Skip to content

210 grazes in a wide field between two oak trees under a clear blue sky.

Guides

Dairy cows, from calf to table

How dairy cows live, what happens to their calves, where they go when they leave the herd, and how one was butchered, cured and cooked. Written from the making of 210, and sourced line by line.

01

The cow

How dairy cows live, from the first hours to leaving the herd.

A line of black-and-white Holstein Friesian cows walks along a wet concrete yard between farm buildings.

The life of a dairy cow, from calf to retirementBorn on the farm, in calf at two, milked through the year and out of the herd by about five. The life of a British dairy cow, and how 210’s ran longer.

A white-faced, red-and-white calf pushes its nose through the rails of a pen towards the camera.

Dairy calves: what happens to the calves of dairy cows?A cow has to calve to give milk. How dairy calves are reared, which ones join the herd, and how British farms changed what happens to bull calves.

210 stands alone in a dry autumn field beneath a large oak tree.

UK dairy cows in numbersHow many dairy cows Britain has, how much milk they give, how long they stay, and how 210 compares.

02

After the herd

Where retired dairy cows go, and whether they are worth eating.

Cows in silhouette against a deep blue sky before sunrise.

What happens to dairy cows when they stop milking?Most British dairy cows leave the herd young, and most of their meat becomes mince. The numbers, and one cow who went another way.

Looking straight up at dozens of salami hanging from a ceiling rack.

Can you eat a retired dairy cow? Ex-dairy beef explainedOld dairy cow is usually minced. Treated with patience, it can be steak, bresaola and salami. How 210 was hung, cured and cooked.

Sliced sous vide beef, pink edge to edge, on a wooden board on a garden table.

How to treat an old dairy cow like a prizeChoosing, ageing, butchering and cooking an old dairy cow: advice from the Swedish charcuterie started by Magnus Nilsson and chefs from Fäviken.

03

The butchery

One cow, taken apart by hand, cut by cut.

A butcher lifts a hindquarter of beef onto the block in a butcher’s shop while a second butcher points to the price boards.

Butchering a dairy cow, step by stepHow one retired dairy cow was taken apart by hand at a butcher’s shop: the quarters, the joints, the aged ribs, and what each part became. In photographs.

Eight raw sirloin steaks from 210, deep red with thick creamy fat, on a white tray.

210, cut by cut: what one retired dairy cow becameThe beef cuts drawn on 210 herself. Choose a cut to see what it became: the dinner, salami, bresaola, sausages or meat boxes.

A butcher’s hands work a knife through a joint of beef on a wooden block.

Beef cuts explained: where every cut comes from on a cowFifteen British beef cuts, drawn one at a time on the outline of 210, a retired dairy cow. Where each cut sits and how it is cooked.