The Sliding Scale of Sustainability in Dairy

Will Dairy Beef Gain Momentum?

Ask just about any panel of experts in the cattle or dairy industries and they’ll tell you the buzzword, sustainability, is far from a fixed metric that can be applied to any sector of agriculture with predictable results. No, sustainability math is actually more of a sliding scale with fluctuating metrics that account for some pretty unique variables. 

Is sustainability as a mega-trend doing damage or propelling positive change? Let’s look at the dairy beef example to speculate.

Crossbreeding dairy cows with beef cattle has grown into mainstream practice with dairy farmers creating a variety of market options from the get-to. But what about just straight dairy meat as an option on the steakhouse menu? Or, available in its own dairy beef section of the grocery store?

Are Consumers Demanding Sustainability?

We know consumer demand drives food supply decisions. In the 1980s, consumers favored poultry over beef and that trend contributed to a consolidation effect in the cattle industry. When E. Coli became an issue in the 1990s consumer fears shaped food safety policy and the day to day operations of the meat packing industry. When the keto craze hit beef made a comeback and when Covid-19 rocked supply chains producers reexamined the durability of their methods. 

Today, sustainability has grown into a prominent factor for consumer purchasing decisions. According to a January poll, 78% of consumers place importance on sustainably raised or manufactured products and 55% of consumers are willing to pay more for them. The trend is strong and products with  sustainable labeling or or branding are growing 2.7 times faster than conventional items.

Will the Dairy Beef Trend Last?

For the dairy industry, this means cows that once held little value could suddenly become premium products. Consumers appear to be increasingly willing to change what they eat and where they buy it from if they feel like they are contributing to protecting the environment.  As a result, premium priced cuts of culled dairy cows are popping up on restaurant menus across the U.S. dairy cows who previously ended their milking careers by being shipped off to a processing plant and used in dog food are finding their way to grassy pastures until they are served up on fancy plates in high end establishments.

Could the rise in dairy beef revolutionize the dairy industry as we know it? Naysayers who already believe crossbreeding jerseys with angus will hurt the dairy industry in the long run roll their eyes at popularizing restaurant dishes that highlight dairy meat. The process of raising cows for both milk and beef production could do more damage to an industry that has been battered by consumer fads. 

From a farm to market perspective, the shorter the turnaround time the better. Adding days to the life of livestock typically means added feed and care expenses for farmers. Even chefs admit working with dairy beef in a way that appeals to consumer palates is a time consuming process for them as well. They have difficulty selling the entire animal as menu items and tenderizing even prime cuts is more involved than traditional angus beef. Premium pricing then reflects the time and inputs on both the part of the farmer and the chef; and of course the knowledge that the meal one is about to eat came from an animal that lived to the full extent of its life cycle never being a drain to resources. Demand for milk has ebbed and flowed, but never disappeared.  Rather than create new income opportunities, dairy farmers who make decisions that favor meat production over milk could jeopardize the stability of their operations.

Sustainability mantras have given way to opportunities that never seemed feasible before. Finding dairy brisket on a menu is just one of the many sustainably focused ideas testing consumer waters and committed to building new markets. If we are talking about a cow that produced milk for eight years being sold at the end of its life for bottom dollar to possibly be used as dog food, then changing the end of life process into one that created more value nutritionally, financially and environmentally seems like a no brainer.

Fans of the dairy beef strategy maintain that the cow is alive anyway for as long as it produces milk. While dairy farmers work to minimize environmental footprints on their end, what happens to cows after they are done producing milk is merely a bonus. If the post milking portion of their life becomes more valuable than dairy farmers stand to create a new income opportunity.  With chefs hard at work transforming consumer palates, dairy beef could grow into its own sector of agriculture.

Finding the Happy Medium

Experts in both the beef and dairy industries argue their sectors are already sustainable.  The United States leads the way in efficiency by producing 18% of the world's beef with just 6% of the world’s cattle. With 90% of the food cows consume comprised of forage that humans cannot digest, the meat and milk produced are calories and nutrients we couldn’t extract without livestock. By some definitions that is sustainability. Approximately 29% of the U.S. is not suitable for crop production, but is grazable land for cows. 

Genetics, nutrition science, automated technologies and resource management strategies continue to shave off wasteful aspects of the dairy industry. In fact, according to ranchers, genetic specialists and processors, it's an exciting time to be in an industry. Herds can be raised to meet very specific environmental, nutritional and sustainability needs. 

Currently there are only ten to fifteen restaurants regularly serving dairy beef meals with each restaurant using two to three cows per week. The impact on the dairy industry at large is lower than minimal. Most of these restaurants are purchasing cows directly from a dairy farm which takes one of two forms. If a restaurant purchases the whole cow then they absorb the entire cost of processing and butchering. If they opt to purchase only the cuts they desire then the burden of butchering and boxing falls back on the dairy farm. 

At what point does the process require too many inputs to be labeled sustainably sourced? Could dairy beef have a positive impact on a small scale? It will likely create a great opportunity for a handful of farms and restaurants in the right place looking for ways to produce less waste in their supply chain.  Will it revolutionize the dairy industry? Probably not.