An important and oftentimes underappreciated contributor to the beef industry is the dairy sector. If you ask children to draw a cow, you likely will see a black and white animal we know as the Holstein breed. If you watch television or movies where cattle are depicted, you may see anything but a dairy breed.

It seems that there is no place for dairy cattle in a John Wayne western. Regardless of perspective, dairy cattle play an important role in today’s beef industry.

Dairy cattle are sources of milk used as fluid milk or manufacturing into cheese, butter, ice cream, and other products we love to consume. With the need to maximize milk production, the dominant breed in the United States is Holstein because of its propensity to produce large quantities of milk. Because of its high butter fat content, Jerseys are another dairy breed that is used when manufactured dairy products are the focus of production rather than simply milk production. With milk and butter fat the primary products produced from dairy cattle, meat is oftentimes a secondary consideration.

Milk production requires cows to give birth to one calf per year for lactation to occur. Because calves compete for the milk, they are shifted to a milk replacer allowing the cows to be milked until production declines and subsequently stops. The breeding and calving cycle begins again and continues until the productivity of the cow declines to the point it becomes economically unfeasible. Over the decades, the number of dairy cows has declined, but milk production has remained high because of the advancements in selecting for increased milk production. Even though the number of dairies has decreased, the size and scope of them has increased dramatically to the point that dairies populated with thousands of cows are more common today than in the past.

Under traditional systems, heifer calves were needed for replacements in the dairy industry, but bull calves were often not needed because most dairy cows are artificially inseminated, which drastically lowers the demand for breeding bulls. Some bull calves enter the veal marketing channel, but most today will be castrated, converting them to steers for the fed beef market. Between birth and when they enter the feedyard, most of these dairy calves are placed in “calf ranches,” where they are cared for until the time they are fed out. These cattle are often referred to as “calf-fed Holsteins” indicating that they have been fed beginning as calves with marketing programs promoting these as higher quality beef than other systems of production.

Aligned interests

The question comes to how dairy beef compares to native beef, the term used to describe traditional British or Continental European breeds. From a quality standpoint, dairy cattle are known for their ability to deposit marbling and produce high USDA quality grades. In fact, dairy beef has been a great contributor to the USDA Prime grade. Before the recent increase in carcasses grading USDA Prime (now around 7% to 8%), when native cattle would grade around 3% USDA Prime, dairy beef would grade 8%. In addition, it would be common for dairy beef to represent about one-third of the total carcasses grading USDA Prime. Without dairy beef, the supply of USDA Prime beef would not have met the recent demand for it.

With such a grading advantage for dairy beef, what could be the disadvantages for increasing the production of them? There are several drawbacks that can directly impact the value of both dairy cattle and their carcasses. Decreased dressing percentages, the yield of carcasses compared to the live weight, are quite common and are attributed to leaner carcasses (more fat increases dressing percentage), heavier organ weights, and longer, heavier legs removed during slaughter. With Holstein cattle, the larger frame sizes and more angular and concaved-shaped muscle structure results in lower muscle-to-bone ratios compared to native cattle. Lowered dressing percentages and reduced carcass cutout yields make dairy cattle less valuable on both liveweight and carcass grid basis than native cattle. At some point, if the ribeye muscle is too small, there can be issues with the sirloin end of the strip loin subprimal – referred to as the saddle – being too shallow and making portion-cut steaks in this region less desirable for the retail or foodservice industry. Finally, with the longer feeding periods required to finish dairy cattle, they are more susceptible to liver abscesses, which not only results in the loss of the liver but also adhesions to the body wall causing significant loss from trimming and production delays.

Two recent developments in the cattle industry offer some well-needed assistance for dairy cattle production for the beef business. One of the most exciting developments in the dairy cattle industry has been where sexed semen can be used to target the specific sexes needed for production. If dairy producers need more females for replacements, sexed semen can be used for this. The second area that is growing in importance is using native beef semen to breed dairy cows. This “beef on dairy” concept is not new, but it has gained considerable numbers in recent years with high-quality genetics being used to find the best balance between the great traits of both native and dairy cattle. At this point, the beef on dairy cross of Angus on Holstein has resulted in carcasses that grade well with fewer dressing percentage and carcass composition issues compared to straight Holstein cattle. It will be interesting to see how this trend will evolve over the next several years.

As long as there are dairy cattle used for milk production, there will be beef from this sector that will play an important role in the total beef production. With some estimates that dairy beef represents some 10% to 15% of total beef, both the cattle producer and dairy farmer need to work together for the benefit of both.