Challenges and Opportunities in Marketing Dairy Beef

Dairy cattle comprise approximately 10% of the U.S. cattle population. A co-product of milk production is the bull calf. Dairy calves are commonly removed from their dam at birth and sold to a business that specializes in management of newborn calves. Calves are fed milk-replacer from birth to approximately 5 weeks of age, at which point they are transitioned to a forage and concentrate grower ration. Once calves reach approximately 300 pounds, they are marketed to traditional feedlots and fed a concentrate ration until they attain market readiness.

Cattle feeders realize multiple challenges when marketing dairy steers to beef processors including: excessive height/length, greater proportion of carcass bruises, greater proportion of intact testicles present, excess proportion of liver abscesses, small LM area, and lower muscle:bone ratios.

Dairy cattle are primarily selected for milk yield. Milk yield is highly related to intake, which is highly related to frame size. Thus, a larger cow eats more and yields more milk. The consequence of that indirect selection is increasingly larger steer calves year over year. These calves are often too tall/long for beef processors that were built 10 to 50 years ago. Excess height also leads to greater frequency of loin bruises during transit. Because dairy steers are often castrated during the first week of life, the testicles are small and are easily missed during the banding process, leading to a greater frequency of intact testicles. Because dairy steers were transitioned from milk to finisher ration at a young age and because they are typically fed an aggressive ration for an extended period, they are prone to greater rates of liver abscesses. Liver abscesses are often of prevalence and severity to cause the processor to minimize slaughter groups to as few as 10 animals. Dairy steers also suffer from smaller muscle size and a lower proportion of muscle when compared to beef-type animals.

However, dairy steers readily qualify for age and source verification programs, have a greater frequency of unbranded hides, exhibit greater levels of marbling, and require less trimming of waste fat during fabrication.

Dairy steers that are age and source verified are ready made for demanding export markets. The greater frequency of native hides improves by-product values. Greater proportion of Choice and Prime grades improves palatability, and lower proportion of fat improves fabrication yields.