You would. Once the ox got too old to do useful work. (or injured) That’s what happened to old work horses, too. As well as to old milk cows. Of course meat from old animals tends to be of lower quality, so this tended to be sold off relatively cheap and often provided the only affordable meat for poor people.
Horses are animals for doing work, not eating. You wouldn’t slaughter a trained ox either.
Zebra is the solution.
Zebra are assholes. They can’t be trained or domesticated. Their meat is delicious, and I delight in eating it. I get why lions love them.
But I would sooner spend $20K at the vet on a horse than eat one.
You would. Once the ox got too old to do useful work. (or injured) That’s what happened to old work horses, too. As well as to old milk cows. Of course meat from old animals tends to be of lower quality, so this tended to be sold off relatively cheap and often provided the only affordable meat for poor people.
Yeah, but that ain’t no staple. That’s something special you get every few years. You don’t have many oxens
Meat never was a staple food for large parts of the population in most places until relatively recent.