Even though there are fewer cows, beef on dairy crosses have become a popular practice over the last decade, but it takes a lot of research. To help, Iowa State University is creating a database on all the crosses from birth to market.
“And looking at their individual daily performance, as well as carcass merits that comes out of those calves and really trying to focus in on, can we influence the last 120 days of the performance trial by how we handle and feed those in the 1st 120 days of life? Only minor differences in the next 60 days and of course our last 120 days, we’ve still got one group to go. So we’re we can’t pull a whole lot out of there until we get the third group harvested,” said Denise Schwab.
Meat science researchers say any dairy producers thinking about venturing into beef on dairy should look for resources to help navigate the process. You can find more about Iowa State’s database by clicking HERE.
