Why the big push for Angus cattle?

[teejk]

Purely a marketing thing I think. In the midwest the Angus was not very well known so people thought they were getting some exotic beef. I'm long removed from the meat business also but as I recall the taste of beef is related to their diet and how they are "finished" (my guess is that you could take a Kolbe steer and feed him on the California grass lands and you would prefer road-kill for flavor). My guess is that the Angus people took a chapter from the bison folks...sad story for anybody that bought into that marketing scheme...warehouses full of buffalo meat that couldn't be sold because the minimum price was controlled by their marketing board. That's ag though...Ocean Spray cranberries, Sunkist oranges and several others all follow the same model.

 

[Bird]

Holstein milk is so weak in butterfat that it used to be nicknamed "blue-jipp or "blue-gyp" because of it's blue-white color. There was a local dairy here that sold holstein milk for $.69 per gallon in the early '70s. People who sold guernsey milk were it's biggest critics. If you notice, Elsie the Cow and all of the Bluebell herd in Brenham, TX are guernseys.That's because ice cream takes high butterfat to be smooth and creamy.

Hadn't heard those nicknames for milk from a particular breed; i.e., Holstein, but we called milk that was left after running through the separator "blue john" although I never saw that in writing so I'm not sure of the spelling. Anyway, it was considered to only be good for the hogs and chickens when I was a kid, but isn't that what the grocery stores sell now as "skim milk"?

 

[grnspot110]

Hadn't heard those nicknames for milk from a particular breed; i.e., Holstein, but we called milk that was left after running through the separator "blue john" although I never saw that in writing so I'm not sure of the spelling. Anyway, it was considered to only be good for the hogs and chickens when I was a kid, but isn't that what the grocery stores sell now as "skim milk"?

What the stores sell now is nothing like what I grew up with, milk or meat! Too many people nowadays don't know what good food is because they've never had it. I grew up in the 50's & 60's milking around 20 registered Holsteins, kept a dozen or so mixed sows, few hens for eggs, etc. We separated the milk, used skim milk & cream from the day before. When I see the TV cooks using "heavy cream", I have to laugh at them, stuff pours like water compared to real heavy cream. Our beef was grass feed, best Holstein steer on the farm, same with the hogs, butchered the best! Had an uncle that raised registered Angus, (fattier back then). Because I grew up with the dairy stock, I still prefer grass fed beef, which fortunately, is part of the farm rent now. You don't need things like "steak sauce" when you have good meat to start with! ~~ Lowell

 

[vtsnowedin]

Back in the day the boys in high school joined the FFA future farmers of America and took AG classes I Had one of the blue jackets. We tested milk for butter fat content and the dairys paid price premiums for the higher testing milk. Holsteins tested one to three percent butter fat while Jerseys and Guernseys tested as high as six percent. Standard milk or whole milk as it was called was 3.6% if I recall correctly. The milk processor would separate out any excess cream beyond that to make butter and ice cream etc. The market sure has changed in forty years.

 

[Bird]

When I see the TV cooks using "heavy cream", I have to laugh at them, stuff pours like water compared to real heavy cream.

:laughing:Yep, I used to mix cream with Post Toasties or Wheaties at breakfast and there was nothing like liquid.

Standard milk or whole milk as it was called was 3.6% if I recall correctly.

Very likely correct. The "whole" milk I buy now from Braum's is labelled as 3.3%.

 

[vtsnowedin]

We had raw milk from a Jersey cow in the fridge growing up. Over an inch of cream would rise to the top of a gallon pitcher. You would have to hold the top closed and give it a good shake to mix it back in before you poured out a glass.

 

[Larro Darro]

Back in the day the boys in high school joined the FFA future farmers of America and took AG classes I Had one of the blue jackets. We tested milk for butter fat content and the dairys paid price premiums for the higher testing milk. Holsteins tested one to three percent butter fat while Jerseys and Guernseys tested as high as six percent. Standard milk or whole milk as it was called was 3.6% if I recall correctly. The milk processor would separate out any excess cream beyond that to make butter and ice cream etc. The market sure has changed in forty years.

When folks started worrying about fat content in milk, the dairy producers had all the excess fat to get rid off. They came up with a new cheese ad campaign. Sales of cheese increased dramatically. Soon people who were drinking skim milk were eating enough cheese they were getting more fat than ever. But they felt good about themselves.

Larro

 

[lakngulf]

When folks started worrying about fat content in milk, the dairy producers had all the excess fat to get rid off. They came up with a new cheese ad campaign. Sales of cheese increased dramatically. Soon people who were drinking skim milk were eating enough cheese they were getting more fat than ever. But they felt good about themselves.

Larro

I grew up on beef cattle farm, but we almost always had one cow that we milked for our own use. I do not cherish the recollections of the cow kicking, or swing the cucklebur filled tail in my face, but the milk was good. I learned early on that "the cream rises to the top". Lot of people use that phrase and probably do not know the real meaning.

To this day, when I am fixing a bowl of cereal, I always think the milk is better in a freshly opened gallon. I am still expecting the cream on the top.

 

[grnspot110]

I grew up on beef cattle farm, but we almost always had one cow that we milked for our own use. I do not cherish the recollections of the cow kicking, or swing the cucklebur filled tail in my face, but the milk was good. I learned early on that "the cream rises to the top". Lot of people use that phrase and probably do not know the real meaning.

To this day, when I am fixing a bowl of cereal, I always think the milk is better in a freshly opened gallon. I am still expecting the cream on the top.

The cockle-burs weren't as bad as that other stuff (usually greenish in color) that their tails were full of! ~~ Lowell

 

[Larro Darro]

I grew up on beef cattle farm, but we almost always had one cow that we milked for our own use. I do not cherish the recollections of the cow kicking, or swing the cucklebur filled tail in my face, but the milk was good. I learned early on that "the cream rises to the top". Lot of people use that phrase and probably do not know the real meaning.

To this day, when I am fixing a bowl of cereal, I always think the milk is better in a freshly opened gallon. I am still expecting the cream on the top.

My childhood was the same. Raised on a beef farm with one milk cow. Since they lasted so long, I didn't have a lot of different ones. But we bought a Jersey from my Uncle Dick. It was about the time Bobby Bare's song Marie Laveau came out, and since she was a witch, the name stuck to her. She was a good milk producer, and had a calf every 11 months like clockwork, but she was a pain to milk. When I joined the Navy there was lots of things about home that I missed. Milking Marie Laveau wasn't one of them.

Larro