Which dairy breed is best for meat ?

[Middle River]

I have a chance to get two bull cavles thrown in with the heifer calves i'm buying and are coming home next weekend. However, i don't know which breed to choose, there are holsteins, brown swiss, jersey, gurnsey or Ayrshire. They will be turned into steer calves :+)

I'd like some opinions from everybody please. I'd like to butcher them around Sept./Oct. 2009, and have them dress well for a dairy breed with tender, flavorful ( but not gamey meat ), and am thinking about finishing on grain to add some fat/marbling - is any/all of this possible ? If so, which do you think would be the best breed for us to get ?

Thanks !

[caseyweiss]

Don't forget about Milking Shorthorns. They can provide a very nice eating experience with a high dressing percent for a dairy animal. They can give you the best of both worlds, dairy and beef.

Casey

[ozark_jewels]

My preference is always the Jersey for flavour. Sounds like a good time frame for them as well.

[Middle River]

How well do the jerseys dress out ? About how big could i expect one to be at that time ?

[sammyd]

We have put 3 holsteins in the freezer in the last 3 years. They grow well and yield around 50%.
We usually get them up to 1200 lbs in 18 months but the last one we did was around 1000 in about a year.
Pasture in the summer hay in the winter with 5-6 pounds of grain a day.
Easy to raise as calve, not delicate. Hardy enough to grow even if kept outside with nothing but a windbreak up here in WI.

[MullersLaneFarm]

Jersey for best taste!

[Middle River]

sammyd - How well do those holsteins taste ? Are they any good cuts of meat ? What are the steaks like ? In the winter ( next winter ) they would only have a 3 sided shelter, so cold hardy and able to still grow is a must. But also want quality meat, with good flavor and whatnot. When do you start graining them ? What type of grain ?

How well do those jerseys dress out ? Thanks !

[topside1]

Middle river just go to nearly any supermarket in America and you can look at Holstein cuts all day long. Keep in mind though that small farm raised Holstein beef cannot compare to the junk in the store (looks, taste). Our last two butcher steers were H-stein and boy is it good. In three weeks we will be sending our first Jersey to the S-house, looking forward to the first Jersey BBQ....If you are in a rush for meat to put in the freezer then pickup a H-stein or Ashire...

[Middle River]

Thanks topside - how well do your holsteins dress out ? Is 50% about average for dairy steers of any breed ? Is that 50% final product - so a 1000lb steer would give 500lbs meat ?

Whats the best way to raise them ? Grain them when, and with what and how much ? Any tricks ?

[topside1]

a holstein will dress out @ 45 to 50%. Usually hanging weight is around 50 percent. Dressed weight is around 45-48% and that's what ends up in your freezer...So roughly 460 pounds will get deposited into the chill locker....

[Up North]

If you are going to carry them thru a winter in your harsh climate, you will lose your shirt buying feed trying to keep flesh on a Guernsey or Jersey steer.
The Ayrshire or Milking Shorthorn will both carry flesh and withstand the cold and make good eating. The Holstein or Swiss will work well, but will require more grain to sustain its flesh than the Ayr or the MS.
Been there done that with every breed of dairy steer.

[Middle River]

Thanks Up North ! We are experimenting now with two ayrshires we got from you last spring before you moved, and so far so good, they seem a bit small, but of good flesh though, unfortunately i can't really grain them now as they are in with our horses, but will start in about a month once our cow only pen is up - any recomendations on what to grain them with ?

I may go with the ayrshires again, or the holsteins - i just wanted to make sure i made the right choice :+) Thanks !

[Lena]

*rolls eyes*

tsk tsk! Your going to try to eat your own cute little cows again, eh?
Good luck!

LOL!

[sammyd]

We buy ours at the sales barn in town. Have bought good heavy ones and cheap lightweight ones and have had good luck with medicated milk replacer and an 18% starter. We buy the best hay we can find last batch was some 2nd crop alfalfa that tested over 20% for protein and some other high number for RFV. (Coulda made a lot of milk with that stuff if I was feeding cows.)
We run one bag of milk replacer through them and then they get the hay and a 16% grower ration.
At 400 pounds or so we switch to a 14% dairy mix and they run on pasture as long as the grass will support them. Then it's back to hay for the winter along with the 14%.

The meat is very tasty and not too fatty. It is very tender.
I have finished steers on nothing but whole shell corn and a supplement called tendrlean.
It made some awsome beef but that was back when you could get corn for 100/ton.

[Middle River]

sammyd - Thanks again for more information. Have you ever tried the medicated purina calf replacer ? Thats the only thing my feedstore sells, so i hope it's a good one. Also, do you use just the feedstore mix for starter and grower ? And how much of it do you feed them ?

Where do you get tendrlean ?

Thanks !

[sammyd]

Our mill runs Doughboy stuff but I did get a bag of Purina from somewhere when my first calves wouldn't drink the stuff I'd bought from Fleet Farm. It was pretty good stuff.
The mill mixes their own feeds I don't have a special recipie. But most mills will work with you if you buy a ton or so if you want to switch some things around to cut costs. I had one figured for the 14% that would save me about 12 a ton but prices have changed a bunch since then. Beans are really pricey today compared with 6 months ago.
For the starter we put it in front of them within the first week along with fresh clean water. We have hay available as well but we try to get them interested in the starter as soon as possible. We use a regular grain type starter. I have used pelleted types but I feel they get too mushy from the calves nosing around in the bucket. I don't have a set amount of that I feed, just keep the bucket clean and full.
With the others I try to keep it at 4-6 pounds a day. A scoop am and pm. If I was running a different hay or pasture that would change as needed. I think last batch I got was $11/80 lbs but that was in Jan.
Our plan was to buy the calves in winter and have them ready to pasture when the grass came on in spring. Run them till the grass stopped then bring them in and feed hay till next spring, then butcher in June or so. Like I said we got em up to 1200 pounds with no problem.
We are looking at either buying them a bit sooner and feeding more over the first winter and butchering in the fall or buying bigger feeders in spring and butchering in fall. We should be down to just one kid in the house so 800-1000 pound animals will work for us.

The tendrlean was really an accident, I noticed a bag at the mill and thought it was a new milk replacer (couldn't see what it was in the paper bag). So I asked about it and the guy explained how it worked. I was worried about hay at that time as I hadn't talked to my neighbor about his round bales yet. And with cheap corn it looked like a good deal.
There a couple of different types. Since my cows still had some pasture left I used the type that allows them to have a bit of roughage in the ration.
TendRLean is a brand name but some mills will make their own pellets that do the same thing. It's not something I've seen at Fleet Farm or a smaller feed/birdfood type outfit.

[Up North]

Grain prices can vary by what is produced in a given region. You really want to shop your options before determining a course of action. If possible, go to feed mill at Carlton, MN or Iron River, WI, or Ashland, WI and go down the list and get prices on the following: Rolled Barley, rolled Oats, Rolled( or cracked) corn. Feed whichever you feel you can afford to those steers you have had since last spring. Good hay, as Sammyd has said, is an important source of food. The grain is only a supplement once steers are 400 pounds or more.
If possible, see if you can bring your own containers to feed mill and have them filled to save money over feed packaged in bags.

[Middle River]

Thanks sammyd - that really explains it well - i feel much more confident. Only one more question, i'm getting a group of calves here on Sunday - 3 or 4 heifers and 2 bulls - all between the ages of 1 week to 1 month. I'm hopeing that i can feed them all the same, as i want my heifers to grow good and big and be very nice looking as well as my steers, but i plan on selling the heifers before winter - think i will be ok to fee them all the same, or do the different sexes need different feeding ?

Up North - if i can afford all three corn,oats and barley , can i just have my feed store mix all three and feed them that mix in equal parts ? Would that be balenced enough ? Will it make them taste good ? Why the rolled vs. the whole ? Thanks !

[Up North]

Originally Posted by Middle River

or do the different sexes need different feeding ?

Up North - Why the rolled vs. the whole ? Thanks !

All calves should be fed same diets and same program regardless of heifer, bull, or "other".
Whole grains will not be utilized efficiently by the animals. Grains must be rolled,cracked, or ground to obtain maximum economic benefit. The only other option is to soak grains before feeding to make them break down and digest readily. But that is impractical in your area. In the winter freezing is problematic, in the summer any soaked grains not immediately consumed will heat up and spoil rapidly. Your feed supplier may well have a good mix that will work. Sammyd has given good info on what protien levels, etc. to feed.

We are feeding rolled Milo, which costs us $189/ton rolled and delivered in bulk. Rolled corn is slightly more at present. Milo is good feed for cattle and hogs, but it may not be available in your area. Seek what feeds are available in your area at the most reasonable costs.

[Chixarecute]

Good quality feed yields good quality meat. A balanced grain ration will need more than grain: soy (protein), salt, minerals, etc. For good growth on youngstock, you are going to want at least 16% protein hay. The better hay you feed, the less grain mix you need to feed. You can never feed enough grain to make up for poor quality hay.

Dairy breeds don't marble as much as beef breeds, and it generally takes a LOT of grain in the last 2 (-4) mos to get much marbling. I believe dairy breeds will tend to put on back fat more readily than marbling. But fed decent, they will still be tasty!