Beef Flashcards
How many cattle are there in Australia?
29.3 million as of 2013.
12.8 in Qld, then NSW, Vic, NT, WA, SA and Tas.
Roughly 2.6million grainfed cattle slaughtered annually (30% of adult population).
How much beef and veal does Australia produce?
2.5 million tonnes cwt.
$7.7 billion to the economy.
How many beef cattle properties are there in Aus? How many people are involved in these?
76, 807 properties.
200,000 people involved.
Where do the majority of Australian beef exports go?
25.2% to Japan.
24% to USA - trim cuts (patties) and grass fed premium products.
14.5% to China.
Korea, Middle East, Indo, Taiwan.
Which country has seen massive growth recently in terms of buying of Australian beef?
China.
Wasn’t even shown on pie chart before 2013-14.
Where do the majority of live cattle exports go from Australia?
Indonesia 55.1% Vietnam 11.6% Israel 9.5% China 8.3% Malaysia 4.9% Russia 4.4% Philippines 1.7% Japan 1% Other 3.4%
What are the top 10 beef producing countries?
USA, Brazil, EU, China, India, Argentina, Australia, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia
What are the top 10 world beef exporters?
Brazil, India, Australia, USA, NZ, Uruguay, Paraguay, Canada, EU, Belarus.
Discuss China’s role in the current beef market.
Very large potential market.
Middle class chinese already size of entire US population (300mil.).
Urban beef consumption 6kg, rural is 3kg.
Australia is one of their main exporters.
Discuss Australia’s domestic beef market.
Single largest market.
30% of domestic trades.
30.9kg of beef consumed per person per year.
Discuss the live export trade of Australia.
Unique to northern Australia (>70% of trade, remainder comes from dairy cows in southern states), largest live export market in the world.
Mostly bos indicus.
Describe the differences between northern cattle industries and southern.
Northern is mostly bos indicus compared to southern bos taurus. Different markets. Parasites - internal and external. Summer rainfall compared to winter rainfall and its amount and distribution. Pasture species and quality. Property sizes and number of cattle. Scale. Stocking rates.
What is the major limitation of beef cattle enterprises?
Country type - feedbase.
Affected by nutrition and rainfall.
Can only do so much with supplements and oestrous synchronisation.
Discuss the differences between nutrition in northern and southern systems.
Northern is still mostly shot gun approach. Protein in the dry/winter, P in wet/summer. Add balanced mineral supplement. Feed fertiliser. Good pasture is 12% protein and 60% digestibility.
Southern is higher productivity so specific deficiencies/toxicities are diagnosed (eg. Cu, Co, Se). Apply fertiliser to pastures. Good pasture is 25% protein and 80% digestibility (issues with bloat).
What are the profit drivers in Northern systems?
Low cost producers - focus on good nutrition to increase reproduction and genetics to increase branding rates, numbers of kg turned off/breeders joined and increased growth rates.
What are the profit drivers of southern systems?
Optimal stocking rate.
Low cost of production (
Define feedbase.
All pasture, forages, and crops directly grazed.
All conserved forages and all purchased feed (grain or forage).
Provides all of the energy needed for the production system.
Describe the feed supply curve commonly seen in areas around South West Slopes.
Peaks at 70kg DM/ha/d in October, rapidly decreases to 10-20kg in December. Remains low until march where it increases over April to 30kg before another slight dip and then increase from August up to October.
How can we manipulate the feedbase supply?
Fertiliser and irrigation. Conserve forage. Grow different forages, summer vs winter active. Manage grazing. Purchase fodder, feed supplements.
What is the cheapest form of feed and how does it compare to other forms?
Pasture - $100t DM, 10c/kg
Silage - $120-$200t DM
Grain - $180-$350t DM
Purchased hay - $180-$300t DM
How can we manipulate feed demand?
Change the production system Calving time Weaning time Trading cattle Supply supplements (change demand on pasture).
What is the most limiting factor when it comes to production?
Energy, it is the basis of all production.
Protein isn’t all that important as long as energy is sufficient, same goes for major minerals.
What is the ME requirement of a lactating cow?
@120MJME/day
What is critical mating weight (CMW)?
Average weight of a group of heifers at which about 85% would conceive from a 45 day mating.
60-65% BW, heifers to calve at 2 years.
British breeds 280-300kg
European breeds/bos indicus 300-320kg
How do you calculate CMW?
CMW = 0.6 x expected mature weight
Example; expected mature weight of Angus heifer = 515kg, therefore CMW = 0.6 x 515 = 310kg.
At what weight are heifers and steers usually weaned?
@200kg
What is ADG and how do you calculate it?
Average daily gain.
(Mature weight - weaning weight)/number of days
What are the Key Decision Points (KDP) for heifer growth?
Weaning
Yearling weight (3-4months before joining)
Depends on the system
What are the KDP’s for cow condition?
Calving
Weaning
Joining
Where are cattle marketed?
Weaner sales, feedlots, slaughter, re-stocker (breeding cattle), trade cattle, live cattle.
What are some unique market specifications?
MSA
CAAB (angus), Hereford True - both breed specific markets.
Discuss MSA.
Meat Standards Australia.
Auditable system from farm to consumer. Producers receive accreditation. Carcasses are graded and feedback is provided.
What is the purpose of breeding objectives?
Sets the genetic direction for a breeding herd.
Needs to be SMART - specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timely.
What should you base your breeding objectives on?
Market specifications and operation limitations - can young cattle grow fast enough, can nutrition support the fertility target?
List 9 steps that can be used to implement a successful breeding program.
- List traits of economic importance.
- List future customers requirements.
- List future herd production targets.
- List herds current performance.
- List breeding goals.
- Choose an appropriate breeding system to achieve your goals.
- List your criteria for selecting replacement bulls.
- Prioritise the selection criteria.
- Apply patience and consistency in implementing your breeding program.
What does selection criteria allow?
Allows specific traits to be identified with objective measurements. eg. Temperament and fertility.
Name some tools that are available to help select animals.
Breedplan - genetic selection Structural assessment Live animal assessment Marker assisted selection Genomics
Discuss Breedplan.
Modern genetic evaluation system for beef cattle.
Uses Best Linear Unbiased Prediction model (BLUP).
Estimated breeding values - weight, fertility/calving, carcass, other.
What are some EBV’s?
Weight - birth, milk, 200d, 400d, 600d, mature.
Fertility/Calving - Gestation length, days to calving, scrotal size, calving ease.
Carcass - Eye muscle area, fat depth, retail beef yield, intramuscular fat, carcass weight, shear force.
Other - docility, net feed intake, structural soundness, flight time.
Discuss the accuracy of EBV’s.
<50% = preliminary, calculated based on very little information, can change substantially with more information.
50-74% - medium accuracy, calculated based on animals own performance and some limited pedigree information.
75-90% - Medium to high accuracy, calculated based on animals own performance coupled with the performance for a small number of the animals progeny.
More than 90% - High accuracy estimate of the animals true breeding value, unlikely that the EBV will change considerably with addition of more progeny data.
What are selection indexes?
Economic weightings of EBVs – eg. $ net profit per cow mated.
True or false, milk as an EBV trait is considered to be genetically independent of all other traits.
True
True or false, correlations exist between calving ease traits and underlying maternal traits for birth weight and gestation length.
True
What is the correlation between birth weight and growth?
Low birth weights can be associated with lower growth, particularly at 200days.
What does a live animal assessment involve?
- Raw data – influenced by environment
- Muscle Score
- Fat score
- Liveweight
- Scrotal circumference
What important factors should you consider when establishing a breeding system?
- What type of system will suit your breeding objectives – understand what the producer is trying to achieve.
- Straight bred/cross bred/composites
What are composite breeds?
- Stabilized cross-breds
* Eg. Santa gertrudis, drought master
Discuss the advantages of breeding straight bred herds?
- Herds can be self replacing
- Simple management
- Even lines of animals
- Cull females can be used in other breeding systems