Beef Flashcards
What are some differences between beef and dairy cattle?
- different in purpose, genetics, and management
What are 3 goals of beef production?
- to produce safe and healthy food for human consumption that is high in nutrient value
- to ensure animal health and well being, environmental sustainability, and social responsibility through good animal husbandry
- to have an economically viable industry that enables producers to maintain the farming lifestyle
What are the 2 species of beef cattle?
- bos taurus
- bos indicus (zebu)
Describe Angus cattle.
- british breed
- most common
- comes in red or black
- polled
- good moms, high carcass quality
What is polled?
- genetically do not have horns
Describe Simmental cattle.
- continental breed
- dual purpose: good muscle and milk
- ‘blaze face’
- have horizontal bands of white across withers, less white on chest, bigger fluffier ears compared to Herefords
Describe Hereford cattle.
- british breed
- polled or horned lines
- hardy and docile
- prone to cancer eye, pinkeye, and uterine prolapse
Describe Charolais cattle.
- continental breed
- purebreds are white, cross are tan or grey
- great muscling, excellent terminal cross
What are some other common beef breeds in Canada?
- Limousin
- Gelbvieh
- Shorthorn
- Speckled Park
- Blonde D’aquitaine
- Maine Anjou
- Salers
What is the most common breed of beef cow?
- commercial crossbred mammas
- often Angus x Hereford x Simmental
What are 3 different colourings of crossbred beef cattle?
- black white face (BWF)
- Brockle face
- red white face (RWF)
Describe the cycle of cow-calf operations.
- calving season
- ‘branding’ or spring processing (vaccs, ID, castration)
- summer pasture
- bulls join herd
- breeding season
- separate bull from herd
- weaning + pre check
- calves leave herd
- overwintering
- move to calving pasture
- REPEAT
What is the purpose of pulling the bulls from the herd?
- to ensure a finite calving season (usually Jan - June)
What is a seedstock cow-calf operation?
- sell breeding stock
- usually purebreds
- high genetic merit and registered cattle
- utilize advanced technology
- usually calve Jan-March and keep detailed records to generate EPDs
- sell stock, semen, and embryos through private treaty or annual production sales
What is an EPD?
estimated progeny difference
What is a commercial cow-calf operation?
- sell calves to be fed out
- purebreds or crossbreds
- usually not registered
- usually pasture bred
- usually calve March-June
- usually sell stock through auction or direct to feedlot
What are feeder calves?
- calves weaned at 6-8 months, 250-400kg and she to the feedlot to be finished on a grain based diet
What is backgrounding?
Feeding calves at a more moderate plane of nutrition largely forage based, either on pasture or in a backgrounding lot, before sending them to finish at a feedlot
What are feeder yearlings?
- calves that were backgrounded before entry to the feedlot; usually 12-18 months old up to 450kg
What are fat cattle?
- cattle that have reached slaughter weight
- heifers at 600kg, steers at 675kg
What are replacement heifers?
Female calves selected to become breeding stock, bred to calve for the first time at 24 months
What are breeding bulls?
Intact males used for breeding; usually 1:20-35 cows
What are cull replacements?
Animals that were intended for breeding stock but got culled
What is culling?
the selective removal of animals from the herd
How are cull replacements and feeder calves/yearlings different in terms of quality?
- yes, carcass quality and feedlot efficiency will be less for replacement culls than feeder calves
What are cull cows/bulls?
- animals removed from the breeding herd either because of age, production, reproductive failure, or to make room for new genetics
What is the average number of head per farm for Canada, and AB?
Canada 147
AB 233
What does a beef vet do?
- primary care (sick animals, obstetrical interventions, other medical)
- herd health (preg check, breeding soundness evaluation, protocol design)
- investigations (disease outbreak, poor productivity, opportunities for improvement)
What are the 3 main roles of the vet?
- promote health, well-being, and productivity of the individual and the herd
- protect food safety and public health
- link with nutritionists, agronomists to optimize profitability
