# dual purpose family cow?



## duckidaho (Dec 31, 2008)

Hi there, I'm wondering if there is such a thing as a "dual-purpose" breed of cattle. That is, if you freshen the milk cow and get a boy, can you raise him up for beef? Would it work with a Jersey or a Guernsey? Is there one breed that is better for both milking and for beef?

I mean, I'm sure you could eat any cow, just wondering if there are some that are more tasty than others.


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## Karin L (Oct 5, 2006)

There is such a thing as a dual purpose cow. Jerseys and Guernseys can be used for beef, but they take longer to finish than other breeds that are more designed for beef. This is because Jerseys and Guernseys are bred to be producing milk, not beef. If you want a dual purpose cow, consider getting a Dexter or a Red Poll.


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## WJMartin (Nov 2, 2011)

I have Dexters and love their calm demenor, we trained a 4 year old cow to milk who had never had a halter put on her and we butchered the 6 yr. old bull into hb, very lean and tasty. We are currently raising a dexter steer to butcher and are very excited to try our first Dexter steaks. Go to the American Dexter Cattle Association website and they will have memebers listed by state so you can find some close by you. This breed eats about half as much as a large frame cow and produces 3/4 as much meat, 1-2 gallons of milk or more, and have been used to pull carts ect., they also make good nurse cows. Sorry to be on the soap box, I really like my Dexters.


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## lakeportfarms (Apr 23, 2009)

Dexters are a good dual purpose breed. However there are some lines that trend more towards dairy, and some lines that trend more towards meat production. There is an added benefit of smaller size and lower feed requirements than the straight dairy breeds, and a more reasonable amount of milk for the average person. They are also ideal if you are raising the meat for just yourself and want space in your freezer for something else.


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## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

Depends how much milk you need. Lots of "beef" cows have enough milk to raise their calf and then some. The Simmental breed also has some heavy milking lines, I think those are the Fleckvieh but I could be wrong. We have Tarentaise cows, which are still used for dairy cows back in France, so some of them have plenty of milk to share, too. If I didn't have a full time job 30 miles away from home, I would be milking one of them for our househould needs. 

But if you want a LOT of milk, get a dairy cow and breed her to a beef bull with appropriate calving ease to get a live calf and put more beef on it.


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

A Milking Shorthorn makes a great dual purpose cow and so do some Dexter cows. We have a couple of Jersey/Red Angus cross cows that milk well and throw a great calf when bred to an Angus bull


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

I think they make a dual purpose boat/car and I've seen a dual purpose car/plane.

Whenever you have a dual-purpose anything, there are compromises. You can raise an angus up and milk her and eat the calves she produces. You'll likely have a struggle with catching her and you won't get much milk, but the steaks are very tasty. You can raise a Holstein and eat her calves, but you have a huge amount of milk and a large appetite. The calves may be a bit bony.

You could get a Jersey and breed her to a Angus or Hereford bull with a record of calving ease. You'd get your milk and come nice beef. But I shy away from crossbreeding. Hundreds of years of breed selection goes out the window when you throw two dissimilar breeds together.

I strongly suggest that you get a high quality Jersey, bred to a top notch Jersey bull. If she throws you a bull, castrate him, fatten him up and put up with the higher bone to beef ratio. Still good eating. If you get a heifer, you can either sell her or keep her as a replacement. Either way, buy a healthy week old calf. Have her help raise it and butcher it out. If you have deep pockets and want top quality beef, buy a beef breed steer. If you are close with your money and beef is beef to you, get a common as dirt Holstein steer.

IMHO, dual-purpose or single purpose, there are compromises. Sort out in your head what's top priority and what comes up as less important.

Some swear that a Dexter is gentle, I've seen some that were very wild. So, even when you settle on a breed, go into it knowing that they all have differing personalities.


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## duckidaho (Dec 31, 2008)

I think the last poster probably has it right. Now that I've been thinking about it we'll probably just get a dairy cow and a beef calf. I don't know what we'll do with a jersey calf if it's a male though. What do you guys do with male calves you don't want? I know with my goats I pretty much give away the male kids.


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

duckidaho said:


> I think the last poster probably has it right. Now that I've been thinking about it we'll probably just get a dairy cow and a beef calf. I don't know what we'll do with a jersey calf if it's a male though. What do you guys do with male calves you don't want? I know with my goats I pretty much give away the male kids.


"If she throws you a bull, castrate him, fatten him up and put up with the higher bone to beef ratio. Still good eating."


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

Get yourself a good beef heifer from a breed like simmental that's known for being heavy milkers and gentle her from birth to be a future milker. Then, share her with her calf and get the best of both worlds when it's supper time. 

Or, you can do what hundreds others of us did and that's get a jersey cow! Make sure to cancel all your evening plans, vacations, and day trips unless you want to come up with a relief milker!!!!


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## birdman1 (Oct 3, 2011)

I have a brown swiss milk cow they are larger than jerseys but good family cows .
and have the last 4 years bred her to an angus bull I'v had great sucess raiseing her calfs for great beef I kept a hefier but butcher the boys before they are a year old Baby beef is great not to much fat and tender


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## birdman1 (Oct 3, 2011)

They seem to take on most of the traits of the bull and are very blocky beefy type .I could keep them till older than 18 mounths to get more Prime beef but it would take more expencive grain and this gives me more than enough beef that is chemical free home grown tender Just smaller steaks


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## copperhead46 (Jan 25, 2008)

I've got to through my vote in for the Dexters, they do it all for us, milk and beef, but not too much of either


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

If I wanted dual purpose, I'd get a shorthorn and breed her to a low birth weight Angus for a calf to eat. Shorthorns are supposed to put on good marbling and you will get both marbling and thick ribeye from that Angus.

I'd rather buy my milk than to be tied down to a milking schedule.


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## ccribbet (Jan 23, 2012)

Milking Shorthorns are a true dual purpose breed. Many of the newer genetics are to much Holstein that make them milker but most milking shorthorn make great cows. Offer greater weaning weight than most Dexters because of the milking qualities of milking shorthorn gentics.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

Bump for those new to the board


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## karenp (Jun 7, 2013)

Jersey cow bred to an beef bull, but it depends on how much milk you want.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

I've still got the opinion that a heavy milking beef cow like a Simmental or Hereford and share milking with calf is a good option for a family milk cow. Or, a others have said a beef/jersey cross is good.


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## sonofman (Dec 13, 2014)

Red Polls can be good too. They have been used in a lot of the beef composite breeds that you see today used commercially.

You could also consider a cross bred cow for a family cow. We had a cow that was half Jersey and half Polled Hereford and she did just fine. 

You have to remember that even if you only get a gallon of milk per day out of your cow, you're going to have to figure out what to do with 7 gallons of milk every week LOL.


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## blessingsfarms (May 15, 2014)

I vote for the Dexter. Wish I would have known of them years ago.
Ours look more like the beef style and next to our Jersey they out 
preform for beef and still have plenty of good creamy milk. Our one 
Jersey steer is ok but I would not trust our Dexter horns on him.


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## farmerkhaiti (Jan 3, 2015)

I found this chart very interesting, comparing milk production across many different breeds, and not just dairy breeds. http://www.tc.umn.edu/~puk/cow/milk.html


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## sammyd (Mar 11, 2007)

a Holstein will make lots of beef and despite what some folks may say, they can adapt to low production environments. We milked quite a few on the organic grain free place.

There are other dual purpose options like Normande and Fleckveih and Milking Shorthorn that would be worth looking into as well.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

farmerkhaiti said:


> I found this chart very interesting, comparing milk production across many different breeds, and not just dairy breeds. http://www.tc.umn.edu/~puk/cow/milk.html


The numbers on the Maine-Anjou really surprise me. I could kind of guess the rankings as they stand among typical dairy breeds. But some of the beef breeds surprised me. Thanks for posting this link.


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## Jennifer L. (May 10, 2002)

IMO, on a homestead basis where you eat one cow at a time, trying to get a few more pounds of beef from one breed or another is not really meaningful. You'll get a lot of beef out of a Holstein, and you'll get a lot of beef out of an Angus. Taste is going to be determined by what you feed them. Skip to the end for the summary on this pdf document. 

http://www.extension.umn.edu/agriculture/dairy/beef/comparison-of-dairy-versus-beef-steers.pdf


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## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

Something like 8 percent of the "beef" consumed in the US actually comes from dairy breeds; either cull cows or bull calves raised for slaughter.

I have a Holstein/Angus cross who looks like a gigantic Angus cow.


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