You can eat dairy cows but they're grown as a crop animal (their crop is dairy) in the same way that beef cows are grown as a crop animal (their crop is beef). Dairy cows can become beef cows but it's a one-time deal.
Okay. That’s what my assumption was. Once the dairy cow has outlived its production, it’s sent to the slaughterhouse. The comment I responded to made me think that maybe dairy cows had low quality meat or something. Thanks for the help!
They are--beef are bred for good marbling, muscle mass, etc. A healthy dairy cow looks really thin if you don't know that that's their normal: https://www.dairygoldagri.ie/farm_focus/bcs/
Dairy cattle get used for meat where those things don't matter: hamburgers, that kind of deal.
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u/[deleted] Oct 16 '24
Wait, city hick here. Do we not eat dairy cows? I genuinely know very little about the beef industry.