Cows/meat

[arabianequine]

Does anyone have experience eating/raising Holstein/Angus cross vs. pure Angus?

I thought I heard straight Angus beef was too rich?

Do you get the maximum size cow at butcher.....by mixing a dairy and beef cow together?

 

[1muttsfan]

Crossing beef and dairy breeds together gives you a less meaty, leaner cow than a pure beef breed, along with one that produces less milk than a dairy cow. The biggest advantage is that they are usually cheaper to buy, as the potential meat production is less. However they make a perfectly acceptable beef animal, just don't expect high-quality meat or as much of it as with a pure meat breed. The meat will have more marbleing and be more tender that a dairy steer. I don't think anyone has ever called a pure beef breed too rich - they certainly are good to eat!

 

[Duramaxgirl]

We butchered a Angus x Limousin and it is really good meat! If I ever have a pure or part dairy cow I will probably buy extra fat as even our fat Angus was kinda lean.

 

[beefmaster]

Crossing beef and dairy breeds together gives you a less meaty, leaner cow than a pure beef breed, along with one that produces less milk than a dairy cow. The biggest advantage is that they are usually cheaper to buy, as the potential meat production is less. However they make a perfectly acceptable beef animal, just don't expect high-quality meat or as much of it as with a pure meat breed. The meat will have more marbleing and be more tender that a dairy steer. I don't think anyone has ever called a pure beef breed too rich - they certainly are good to eat!

ill dissagree with some of what you posted.the reason being im a retired dairymen an i know differant.1.the beef x dairy breeds can be an are pretty heavy milkers.an they raise good heavy calves at weaning.the only bad thing about them is they can get pulled down pretty hard raising a calf.2 yes you can buy a dairy x breed calf some what cheaper but not always.3.if you feed a dairy cross steer out to 1300lbs or a tad more youll get about 800lbs of meat for the freezer.4.the dairy crosses an purebreds can grade just as good as the beef breeds an some cases even better.it all has todo with the amount of grain that they are fed a day.full feed a dairy cross steer will eat 15 to 25lbs of feed every day.

 

[BroodyRoo]

Holy Cow!

(snicker)

Seriously though. What Beefmaster says is what I've been hearing. We've been talking a lot and researching since we are buying a cow in a few months and want to make sure we are investing properly.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Holstein X Angus is my preferred calf to raise. I pick the ones that are mostly black, maybe just a white patch on the belly, and have the beef build. The meat marbles up well and the meat is very fine grained and tender. That fine grained meat is from the Holstein genetics.

If you raise the calf, you control how fat it is. It's not so much the breed.

Meat from a purebred Holstein steer is superb, but you have to raise them longer to get them to butcher size and the feed conversion isn't so great. Excellent meat, though. Butcher about 2 1/2- 3 years of age because they don't fill out until then.