Transcript Beef Cattle Industry

Beef Cattle Industry
Beef cattle industry produces more than
45% of total cash receipts from all
livestock products
 Decline in consumption of beef is linked to
a drop in the beef supply and increasing
prices for beef because people think it is
high in cholesterol
 Very little beef is imported or exported out
of the US
 Texas and Kansas make up 50% of the
feedlots
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The demand for beef depends on:
the # of people
 income per person
 changes in people’s meat preferences
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Advantages for raising beef:
beef use roughages for feed that would be
wasted
 low labor requirements
 small capital investment
 low death losses
 beef adapt for use in small and large
operations
 high demand for meat
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Disadvantages:
cattle feeding is a high risk business
 not efficient converters of concentrated
feeds into meat
 takes longer to
increase herd
 high capital
investment
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3 types of beef cattle production
systems:
cow-calf producers
 purebred breeders
 cattle feeders
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Desirable conformation of beef
animals:
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long, trim, deep-sided body
no excess fat on the brisket, foreflank, or
hindflank
no extra hide around the throat, dewlap, or
sheath
heavily muscled forearm
proper height to the point of the shoulder
correct muscling
maximum development of the round, rump, loin,
and rib
Ultrasonics:
use of high-frequency sound waves to
measure fat thickness and loin-eye area
 use when selecting breeding animals
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Performance testing records are
used to:
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cull low-producing cows
check % calf crop
select replacement cattle
measure bull productivity
improve herd management
improve the grade of calves produced
increase weaning weight
give buyers more information
provide permanent records
Pedigree:
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record of the ancestors of an animal
EPD (Expected Progeny
Difference):
measure of the degree of difference
between the progeny of the bull and the
progeny of the average bull of the breed
in the trait being measured
 usually given in a + or – value
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Feeding Cattle:
Typical roughages: pasture, hay, silage, straw,
corncobs, and other crop residue
 Corn Silage: widely used as a roughage feed for
beef herds
 Alfalfa: most common roughage in Midwest and
West
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Coastal Bermuda grass: more common in
southern coastal states
 Native range grass: utilized in western
states
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Feeding Cattle Cont.
Less common roughages:
 Oats straw, barley straw, and wheat straw
Cottonseed hulls, peanut hulls, oat hulls, rice hulls
Grasses for pasture hay:
 Fescue, orchard grass, reed canary grass, smooth brome
grass, Kentucky, bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, timothy,
redtop, Bahia, dallies, and Sudan.
Feeding Cattle Cont.
Legumes: red clover, alsike clover, sercea,
lespedeza, peanut hay, sweat clover,
cowpeas, soybean hay
 Roughages provide the cheapest source of
energy
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