Holstein Cattle in "City Slickers"

[Machine_Elf]

On the Wikipedia page for the movie Temple Grandin, the real Temple Grandin was concerned about the realism of the cattle dip scenes in that movie:

@Wikipedia

…she was quite concerned about the proper construction of the tank and about the breed of cattle being used in the scene. “I thought, we can’t have a silly thing like that City Slickers movie, where they had Holstein cattle out there,” Grandin said. “If you know anything about cattle, you’d know that was stupid.”

I don’t know anything about cattle, so edumacate me. Why was it stupid to have Holstein cattle in the scenes from “City Slickers?” Do they not tolerate the heat and dryness of the west very well or something?

[hogarth]

Don’t cattle drives usually involve beef cattle, not dairy cattle?

[cornflakes]

I’ll second that. The stress of a trail drive would probably cause a dairy cow to stop producing milk, and there isn’t that much use for a Holstein that can’t make milk. A dude ranch trail drive would almost certainly use longhorns, or at least some sort of beef cattle.

[Gary_T]

k.d. lang made a similar blunder. She appeared in a PETA ad encouraging people not to eat beef – standing next to a dairy cow (Guernsey). People who know cattle thought that was pretty ignorant.

But yeah, “City Slickers” was obviously set on a ranch that would deal in beef cattle, not a dairy farm. Holsteins are dairy cattle. Hollywood strikes again.

[jbaker]

Holsteins are the most productive dairy cattle and are used pretty much exclusively for milk production in the U.S., although Wikipedia says the breed is used for beef in the South of Europe. Some Holsteins are slaughtered for beef, of course (e.g., bull calves), but those still come from dairies - there is no need to round them up in a cattle drive.

Although the Texas longhorn was an important breed during the great cattle drives of the 19th century, I don’t think it’s significant any more. Beef cattle are more likely to be Angus.

[BrotherCadfael]

If I recall correctly, the herd in the movie was kept only for driving back and forth. They were, in essence, a prop for the dude ranch. As such, they might well have used bovines of any breed.

[FluffyBob]

I had the impression the cow was K.D.'s pet, though I can not find a reference to it.

K.D. is from ranch country, she grew up in a small redneck town. I would be very surprised if she did not know her basic cattle breeds. I admired her courage to do what she did. Not a popular sentiment in rural Alberta.
And … what use would a dairy cow be on a range or big ranch? Those things need to be milked. I have seen a Holstein used on an Angus ranch to provide for calves that for whatever reason weren’t getting milk from their mothers.

[jbaker]

People do in fact eat dairy cattle, so it is not really ignorant to urge them not to eat Guernseys. What do you think happens to the bulls (to the extent not used for breeding) and to those that do not produce enough milk?

[yabob]

@jbaker

People do in fact eat dairy cattle, so it is not really ignorant to urge them not to eat Guernseys. What do you think happens to the bulls (to the extent not used for breeding) and to those that do not produce enough milk?

Bull calves from dairy operations in the US are sometimes slaughtered as veal. Most US veal is from dairy calves, though veal isn’t that big a market. Dried up old milk cows often become hamburger - Cecil quoted this statement from McDonalds in a 1992 column:

McDonald’s hamburgers are 100 percent pure domestic beef without fillers or seasonings. To maintain our customers’ expectations and preference for lean, flavorful hamburgers, we carefully select fine cuts of grain fed beef and leaner cuts from dairy cattle. This is a typical combination for quality ground beef. More importantly, we have found that this combination results in a flavorful hamburger that also has a significantly lower percentage of fat (20 percent) than the government limits (30 percent).

“leaner cuts from dairy cattle” = dried up old milk cows.

Back in rural PA, I remember a few people who weren’t farmers but had a little space raising a single Holstein steer for their own use as beef. Most dairy farmers would be happy to sell them a bull calf, and would probably castrate it for them into the bargain. The dairy farmers didn’t keep the bull calves and I don’t think they got much for them normally.

Very few dairy bulls are going to be maintained for breeding. The dairy farmers I knew didn’t keep a bull - obviously, some existed somewhere, but your average dairy farmer simply got visits from the artificial breeder’s coop. I’ve also heard something mentioned in another thread - bulls from dairy breeds tend to have exceptionally mean dispositions.

[cornflakes]

@jbaker

Although the Texas longhorn was an important breed during the great cattle drives of the 19th century, I don’t think it’s significant any more. Beef cattle are more likely to be Angus.

I’ve heard that longhorns were used on the open range and for cattle drives because they could live in the wild and would actually put on weight during a drive. I’d guess that it was more due to natural selection. “Better” breeds didn’t thrive on the open range, or at least they didn’t live as long.

Longhorns are just a boutique breed these days, thanks to fencing. Other breeds produce better meat, and more of it.

[kenobi_65]

@yabob

I’ve also heard something mentioned in another thread - bulls from dairy breeds tend to have exceptionally mean dispositions.

Indeed. My wife’s family has a herd of Jersey milk cattle. The cows are sweet-tempered as can be. The bulls are terrible, and so, the family rarely keeps them. They had one prize-winning bull, but wound up getting rid of him after he nearly killed my wife’s great-uncle.