Dairy cows have always been used for meat. At the end of their useful milk producing life, a cow is usually sold for beef at the local auction. The age of the cow may be 3 to 8 years old depending on her production records. Poor production means poor profits, so the cow may be sold early in life. A 3 year old cow should provide good quality of meat regardless of cut, while with an 8 year old, you might not want to eat the steak. The local meat market may buy an older cow and use the meat for balogna, sausage, hot dogs,hamburger, etc. The meat market must have an inspector on site if they do their own slaughtering. The meat is USDA inspected. As long as I know the conditions/reasons the cow is being sold, I'd trust the meat moreso than a fast food burger. As for dairy cattle being given drugs to boost production, I canb only speak about the hormone BST ( I think that is correct). Cattle can be given a USDA approved hormone to increase production of milk. There was no change in the milk itself, just more of it. The cow already had this hormone in her system to produce milk, but was given more hormones to produce more milk and increasing profits. Not all farmers think this hormone is a good idea because the cows are already being fed for maximum production. The hormone generates a faster turnover in cows by causing an early end of the useful milk production cycle. It's kind of like driving your 4 cylinder car at 100 MPH. Sure it will do it, but not as long as at 60.
But what the hell do I know, I only did this for 20 years.
Fred
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