Holsteins

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feed em right and they are really good , a lot more effort / cost to get em there compared to beef breeds though.
 
Holstein beef is big business, especially in dairy country. I can say from personal experience that the meat is excellent. Back in the 70's I was able to tour Packerland Packing Co. in Green Bay. Don't know about now, but back then the vast majority of cattle going through there were Holsteins. One of the workers said 80%. Just google "Holstein beef" and you'll find more info than you could ever want. Here's an example:

http://beefmagazine.com/mag/beef_turnin ... umdingers/
 
I won't eat anything but Holstein beef. They don't take that much extra to feed over the beef breeds. If you feed them right from the beginning they will grow.
 
talldog":34okacx1 said:
Never realized that Holstein Cattle were used as table fair. What are your thoughts ?? :banana:

I strongly suspect the majority of veal comes from Holstein as well as other dairy breeds.

I know a guy who's family had a dairy years ago, all they milked were Jerseys, and they had a contract deal for the bull calves for veal.

Katherine
 
yes holsteins an other dairy breeds make good meat.the majorty of cows going to the packers are dairy breed cows.an they grind them into hamberger.
 
The great thing about dairy steers especially Holstein is that any dumby can finish them ..There is almost no way that you can over feed grain to a holstein, that is what they were made to consume and utilize it best.
I have seen beef steers overfed too much too soon and it has lead to serious health issues even death, but holsteins just kept trucking along with the same ration.

Holstein and dairy in general make excellent meat.
 
When we lived in Illinois I raised a lot of bottle calves, and they were routinely Holstein or Holstein crosses. They were great fed out! Very easy to feed also, and really good eatin'.. no matter what you hear! Isn't it funny how people get a preconceived notion of things, and find out it isn't true? Kinda like thinking all Brahmans are crazy man killers.. :banana:
 
Our family had Holstein beef for years and years while my Grandpa and Dad milked cows. Grandpa got rid of the dairy cows and started raising Horned Herefords. We had Hereford/Holstein beef quite regularly too. Great beef.
 
I have sold a line of exclusively Holstein, Ribeyes and Striploins for years as boxed beef, under the Sysco Imperial Label. I have customers who have used nothing else in their restuarant for close to 20 years. As a matter of fact I just converted another operator to this product last week. She was thrilled with the quality and especially the yield.
 
Things a yard operator once told me about feeding out Holsteins are

1) although Holsteins generally hung better than 60% the cutout was generally less than what he saw in the beef breeds.
2) The beef breeds had a better feed efficency and ADG.
3) The Holsteins didn't seem to have as many problems on full feed as beef breeds.
4) Hitting a choice grade on Holsteins varied a lot more (50-70%) than the beef breeds.
5) Hitting a Prime grade ran about 5%
6) More Choice beef was produced in this country from Holsteins than from beef breeds.
 
Holstein, Angus, Jersey-they are all cows! A lot of the dairy producers are getting into the beef checkoff program, and I have been seeing ads for Holstein Beef. Some of the cows in our dairy at work probably have better/more beef on them then some beef critters I've seen!
 
Gee, with all this praise, sounds like beef producers should go Holstein only. Maybe just need to find a line with less milk production.
 
Over here the bull calves mostly go as veal, many used to be shipped to France, but the "animal welfare" lobby put a stop to that!
Many commercial dairies cross their cows to Hereford, the steers are finished as "baby beef", the heifers are sold on as "Black Herefords" to be bred to Angus to produce a terminal generation to be finished as barley beef, or to Limousin. There has been a trend toward dairy producers going back to the British Fresian due to the problems associated with the high producing Holstein, the Fresian has more of a dual purpose conformation and so is marketed through the regular beef markets, and gives a better conformed F1 when crossed with a beef breed.
 
djinwa":3eaggz7a said:
Gee, with all this praise, sounds like beef producers should go Holstein only. Maybe just need to find a line with less milk production.
I hope not because then my niche market will be flooded :lol2: . Seriously, the beef breeds are bred, raised, and sold for beef because they do it more efficiently on a large scale. The point that most of us Holstein supporters are getting at is there is a place for Holstein beef. Many consumers have the perception that Angus is THE breed. Unfortunately, Holsteins get the exact opposite perception by those that don't know any better.
 
plumber_greg":187kc3e2 said:
What did you think they did with the culls and bull calves that were born?
I know what they do with them here on Vancouver Island - bop them on the head. The cost of milk replacer and feed is too high, nobody wants to raise the bulls anymore. 25 years ago the newborn bullcalves were worth $50 - $150 each, now that's the price you'll get for a calf that's weaned and been on feed for a month or two.
 
With the new feed regulations ,the makers of all milk replacer used it to their advantage to gouge the consumer...I am hoping Karma bites them in the @ss as greed does no one any good in the end. They also cited it as our dollar being so high, well that is not the case now and it has not come down in price. Neither have groceries for that matter..

Last year the milk replacer I bought for $80.00 a bag went to $125.00 a bag. When one calf is going through almost 2 bags a month that is absolutely ridiculous..No dairies I know around here are feeding replacer this year as everyone is over quota right now so calves get real milk.

When we left the dairy 9 years ago our contract for selling 2 day old bull calves was $225.00 each. We did get a little more than most dairies because my calves were healthy and well cared for the minute they hit the ground and the buyers knew that..All calves I kept received real milk until they were weened at 3 months old.

We also always did a few Holstein steers up each year, one for us and my family and one for the herdsmen. Never had any complaints about the meat. ;-)
 

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