Transcript Beef Cattle Introduction - Faculty Website Listing

WHERE BEEF CATTLE LIVE
IN TEXAS
Scientific Classification of Cattle
Bos Taurus
Bos Indicus
The place of the beef cattle industry in U.S.
agriculture
The phrase “Beef is King”
The beef industry is the single largest money-generating
commodity in agriculture
The gross annual income from U.S. beef
This $35 billion amounts
Cattle and calves rank in the top 5 commodities for
32 of the 50 states
The USA produces over 20% of the world’s beef
and veal
Purpose of the Beef Cattle Industry in the US
The purpose of the beef cattle industry in the
United States
- Protein supply
- Grass utilization into protein
- Vast amounts of crop wastes and food
byproducts utilized
Beef have other advantages
- they are rugged and adaptable
- they can be fed excess grain
Cattle are the most numerous, most
widely distributed, and most important
of all the livestock species
Historical Perspective
Probably domesticated by 6500 B.C.
Historical look at U.S. cattle
Numbers
- notice the cyclic ups and downs of the numbers
in that figure
- the cycles are roughly 10-year cycles
Columbus brought cattle to the West Indies on
his second voyage in 1493.
- Cortez
- Spanish missionaries distributed cattle
across the American West
- By the middle of the 19th century
After World War II
Grain-fed beef
Refrigeration
Better fences/BLM land
A marketing revolution took place
A new industry segment
- during the 70’s- boxed beef
Consumer Demands
Beef cow numbers first exceeded dairy cow
numbers in 1954
Per capita demand for beef has been
declining since 1975
- quality issues began to plague the industry
- how the industry responds
STRUCTURE OF THE BEEF INDUSTRY
The various beef industry segments
- seedstock/purebred producers
- commercial cow-calf producers
- yearling or stocker operators
- the feedlot or finishing phase
Geographical location of beef cattle in the
U.S.
• Cow-calf production
– Beef cows are found near ???
– Stocker operations are drawn to ????
– Finishing cattle in feedlots is a major economic
importance
• Cattle are finished as secondary enterprises
• Over 95% of all cattle feeding is done in the twelve states
In simplest terms, two factors affect all the
economic traits in cattle
1) genetic progress is dependent on how
heritable the trait is
Tools are available to help producers make
genetic progress
- such practices as performance testing
(discuss bull test station), sire summaries
and EPD’s are examples
- seedstock producers and commercial cowcalf producers
Crossbreeding is the appropriate mating system of
choice for commercial cow-calf producers
- pounds of calf weaned per cow
- a big problem with the nation’s cowherd
- Crossbreeding is not fix all
The importations changed the face of the
American cattle industry since the 1970’s
- the British breeds had to make room for
European breeds
- commercial cows in the U.S.
- Not one perfect breed
2) Reproductive management in beef cattle
- the goal of breeding herds of beef cattle
Each calf should be born
- 85-90 days of calving season
- the cow must recover from calving, start her
heat cycle again, and conceive
- good management is absolutely essential if this
goal is to be reached
The estual cycle for a cow is 19-21 days and
the duration of estrus (heat) is usually 13-17
hours.
Net calf crop – number of calves weaned and
sold/number of Cows exposed
- it is the simplest and best way
Most beef cows are mated by natural service
- artificial insemination is more likely to be
used
Purebred or club calf situations
- approximately 15 to 20%
• Bulls should be evaluated before they are
used in a breeding program
- evaluation
- major factors of a breeding soundness
exam
- a bad bull can do tremendous damage
- his presence is felt for generations
- bull selection is more important than the
selection of any single female
Good records are essential to managing
reproductive issues in the cow herd
Nutrition in Beef Cattle
• Cattle are ruminants
Stocker feeding programs
- the first is to meet minimum requirements
of the calves
- the second is to graze calves on forage as
long as we can
Feedlots - use high quality feeds to bring
cattle to a suitable slaughter end point
- several types of feed programs
- Yet the endpoint is to produce beef that
will fit in the box and satisfy the consumer
A Steer is not all steak
Nutritional benefits to humans from beef
• Beef provides high proportions of the
recommended daily dietary allowance for
several nutrients.
• Beef is a nutrient dense food
– In light of the more recent medical findings
Trends in the beef cattle industry
The beef cattle industry is changing
Consumption
- market share
- consumption in the 90’s was fairly stable
- average per capita
expenditures for meat
- beef expenditures as a percentage of
total beef, pork and chicken
- the industry cannot survive indefinitely
under this trend
Nutrition and health consciousness
- beef is good food that is nutritious
-lean beef
- the problem is when beef is fat
- steps have been taken
- we trim and discard
- genetics
- cattle are being sent to market are
significantly leaner
- National Quality Beef Audit(s)
Convenient foods is also an issue related to
consumption
- beef doesn’t have enough good, convenience
foods
- three-fourths of the cooks
- beef must become more convenient
Exports. The export market for beef looks
bright for the long term
- exports have been increasing since the
early 1980’s
- the U.S. has been a net exporter of beef since
1991
- world-wide trade agreements
Food safety
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Food borne illnesses
Bovine Spongiform Encephalophathy (BSE)
Hormone implants and feed additives
Antibiotics
Environmental concerns
- in 1998, the U.S. EPA announced it would
increase the attention given to concentrated animal
feeding operations (CAFO)
- final rules
- you can bet this means more money added to the
cost of production
Industry Integration
- vertical cooperation, vertical coordination
and alliances
- it amounts to vertical integration