When dairy cows become unproductive, are they used for meat?

Yes. The dairy farmer sells those cows as culls, and they either go straight to the packers as canner/cutter/D4 cows, or get to spend some time in the feedlot getting some weight put on them before they find themselves at the business end of a cap... read more

Every dairy cow is potentially a beef cow. Only the healthy but unproductive ones go to beef, but still, it's a huge amount of revenue for a dairy- generally about 5-10% of overall income. Or, the other way 'round, far too much capital to write off without trying to get salvage value out of it at least. read more

More than 9.3 million cows were used to produce milk in the United States in 2008, and more than 2.5 million dairy cows were slaughtered for meat. Cows used by the dairy industry are intensively confined, continually impregnated, and bred for high milk production with little concern for their well-being. read more