02/26/08 Improving quality in cull livestock

In the past dairy producers sent their cull cows to market when milk prices were low or replacement heifers were cheap. A lot of that meat was processed into hamburger. Today more than half of the beef from these so-called market cattle is fabricated into 20 different wholesale cuts including steaks, roast and other high value products. University of Idaho extension beef specialist Jason Ahola is helping dairy producers improve meat quality of cull livestock. AHOLA "Figure out ways to, number one add value to those cows and then number two to try to create a marketplace that demands higher quality cows." Ahola put some cull cows into a feedlot three months prior to harvest and added about 239 pounds per carcass and that means more dollars to the dairy owner. AHOLA "Holstein's generally marble very well and in some cases better than Angus. Holstein cows or dairy cows on average are much younger than beef cows when they're culled. There's a year round supply of them. You don't have a whole bunch of them hitting the marketplace in the fall." Ahola says with 500 thousand dairy cows in Idaho and about 35 percent culled each year that's a potential for 175 thousand culled animals to feed out before slaughter. He says dairy operators who now get about five percent of their income from cull animals could double that profit through a feed out program. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott