The Rapidly Maturing Beef-On-Dairy Market

An article on BEEF Magazine

Dairy farmers long considered bull calves a nuisance. The best they could hope for was to sell them into the veal market. But the market for veal has always been sketchy and localized. The worst case for dairy-bred bull calves was going directly to the dead pile.

For decades, there have been moderate- to large-scale efforts by specialized cattle feeders to take those pesky dairy steers and make beef out them. They proved Holsteins calves could transition after weaning immediately to high-energy, grain-based finisher rations. One payoff was the tight genetics of the Holstein breed, which made feedlot performance and processing traits inherently consistent.

Even with the successes seen in feeding Holstein steers, innate challenges remained in meeting the potential of the dairy-beef sector. Dairy steers tended to fall short compared to their beef counterparts in the critical measures of feed conversion and average daily gain.

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