Which are more valuable, dairy cows or beef cows, and why?

Finished dairy steers contribute more to U.S. beef supplies than culled dairy cows. Finished dairy steers contributed 2.9 billion pounds (10.8%) of total pounds harvested in 2002 and 3.5 billion pounds (13.8%) in 2016. read more

Then obviously dairy cattle will be more valuable to you than beef cattle. read more

Meat from beef cattle has more fat and is more tender. Dairy cows are 6-8 years old when slaughtered. Beef cattle are 1.5-2.0 years old. Meat from dairy cattle winds up in lower grades such as utility, used for canned and pet food. read more

Dairy breeds of cows are capable of making much more milk than one calf would need. Some dairy cows can produce up to eight gallons of milk a day. Most beef cows just produce enough milk to keep one (and sometimes two) calves fed and happy, but not much extra. This is usually 1-2 gallons a day. These photos are all of dairy cows (all girls). read more