Hi Pam
You should be pretty confused by now with all the different
advice so here's a bit more to add
1 Angus not a good idea - they are difficult to handle unless you're used
to them - they stir up very easy - its part of the breed and are picky
eaters as well which leads to them escaping from lawful custody unless the
fences are excellent. A black steer standing in the middle of the road at
night blinking into the lights is a problem. The reason they are so popular
is that Japanese consumers (who pay the highest price for beef) prefer and
will only eat marbled beef - thats little veins of fat interspersed through
the tissues - this is largely a breed characteristic that angus and english
shorthorn have and hereford cattle dont have (highly developed in Japanese
waygu too) - and this characteristic has come to be associated (mistakenly)
with tenderness in beef - so we have the highest price paid for lot fed
angus beef. Tenderness has very little to do with breed or even age - its
pure and simple a lack of muscle tone from the animal standing around and
getting no excercise - grass fed meat is always going to be more chewy
because the animals are fitter.
2 see if you can get crossbred calves from a dairy - the proper black
baldy (hereford / holstein cross) are really good - expect to pay at least
three times as much compared to straight holstein calves - but well worth it
!
3 That holstein steer calf will most likely be two year old and six foot
tall before he is in good enough condition to eat
4 Jersey and guernsey cattle put down very yellow fat which is
objectionable to many people - but if you want a quiet milk cow a hand
reared jersey is ideal (strange thing is the jersey bull is a nasty
untrustworthy critter)
Take your time and have fun
Lloyd Charles
