner was one of the speakers. He said he gets a premium on pot loads of mrkt dairy cows if they are bred.
An old cattle feeder I knew really well told me he used to send semi loads of heavy bred fat hfrs to a buyer at the Chicago Stock Yards. He said the buyer told him they had a market for unborn calf skin. It was used as lining in high end women's coats.
Yep.That's almost gross.
Interesting. And makes sense.Long before implants were invented. Some cattle feeders ran bulls in their feeder heifer lots. It solved some of the problems associated with feeding hfrs. Bred hfrs don't ride and cause disruption. A bred hfr is cranking their hormones so they grow better (like an implanted hfr).
It might be wrong, but it's still interesting how those old timers over came issues.