Are dairy cows in the food supply?

Question

Are dairy cows generally part of the human-consumption beef we find in stores or restaurants in the USA?

For example, if I buy a cheeseburger happy meal with chocolate milk at McDonalds, what is the probability that the same cow helped produce more than one component of the meal? (For example, the same cow helped make the beef and cheese, or the beef and milk)?

Answer 1

no

Answer 2

  when a cow cannot produce anymore milk, most of the time it is sent to a cattle sales barn.  (not nessisartly the "slaughterhouse") there is is sold to whomever has the highest bid, (most of the time it is to the meat market)

          so yes, when a cow dies , it is consumed.   The probability of the cow from the meat, made the milk or cheese, is very low to none.  when the cows are milked it is held in a tank, the tank contains the milk from all the cows.  When the milk man comes, he takes the milk and adds it to his milk trucks tank.  So it is mixed with more cows milk.   If the farmer notices that the cow cannot produce anymore milk and is sent for meat, the process of "slaughtering" takes a while.    

   The meat would have to be sold to the same place that bought the milk, and the meat or milk could have been shipped a long ways.

         To add to that confusion, that meat is not just from dairy cows, but beef cattle also.   Beef cattle are raised to be, just as the name says, for beef.  Beef cattle are usually steers, NOT bulls, or sometimes cows (can't produce milk anymore, and to skinny to send to market)        Bulls meat is more hard or "chewy" then steers or cows because of their hormones.

            

Answer 3

They are mostly used in hot dogs,cat and dog foods.

Answer 4

I am sure Mcdonalds uses only the best road kill available.

Answer 5

The probability is extremely low and while highly unlikely, I guess technically the same cow could have produced the milk and then the meat, although it definitely isn't going to happen the other way around (you can get milk from a dead cow).  And yes, in the past, much of McDonald's burger was Holstein (dairy breed).

As far as the quality of dairy beef goes, there isn't a thing wrong with it.  We always used to butcher Guernsey beef.  I like it better because dairy beef is much leaner and I don't like fat meat.

Incidently, most bologna comes from old bulls because their flesh is drier than that of a cow or steer.  And if you like pepperoni, you'll be glad to know much of it is made from old boar hogs.  They are unsuitable for normal cuts of meat because the meat stinks of boar urine. The spices in the pepperoni cover up the nasty smell.    

Answer 6

Yes, dairy cows get slaughtered, they sure don't die of old age.  As far as that low quality comment is concerned, the cow can only enter the foodchain after being inspected and certified by the USDA.

Answer 7

Theoretically speaking, sure the same cow could produce the milk and meat.  Technically, no, the milk has a shorter shelf-life than the meat.

Regarding several of the answers that dairy meat is of low quality is untrue.  To some of these folks the best steak would not be edible.  Since dairy cows are not put into a feedlot to be raised for meat production the grading of the meat typically will fall into the category as "select" and become hamburger which is in high demand everywhere.

Read the following info regarding the grading of meats:

--Workers cut open a carcass between the 12th and 13th rib, exposing the crucial ribeye that inspectors from the Agricultural Marketing Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture will examine.

--The USDA has four quality grades for cattle under 30 months of age, but three grades really define U.S. beef -- prime, choice and select.

--Grading is based on the abundance of flecks of fat, or marbling, blended into the red meat. The greater the marbling, the higher the grade, because greater marbling means juicer, more flavorful meat.

Answer 8

I took agriculture

And if there's one thing I learned its that

When the dairy cows run out of milk,

They are slaughtered and made into low quality meat.

Thi smeat usually goes to fast food places and dog food if its really really low quality.

And as a vegetarian, im disgusted -.-