Bessie Provides Milk and Beef

Visitors to our farm frequently ask what happens to cows when they are no longer productive members of the herd. The answer is they leave our herd and are sent to a livestock auction where someone purchases them for meat production.

Our goal is to keep cows as long as possible and everything we do is centered around keeping cows healthy, comfortable and productive. Sometimes it’s necessary for animals to depart our herd - reason for this are; 1) she is unable to get pregnant and/or a low milk producer, 2) she is sick or injured - the most common sickness is mastitis which causes inflammation of the udder or 3) she dies of natural causes. The average age of a cow on our farm is about 4½ years old. The oldest cow on our farm is over 9 years old.

Our cows coming out of the milking parlor

As a dairy farm, we’re in the business of taking care of animals and producing milk. Dairy animals are food animals, with a different purpose then companion animals or wild animals. They have the significant purpose of providing food for people. Female dairy cows produce milk and when their productive life is over they are utilized for meat production. Bulls (males) are raised for beef production from the time they are born.

Cows relaxing on their sand beds

Our animals deserve and receive excellent care. They live a good life and we meet their needs by providing quality food, fresh water, comfortable housing and health care. I realize it’s difficult for some to understand how we can care for an animal and then send her to the auction to be sold for beef production. These choices are not always easy.

Why not keep all the cows even if they are no longer productive? It’s not economically feasible. Cows eat about 100 lbs of feed every day. If you feed a high quality diet recommended by a nutritionist, like we do, it costs about $8/cow/day. Feed is only one of the many expenses we incur each month for the health and comfort of our animals. In turn, they produce milk which we sell in order to provide them with feed, bedding, veterinary care, comfortable housing, electricity, etc. These expenses add up to approximately $7/cow/day. So it costs roughly $15/cow/day to own dairy cows. We can’t afford to keep cows that are not productive, we don’t have that luxury. 

Our cows spend many hours each day consuming feed

We love our cows and understand they serve a very important purpose – providing nutrient rich food for people.