what age is old for a cow?

[6ncounting]

I was reading the thread on butchering old cows and I was wondering, what age is a cow considered old? Are cows usually steak worthy? According to Wikipedia Dexter cattle reach their prime at around 30months - is this true?

[genebo]

Beef cattle in this country are slaughtered by age 30 months. That is a rule that was made to protect us from mad cow disease. Supposedly, it takes more than 30 months for the disease to develop. It may have nothing to do with when the beef is at it's best. I don't think that there has ever been a case of mad cow in a Dexter.

From what I've gathered, you can slaughter a calf at any age, but the real beef taste and the marbling takes close to 24 months to develop. A disadvantage of slaughtering them too young is that you miss out on a lot of beef that never had a chance to grow.

I slaughtered a steer at around 14 months and wished I'd waited a little longer. The steer still had a lot of growing to do. The meat was very lean.

I read the accounts of people who slaughtered cows into their teens and said they were still good. A lot of the beef that you buy in stores is Holstein steers. A lot of ground beef comes from Holstein cows that have passed their peak milk production years.

If it was my cow, I'd tell the butcher to give me only the best cuts of steak and go heavy on the hamburger. Wait and get more steaks from a younger animal.

Cows don't usually make great steaks, anyway. They spend their energy making calves and milk. They don't have the hormones to bulk up like a bull, so there will be more bone, less meat.

In spite of all I've said so far, the factor that most determines the quality of the meat is how the animal was raised and fed. If it ever went through lean times, it won't yield the best quality meat.

There is a DNA test you can have done to predict the tenderness of the cow, but it is expensive. $65 last I heard. It could tell you whether to have the whole carcass made into hamburger or go for more steaks.

Genebo
Paradise Farm

[agmantoo]

The loins remain tender regardless of age. The best cuts in the hindquarters can be trimmed and run through a cubing machine. Good lean portions elsewhere can be cut into meat for a crock pot. The lesser cuts can contribute to the burger. Overall you will have very little waste and lots of good lean flavorfull meat for cheap.