By Real Farmwives Ginny from Gin and Juicy Juice and Liz from Two Maids a Milking
1. Markings and Spots
Ginny – Beef cows can come in many different colors. They can be black, red, white, or anycombination of those colors with spots and stripes and more. In the US, there are more than 20 differentbreeds and each breed began with its own distinct color pattern. The most common colors include solid black,solid red, red with a white face or different shades of solid white. There is even a breed of cow that is blackwith a white belt and looks like an Oreo Cookie.
Liz – There are 6 main breeds of dairy cows. The mostpopular is Holstein, with the black and white spots. Holsteins also have arecessive gene which can result in a red and white marking.
2. Does my butt lookbig?
Ginny – Beef cows tend to be shorter and stockier than dairycows. It’s kind of like comparing a bodybuilding competitor to a marathon runner.The beef animal uses its energy to build muscle and store fat. That’s why they taste so good.
Liz – Dairy cows are naturally taller (except for Jerseys)than beef cows and usually appear skinnier than beef cows. That is becausedairy cows use the energy in their food to produce milk not cover on theirbody.
3. Battle of theSexes
Ginny – Most male calves that are born in the US are steered(castrated) and fed so that they grow and can be used for their meat, just likea majority of the male dairy calves. Thevery best male calves get to remain intact and are used to breed the females toproduce the next generation. Just likedairy cows, before a female beef animal has a calf, it’s called a heifer. After it has had a calf, it is referred to asa cow. The cow’s main job in life is toraise a baby every year so that we continue to have new animals that we can usefor their meat.
Liz – Females, prior to giving birth, are called calves or heifers. Once they give birth,female dairy animals are called cows. All cows give milk once they have a calf.Most male dairy cows or bulls are raised for beef just like beef cows.
4. The nextgeneration
Both beef and dairy cows have a 9 month gestation period.
Ginny – Most beef farmers use a bull to breed most of theircows naturally. You have to be carefulwhen handling the bulls though, because they grow up and there’s definitely alot of BULL. Some farmers also useartificial insemination (AI), using the best bulls out there, to help producethe next generation of beef cows. Thebulls that get used via artificial insemination are often so expensive thatmost farmers can’t afford to own them themselves, but by using AI, they canbenefit from the good traits that those bulls have in their genes.
Liz - Due to the size of dairy bulls and safety concernsmost dairy farmers use artificial insemination to breed their cows. Could youimagine 2,000 pounds of bull hopping on your back…yikes!
5. What’s on themenu?
Both Dairy farmers and Beef Cattle producers feed rations(diets) that are formulated by a nutritionist. It would be like every familyhaving a dietitian to help them plan their meals everyday!
A cow has one stomach with four different chambers,whichis why many people say that acow has four stomachs
Ginny – Beef cattle can eat many different types offeed. Most beef animals start their lifeat a cow-calf operation where the cows graze on pasture and may be supplementedduring the winter or dry periods with hay, silage or by-products such asdistiller’s grains from ethanol plants.Once the babies are weaned, usually after 6 or 7 months of age, thereare a lot of options available to farmers.Some chose to move the animals to a feedlot where they get a speciallybalanced diet of corn, roughages such as hay or silage and supplements to helpthem grow and these animals are usually ready in about 12 to 14 months ofa*ge. Some farmers move the calves toother pastures and let them eat grass and may provide other supplements aswell. It is very difficult to get grassto grow all year round so these calves tend to grow slower in some months,require more land (which isn’t cheap) and take more management to beefficient. It often takes up to 18 to 24months for these animals to reach market.No matter how the beef animal is raised, they spend the majority oftheir lives grazing on grass pasture.
Dairy – Dairy cows eat nearly 100 pounds of feed a day whichis a combination of hay, grain and silage (fermented corn or grass). They drinka lot of water too – up to 50 gallons a day.
