My take on it, after having spent more time on a dairy recently:
1) Purebred holstein bull calves are still a very dubious way to get into beef raising. Using sexed semen, they insure 90%+ will be heifers. The other 10% are shot at birth (the males).
2) I'm skeptical of the argument that no one could tell an angus steak from a holstein one. Perhaps with retail cuts of meat (i.e. over trimmed to remove all fat) on some of the leander cuts, maybe. I'd say this may hold true for top/bottom round and rump.
Ribs, loins and shoulders, though, no way. A beef carcas is vastly superior.
3) They were doing some very intersting things with their AI'ing there. They AI 25% of the cows back to holstein. In any given year you replace roughly 1/4 of your milking herd through attrition or injury.
The other 75% were being crossed to Belgian Blue and Limousin. This dairy did NOT sell the day old crossbred bull calves, but raised them to finished weight. They were not cut and were supplemented always with silage/grain to go along with the pasture (although almost everywhere in England animals are kept indoors during the Winter seasons and not allowed to get rained on).
I raise beef. I was amazed at how good these slaughter bulls looked. If I wasn't told they were half holstein, I never would have guessed it. They looked as good as many of the angust and simmental cattle I've worked with. So, I guess if you have the facilities, raising a flock of bulls can at least give you a good end product.
1) Purebred holstein bull calves are still a very dubious way to get into beef raising. Using sexed semen, they insure 90%+ will be heifers. The other 10% are shot at birth (the males).
2) I'm skeptical of the argument that no one could tell an angus steak from a holstein one. Perhaps with retail cuts of meat (i.e. over trimmed to remove all fat) on some of the leander cuts, maybe. I'd say this may hold true for top/bottom round and rump.
Ribs, loins and shoulders, though, no way. A beef carcas is vastly superior.
3) They were doing some very intersting things with their AI'ing there. They AI 25% of the cows back to holstein. In any given year you replace roughly 1/4 of your milking herd through attrition or injury.
The other 75% were being crossed to Belgian Blue and Limousin. This dairy did NOT sell the day old crossbred bull calves, but raised them to finished weight. They were not cut and were supplemented always with silage/grain to go along with the pasture (although almost everywhere in England animals are kept indoors during the Winter seasons and not allowed to get rained on).
I raise beef. I was amazed at how good these slaughter bulls looked. If I wasn't told they were half holstein, I never would have guessed it. They looked as good as many of the angust and simmental cattle I've worked with. So, I guess if you have the facilities, raising a flock of bulls can at least give you a good end product.
