For eons cows and oxen have served us their bodies, either as beasts of burden or as steak.  To say they have made an impact on world history is an understatement.  They will be forever entwined with our culture and will hold a special spot in the hearts of those who care for and raise them, not simply for meat but for dairy as well.

This is ol’ Bessie at her finest, who can resist those lovely soft eyes and wet little muzzle.  These guys are very docile and gentle to family members who are kind to them, and good specimens will produce up to seven gallons of milk and cream per day.  Their milk has the highest content of butter fat.   They come from the Isle of Jersey, in the English Chanel off the coast of Britain, and are small, only ranging eight to twelve hundred pounds at the largest.

This is the mother milk producer of them all, one cow can produce twenty six thousand liters of product in their lifetime.  A full grown Holstein cow is around seventeen hundred pounds or better, and stands four and a half feet tall at the shoulder, and they are the typical black and white color we associate cows with.  They came to the US in about 1830, and can be traced to Dutch ancestry, specifically the northern part of Holland which is where the majority of the selective breeding took place.

This guy just makes you want a nice fat rib eye for dinner.  Smaller and more efficient eaters, these guys rock the meat category in quality.  Black skin and solid color make these guys hardy and immune to sunburn.    They are naturally polled, meaning they have no horns, and they originated in Scotland, referred to there as Angus Doddies.

The red and white cattle you see all over the country.  These cattle excel at producing a great deal of meat.   They come from Herefordshire England, and they sport docile temperaments as well as excellent mothering instincts.  They were brought to the US by well known politician Henry Clay.   They come in polled (hornless) varieties due to a genetic mutation within the breed.

Everyone knows this breed; they are famous from movies and westerns that span the generations.  Docile, intelligent, I have seen them trained to ride like horse, though I cannot imagine it is a smooth ride.  They are America’s oldest breed, and provide a very lean meat.  These cattle have been surviving for centuries on little more than weeds and sweat.