How are a beef cow and a dairy cow alike?

Answer 1

Dairy cows are thinner with huge udders that produces more milk than her single calf needs. Milk from these cows are collected and sold as milk or other dairy products.

Beef cows raise calves that are intended for slaughter and red meat consumption for people. They are blockier and more robust than dairy cows, and do not have overly large udders, yet produce enough milk to produce a healthy, good-sized calf.

Besides those differences there is many differences in the way the two animals are raised.

Reproduction:

Dairy - Artificial insemination, calves are born all year round; all heifers born raised on farm as replacements with bull calves culled and sold to be raised as veal; very few dairy farms keep bulls to naturally service cows--use mainly on replacement heifers; cows culled primarily for milking ability, chronic disease and lameness issues; cows bred for and selected for improved milking ability, and very little else.

Beef- Natural breeding though AI is also becoming popular in this sector; calves born in one defined calving season lasting from two to four months long, though some breeders opt for year-round calving/breeding; higher selection standards for replacement heifers than dairy; bull calves steered unless raised as bulls via seedstock operation, but never culled and sold like dairy operations do; cows and bulls culled for far more reasons than just milking ability and lameness issues; cows selected not just for improved beef production, but docility, milking ability, mothering ability, feed efficiency, grass-fed genetics, fertility, calving ease, etc.

Weaning/Milk Production:

Dairy - calves nurse for initial 2-3 days and then put on milk replacer formula; weaned at 4-6 weeks off the bottle; cows are put to work producing/giving milk which is collected for humans

Beef - weaned at 6 to 8 months (some go to 10 months) off the cow via natural weaning, truck-weaning, fenceline-weaning or spike-nose-ring/separation weaning; cows only demand for milk is for their own calves, not for human consumption.

Housing:

Dairy - cows spend most of their time in the barn and some time in the pasture; they also use "calf hutches" to house individual calves.

Beef - cows often don't know what the inside of a barn looks like--they live outdoors on pastures or rangelands, sometimes feedlots especially during winter or times when grass is scarce; finisher cattle raised in feedlots until ready for slaughter.

Feeds and Feeding:

Dairy - Cows require high quality feed for optimum milk production, higher quality feed than what is required for beef cows; Total Mixed Rations of grain, silage/balage and hay mixed together as a specified ration for optimum and maximum milk. Use of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) commonly used in American dairies for increased milk production. Subtherapeutic levels of antibiotics are also used to prevent cases of acidosis in dairy cows fed TMR rations of 60% to 80% grain in the form of corn.

Beef - Many producers turning more and more to raising cows on grass versus feeding them hay, silage or grain, especially during winter and as supplements. Fewer beef herds being raised with supplements such as feed grain. Cattle raised to be slaughtered for beef implanted with growth hormone-stimulating implants to improve growth and feed efficiency. Finisher/fattener cattle raised on a diet of grain-silage mix for fattening. Subtherapeutic antibiotics mixed with feed as a preventative to acidosis and respiratory disease.

Answer 2

They are of the same species, Bos taurus. They are all alike in every aspect of being cows, except that dairy cows are thinner and produce 3 times as much milk as a beef cow does (or any "normal" cow does), and beef cows are more beefier and produce calves that are often raised for meat. However, dairy cows also produce calves that are also used in the meat industry. Beef and dairy cows, when no longer production, also both enter the meat industry chain and are slaughtered for beef.

Answer 3

Cattle and cows are basically the same thing (technically cows is just female cattle, cattle is everything-males, females, calves). The difference between dairy and beef cattle is that Dairy are cattle that are bred for the purpose of milk production. Beef cattle are ones that are used for beef production.

Answer 4

Yes. Jersey cows are brown cows which are dairy cows, as are Brown Swiss. But not all brown cows are dairy cows, there are many brown cows that are beef cows, such as Gelbvieh, Simmental, Red Angus, Hereford, Red Brahman, to name a few.

Answer 5

There's no difference. A cow is a cow, be she dairy or beef or both. A dairy cow to a cow is just another cow. Period. End of story.