Russ, no matter what the cross they are still 50% dairy calves. They are not 100% beef breed calves even though many of them are sufficiently black.

I have no problem with the dairyman making money on bull calves, Heaven knows those folks have earned it.

But 50% dairy calves, even stuffed with corn, are just different than 100% beef breed calves. 

Dairy breeds have been bred for many years to give milk.

Buyers at sales are generally good at picking out the 50% dairy steers.

I'm just thinking that a 100% beef breed steer should bring a bit more than a 50% beef breed steer at a sale.

FWIW we have a local WI supper club that has on the menu that their burgers are CHB (Certified Hereford Beef) which generally excludes any dairy influence and that burger is out-of-this-world delicious. I understand Sysco, a large local supplier to restaurants, sells a lot of CHB.

edited to add:

Comparing a high-producing Holstein dairy cow to one of my Hereford cows and they just look completely different. For example my cow #88 on the left in the picture below: I don't have a good pic of a Holstein cow but most folks here don't need a pic to see the difference.

(PXL_20240202_143402566 cow 88 (full).jpg)

PXL_20240202_143402566 cow 88 (full).jpg (187KB - 57 downloads)