What do you get more edible stuff out of in it's life time, a dairy cow or a beef cow?

Question

I know this info must be out there somewhere, but can anyone give me an estimate or a starting point. I guess the info i would need would be:

beef:

age at slauter

carcas weight

proportion of carcas edible

proportion of the meat which not water

dairy:

milk production rate

durration of life at that poroduction level

non-water proportion of milk.

(values for Australian cattle preffered, but other cattle ok)

If you know the overall answer that would be best, but iof you can fill any of my gaps that's good too.

Know where i can get beef from retired dairy cow? I assume it would be a nice strong flavour (I HATE veal!) but i bet they waste it in dog food.

Answer 1

If you are not counting calves, a beef cow produces nothing, except some hamburger at her retirement.  You are trying to compare a dairy cow to a beef steer, and their lifetime production.  There is no way to compare things like that.  The dairy cow will contribute food for several years, then almost as much meat as the beef steer. The steer can contribute only one life and it is over.

Answer 2

The dairy cow first, they are different for different breeds, but I am going to be talking about a Holstein, While some cows may live considerably longer, the average productive life of a Holstein is 3 to 4 years.

The 1999 average actual production for all U.S. Holstein herds that were enrolled in production-testing programs and eligible for genetic evaluations was 21,167 pounds of milk, 775 pounds of butterfat and 683 pounds of protein per year.

Top producing Holsteins milking twice a day have been known to produce up to 67,914 pounds of milk in 365 days.

Using the average cow that is 84,668 lbs of milk, 3,100 lbs of butterfat, and 2,732 lbs protein in a lifetime of 4 years.  Now, she will weigh about 1500 lbs and be used as hamburger about 600 lbs, when she is retired from milking.  You want to try some dairy cow beef, try hamburger. It's not wasted on dog food.

A beef steer will weigh about 1200 lbs when killed and will yield about 650 lbs of good quality meat in about a year. Times four calves in 4 years, 2600 lbs of meat.

So you can see that the amount of food from the dairy cow is much more than for the beef cow.

Answer 3

cowboy is right with his answer.

Beef from feeder cattle is much more tender, the marbling is perfect, and usually the animal is younger than a dairy cow.  Dairy cows are bred to produce milk and so their meat is tougher, and usually their diet is different.  They make great hamburger.  

Dairy steers can be fattened up and are good eating, though.  Just need a little more feed.

Answer 4

Dairy

Answer 5

dairy cow you get milk and stuff when its alive then kill it you can eat the whole thing

Answer 6

basically a cow produces more milk weight and calves than beef cattle ever could. as a result the cows need lots of nutrients and thats why you always see cows in pastures and beef cattle in large ranches