The age at which most steer are slaughtered for meat is between 30 to 42 months.
That's right the steer is not very old before it gets slaughtered so the steer does not get to live very long after it's born when the steer is being raised for slaughter.
The younger the steer the better the quality of meat but the steer has to be at least 30 to 42 months of age before they can be old enough and big enough and fat enough for slaughter.
During that time the steer is fed so that it grows at a faster rate than normal.
Because the steer needs to be fattened up enough to make enough meat production to sell to the stores after slaughter.