We have about 500k dairy cows within 75 miles of here and probably 95% are holsteins. Usually the bull calves are just killed as there's no use for them. You can get newborns for free but it takes 2 years go grow one to butcher size and they just aren't worth the cost and effort for the amount of meat on one.
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
About 10 years back for me. Nearest dairies are about 100 miles away in Idaho.
A hunting buddy had one. It experienced some ankle damage as a calf, and his wife adopted it. When the marriage fell apart, a portion of the agreement was that Mofo would live out his years at my buddies' place. Absolutely no kill or sale allowed.
Damned thing lasted almost 20 years, and as it moved about during its final seasons, one could hear its joints squeaking/grinding. My buddy moved once, and we had serious issues loading it. It was so tame he could not be herded about. Wave one's arms and run around, and he'd just stand and stare at you. Finally put his feed in the trailer and closed the door when it went in to eat the following morning. Probably weighed about 2,400 lbs. At 3% of body weight in feed a day, it was a very expensive pet. In the end it cost about $300 to bring out a backhoe to bury him.
We have about 500k dairy cows within 75 miles of here and probably 95% are holsteins. Usually the bull calves are just killed as there's no use for them. You can get newborns for free but it takes 2 years go grow one to butcher size and they just aren't worth the cost and effort for the amount of meat on one.
Bull Holstein calves bring big money here, BUT it all depends on the breeding.. The farm I work for part-time raises some of the best Holsteins in the state and they've won a major award for the breeding and heritage lineup.. They've sold bulls to several countries in eastern Europe and, IIRC, Australia.. As for meat use, most breeds take about two years to get to butcher size. My uncle raised Angus cows for decades and it was common to have 'em take 2 years to get to the 'ideal' weight of about 1100-1200#..
Ex- USN (SS) '66-'69 Pro-Constitution. LET'S GO BRANDON!!!
It's all black angus or hereford around here. Our neighbor used to milk holsteins but he stopped doing that about 50 years ago. I don't know of a single one in the whole county.
kwg
For liberals and anarchists, power and control is opium, selling envy is the fastest and easiest way to get it. TRR. American conservative. Never trust a white liberal. Malcom X Current NRA member.
We have about 500k dairy cows within 75 miles of here and probably 95% are holsteins. Usually the bull calves are just killed as there's no use for them. You can get newborns for free but it takes 2 years go grow one to butcher size and they just aren't worth the cost and effort for the amount of meat on one.
That would have been my guess based on what relatively little I know about cattle. There's a reason beef breeds are beef breeds and dairy breeds are dairy breeds. Dairy breeds are efficient at producing milk, not meat.
I grew up eating half Holstein and half Hereford steers, fattened on ground corn,shuck,cob and grain ground together. A little bit of cottonseed meal mixed too. Still the best steaks that I ever had. Steer would be from our milk cow. The full blood Herefords went to sale. Back on topic, a few years ago, on the South side of I-40 just West of Amarillo, Tx. That for several years only had Holsteins. I assume part were steers. Rumor was that it was a feed lot for Mickey-D. miles
We figured it out 35 years ago they aren’t worth feeding out. All bones and gut and not much meat but I see people feeding them out every year. People get lured into them because they are cheap or free.
Got a neighbor that brings home 6-8 holstein bull calves every year, from the sale barn Steers them and does well enough feeding them out that he's been repeating it for better'n 30 years
Many years ago, a guy was touring the county fairs displaying the "Worlds Biggest Steer". I didn't pay his fee but I did see it when he was moving it between the trailer and the tent. It was a holstein steer, not the heaviest by any means, but it well could have been the tallest. It was very big to start with but the thing also had abnormal spinal dorsal processes that stuck WAY up in the air, way over my head and I'm 6', even back then. It could have been 7' high. It was a weird looking thing.
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
Used to pour a lot of concrete at Portuguese dairies. Biggest Holstein bull I've ever seen was in a super fortified steel pen. That bull towered over me and charged the welded pipe pen. I was told it had killed a man and I believe it. Took my gifted jug of homemade Dago Red and watched my back out of there.
I don't buy beef but was at a local grocery store today with my wife and loose hamburg laying in the case was $7.69 a lb. Yikes. Guess that wasn't Holstein burger. Burger in a cheap looking plastic 10 lb tube was $4.20 a lb.
One is alone in a land so vast, there is only the mountains, the wind, and the eyes of God.
We raised some when I was a teenager. Bottle to table.Grass and hay with a little ground oats and barley. Took a two year old to the butcher and he was just over 1200 lbs and some of the best beef I have ever had. Tender and delicious. We ate a few every year and sold the rest. Edk
All I know is I love good beef and I eat a good steak 3x a week. i really dont give a [bleep] if I will die sooner like they say. Its now how long you lived but how well you lived.
everyday. we still actually have a couple people in my neighborhood milking..
but I absolutely get what you're saying the American dairy farm is dying off rapidly.
used to around here about every other farm was a great day there may not be that large but it was there nowadays there's maybe four or five dairies in the county if that many
Just before dark tonight. Will see them again in the morning. Neighbor and I have a couple in with our whiteface cattle. I spent a lot of time on my grandpa's dairy farm, we ate a lot of Holstein beef back then.
All I know is I love good beef and I eat a good steak 3x a week. i really dont give a [bleep] if I will die sooner like they say. Its now how long you lived but how well you lived.
I've said the same thing and will continue no matter what doctor's say.
PRESIDENT TRUMP 2024/2028 !!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Bristoe The people wringing their hands over Trump's rhetoric don't know what time it is in America.
Been 20+ years, before all of the local dairies went out. I used to make reasonable money raising bottle calves, steers and heifers. Raise them up to several hundred pounds and then group them for sale. Castrated, dehorned, dewormed, fly tagged, implanted, broke to electric. Sold to "gentlemen farmers" and absentee farmers. They could turn them out in April. Let them graze all summer. Easy on fences. Easy to work. Rattle the feed bucket they came running. When October came around, rattle the feed bucket, and load them onto the trailer to the stock yards.
We figured it out 35 years ago they aren’t worth feeding out. All bones and gut and not much meat but I see people feeding them out every year. People get lured into them because they are cheap or free.
Truth right here ^^^^... then they feed em schit and charge high $$$... foxes all!... real battle to find decent meat anymore in Wi... i was born on a Holstein dairy... bags of bones, hate the fuggin things...
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/qnhQl3D.jpg)
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/Hz6O8In.jpg)
