Beef Flashcards
(30 cards)
How many in texas
13.86 million
Top state
- Texas
U.S. Total
96.05 million
The most widely produced and tends to be less expensive. The cattle spend most of their lives eating grass in a pasture before moving to a feedlot where they are fed a high-energy, grain diet.
Grain-fed Beef
The cattle are raised on grass pastures their entire lives. Producing in large volumes is difficult in North America where few regions have the growing season to make it possible.
Grass-finished Beef
The cattle must be fed ___ organic feed and must be certified through the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing System. In addition, these cattle can not be given hormones to promote growth or antibiotics. If antibiotics are needed they are not withheld but the animal must be permanently removed from the program.
100%
The cattle must be fed 100% organic feed and must be certified through the USDA’s ______________. In addition, these cattle can not be given hormones to promote growth or antibiotics. If antibiotics are needed they are not withheld but the animal must be permanently removed from the program.
Agricultural Marketing System
The cattle must be fed 100% organic feed and must be certified through the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing System. In addition, these cattle can not be given _______ to promote growth or ______. If antibiotics are needed they are not withheld but the animal must be permanently removed from the program.
Hormone- antibiotics
- Ranchers produce the cattle for the stocker market or feedlot (commercial operations) or other breeding herds (purebred operations).
Cow-calf
– Raises calves until they weigh 900 to 1,400 pounds and market them to packer operations.
Feedlot
– Ranchers graze weaned calves until they weigh as much as 900 pounds, and then market them to the feedlots.
Stocker
Each year, over ___ million calves are born on more than ___ cow-calf operations in Texas.
5-130,000
The nearly 1 million beef cattle operations in the United States produce over ___ pounds of beef which generates about___in retail beef sales.
24 billion- $80 billion
Beef production per cow has increased from about ___ pounds in the mid-1960s to almost ___
pounds today.
400-600
Myth: Beef production uses outrageous amounts of water, feed and land that should be used for something else. Truth: It takes 2.6 pounds of grain and 435 gallons* of water to produce a pound of beef in the U.S. ___% of the nation’s grazing lands are not suitable for farming. Cattle eat forages that humans cannot consume and convert them into a nutrient-dense food.
85
Cattle have a ___-month gestation period.
nine
Calves are weaned from cows at ___ months of age.
six to 10
According to the USDA, there are about ___ fixed auction facilities in the United States.
815
Weanling cattle are typically “backgrounded” in stocker cattle operations before going to a feedlot at __-__months of age
12-18
Cattle spend ___-___ months in a feedlot.
4-6
Feedlot pens typically allow about ___-___ square feet of room per animal. Rations are ___-___ percent grain
125 to 250
70 to 90
Cattle are usually slaughtered at ___to ___months of age and weigh between ___-___pounds.
18-20
1,100 and 1,250
_______ (passed in ___ and updated in ________) dictates strict animal
handling and slaughtering standards for packing plants.
The Humane Slaughter Act
1958
1978 and 2002
Myth: Beef production uses outrageous amounts of water, feed and land that should be used for something else. Truth: It takes 2.6 pounds of grain and ___ gallons* of water to produce a pound of beef in the U.S. 85% of the nation’s grazing lands are not suitable for farming. Cattle eat forages that humans cannot consume and convert them into a nutrient-dense food.
435
