Jerseys for beef cows?

[porkchop48]

I have a chance to get some jersey bull calf pretty cheap.

Would it be worth it to get a couple to raise up and butcher? They would be banded. I know they are smaller than "beef" cows but essentially still beef.

Can some one who has done it offer any advice?

 

[aggieterpkatie]

They may take longer to get to weight, but they're delicious. Jersey beef is some of the best there is, IMO. The fat tends to be more yellow, which some people don't like, but they really do taste delicious. Make sure to disbud them!

 

[dwbonfire]

no experience here, but i have been told by a few people that jerseys are the best tasting meat and they wouldnt raise anything else!

 

[jhm47]

I have also heard that Jerseys are excellent meat, however I have never tasted it. The biggest drawback is their extreme slow growth and very poor feed efficiency. They will eat a lot of feed to put on a pound of meat, and this is why they are not popular as beef animals. And---be SURE to have them dehorned. Even Jersey steers can be quite aggressive, and I'd hate to see you get hurt. Good luck!

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

We have 2 Jersey steers in our herd. They are a year old now and a long way from getting any meat from them. One has finally started to bulk a little, but we fully expect that they will be at least 2 years old before we will butcher them and get any quantity of meat from them. Our Hereford heifer who is the same age as them, probably out-weighs them by close to 100 pounds. Paid $25.00 each for the Jerseys, paid $400.00 for the Hereford. Each cow has easily eaten the same amount.

We are glad that we had the Jerseys to raise as bottle babies and get that experience and see them grow from 1 day old, but I doubt that we will do that again.

I think that if you go into it knowing that they are a "long process" you will probably be happy with your choice. If you don't want that long term commitment, I would save up a little more and purchase a beef cow.

 

[ourflockof4]

It depends on what you want to do with them to be honest with you. They can be finished out to good quality, but there feed regiment is much different then with some other breeds. If you want to pasture raise them and just feed them hay they will not finish out very well. They will have a lot of bone mass and not much muscle and fat marbling. Beef & heritage breeds will be much better for pasture raised beef. But, if you are ok with dry lotting them and throwing a lot of inputs at them they can finish quite well. My #1 suggestion for getting a good finish is a steer stuffer with a good feed ration. I am currently feeding ground ear corn with a complete concentrate pellet along with free choice good quality hay. The bovine feed specialist that I deal with also recommended that I cut the hay intake to 2 lbs per day per head when they hit 500 lbs. They gets lots of roughage from the ear corn and they hay would fill them up and reduce there feed intake. Basically with dairy feeders for beef you need to push them hard from day one. A lot of guys in my area raise holstiens this way and can get them to a very nice finish in 14-16 months at 1200-1300 lbs. If they dont push hard from the start the finish at 1700-1800 lbs at 24+ months with less quality finish.

 

[Mike Fronczak]

We raised a Jersey & a Jersey/Holestein cross last year for meat. As others have said you need to put a lot of grain to them to get any meat on them. The meat has good flavor though. Even with all the grain & bs, we still did ok. Having something to now compare to now I can't say I would raise a Jersey again. We now have Scottish Highlands, use less grain on our herd of 6 than we did on two Jersey steers, the pure Jersey steer had a crazy look in his eye, Highlands are much more calm & predictable (they let you know if their agitated), the steers got out 3 times in the summer we had them, the Highlands we got last fall and haven't challenged a fenceline yet.

 

[kfacres]

after 800 pounds, jersey will no longer be able to be sent through a grinder in a pleasing manor. The meat b/c so marbled-- that it just balls up and turns to mush.

a jersey will eat about 4 times what a beef animal will eat- and yield you about half the meat in about half as long. You have to determine if that cheaper (although you have to add atleast $50 bucks to your purchasing price as in the milk replacer price), is worth more to you to get less meat, in more time- and with more grain...

 

[MrsKK]

Interesting posts.

We raise Jersey for beef since twelve years ago when we couldn't find any Holstein calves. In comparison, every other meat we've eaten has been dry, tough, and flavorless.

We feed about 6 lbs of sweet feed and 2 quarts of soaked beet pulp per day to each steer once they are over six months old, gradually working them up to that amount of grain and beet pulp. They get free choice alfalfa/grass hay. They don't grow huge - our most recent hung at 469 lbs at 18 months old - but they are the best beef.

We don't have any grazing, as we have only two acres total of property. I think we do pretty darn good. Oh, they are started for 3 months on raw milk, too, as we have a cow that we foster calves onto once her calf is weaned. She can easily raise us four extra calves a year.

 

[redtailgal]

I've gotta agree with KK on this.........Jersey is some nice meat when raised properly.