What happens to dairy cows when they are too old to give milk?

Older dairy cows are termed “canners and cutters” in the market, because they are used as canned meat with sometimes steaks or roasts or stew meat kept out. But in reality they mostly go to hamburger meat. read more

The long answer: when cows are too old to give milk, their meat is tough and low quality. It is still sold as meat, and becomes hamburgers at fast food chains like McDonald's. Because the meat is ground up, cooked fairly well done, and eaten with ketchup, bacon, etc, it doesn't matter that it is low quality. read more

It's the only company in the U.S. that's trying to separate out quality dairy cow beef from the mediocre stuff. "Along the way, meat people told us, 'Good luck trying to get a good product out of a dairy cow,'" says Claire Herminjard, the CEO of Mindful Meats. read more

They are known for their outstanding milk production among the main breeds of dairy cattle. An average Holstein cow produces around 23,000 pounds (10,000 kg) of milk each lactation. Of the 9 million dairy cows in the U.S., approximately 90% of them are of the Holstein descent. read more