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

The demand for beef depends on: the # of people income per person changes in people’s meat preferences

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

Disadvantages: cattle feeding is a high risk business not efficient converters of concentrated feeds into meat takes longer to increase herd high capital investment

3 types of beef cattle production systems: cow-calf producers purebred breeders cattle feeders

Desirable conformation of beef animals: 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

Performance testing records are used to: 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: 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

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

Coastal Bermuda grass: more common in southern coastal states Native range grass: utilized in western states

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