Beef Industry Flashcards
Agriculture contributes what percent of the US GNP?
17.5%
Of all the receipts from agriculture, how much is attributed to beef cattle?
1/5
Of all animal agriculture, what percent is from the beef industry?
40-45%
Cattle and calves rank in the top 5 commodities of _______ of the 50 states.
32
How many cattle operations are in the US?
788,000
How many beef operations are in the US?
727,906
How many dairy cow operations are in the US?
60,000 (<4% from 2010)
Total herd (beef and dairy) in the US as of 2015?
92 million head
Feedlot inventory of US as of 2015?
10.7 million head
US has less than ____ percent of the world’s cattle inventory but produces almost ____ percent of the world’s beef supply.
10, 25
Beef is the #1 food source of ____, ____, and ____.
Protein, vitamin B12, zinc.
Beef is the #3 food source of ____.
Iron
$1 in cattle sales generates approximately how much in additional business activity?
$5
Cattle consume less than ____ of 1% of all water in the US.
0.2
Cattle outnumber humans in what states?
Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
Cattle by products are used for what?
Leather, gelatin, adhesive, laundry and dish soap, cosmetics, contact lenses cleaner, antifreeze, lubricant, tires, toilet paper, candles, crayons, and ink.
Cattle contribute to more than 100 medicines including what?
Collagen, cortisol, estrogen, glucagen, heparin, insulin, pancreatin, thrombin.
Why are beef cattle so influential?
Utilize resources otherwise wasted.
Land-grass is harvested by cattle and converted to protein.
1.2 billion acres of ag land–2/3 is grazing land.
Waste from ag crops used–corn stalks, stubble.
Food by-products–distillers, cannery waste, sugar beet pulp, citrus pulp, blood meal.
Can be managed extensively or intensively.
“Chattel” or “capitale” meant what?
Wealth or property.
Cattle was synonymous for what?
All domestic species.
Cattle in the US was used for?
Draft and milk. Value on longevity and strength.
Spanish cattle: ?
British cattle: ?
Continentals: ?
What is the big challenge today with beef?
Longhorns
Shorthorns, Herefords, Angus
Charolais, Simmental, Limousin
CONSISTENCY of the product.
What allows the number of cattle (92 million head) to produce the same amount of meat per year as they did in 1975 with 132 million head?
Genetics, nutrition, management.
Demand for beef (per capita) is ____________ since 1976. Quality and lower cost alternatives are the major challenges (such as?)
Declining. Chicken.
What are the annual cash receipts of 2015?
$76.6 billion
US beef exports in 2015 of
$5.4 billion
Top beef export countries?
Canada, Mexico, Korea, Japan.
They’re getting the cuts we don’t eat much of.
States with the most cattle as of 2015
Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, California, Oklahoma.
States with the most cattle farms as of 2015
Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Tennessee.
KY and Tennessee have small head counts but most farms.
Cattle species
Bovine; Bos taurus or Bos indicus
What is a bull?
Intact male bovine
What is a cow?
Female bovine that has calved.
What is a steer?
Castrated male bovine.
What is a heifer?
Female bovine that has NOT calved.
What is a stag?
Male bovine castrated after sexual maturity.
What is calving
The act of a bovine giving birth (parturition)
What is a calf?
Young bovine that hasn’t reached sexual maturity.
Gestation of bovine?
283-285 days.
Estrus cycle of bovine?
21 days. Cycles year round.
Calf birth weights?
82-85 pounds.
Mature bull weights
1,800-3,000+ pounds.
Mature cow weights
900-1,800+ pounds.
Calf weaning weight
Ideally, 50% of cow’s weight at 205 days (7 months)
Bull and heifer age at puberty
8-12 months
Heifer calving for the first time should be how old?
2 years old
Dystocia means?
Calving problems.
Harvest weight of market steers/heifers?
1,300 pounds.
Age at harvest?
15-18 months
Average daily gain in the feed yard?
3-3.5 pounds/day.
Feed conversion?
5 pounds of feed/1 pound of gain.
Cattle will eat what percent of their body weight in grain per day?
Cattle will drink how many gallons of water per day?
2-3%
5-10 gallons.
Average life span of a cow?
8-12 years.
Breakeven cost to keep a replacement heifer is how many years?
Annual cost to maintain a cow?
6
$1.50+ per day.
What are the sections of the industry?
Seedstock, commercial cow/calf operations, AI Stud, stocker/backgrounder, feedlot, slaughtered and packaging houses, and freezer beef/value-added
What cross breeds are very common? Which are the “mommas” and which are the bulls they’re bred to?
Resulting calves are called what?
British X Continental
British blood cattle are generally the mommas.
F1 hybrids. May be considered terminal crosses as the calves are all marketed for beef.
Over 40 breeds are used in the US. Many crosses have created many different phenotypes. This results in what issue?
Quality. A uniform product is difficult to get across all breeds and combinations (quality and yield grades).
Given rise to branded beef–Angus, Hereford, Limousin, Laura’s Lean, KeyLite, etc.
Calf born every ____ months.
Each cow must be safe in calf within how many days of calving?
Calving and the first ____ months of ______ are most critical for beef cow/calf producers.
12 months.
85 days
2 months of lactation
What percent of beef cows are bred AI?
15-20%
Pros and cons of spring calving
Pros: getting ready to move into lush green grass–don’t have to spend as much money on feed. Row crop farmers are not worried about planting. Flies aren’t an issue. You know you’ll get a decent market for your calves
Cons: supply and demand. It’s cold, need to have facilities necessary to calve. Most people calve in the spring.
Fall calving pros/cons
Pros: Warmer. Markets higher bc there’s not a supply of them. Weather is usually decent during calving time.
Cons: bc it’s warmer flies and parasites are problematic. Grass dies out. Dealing with mud.
What percentage of cows are calved in the spring vs fall?
60-65% spring
35-40% fall
Quality grades are
Prime, choice, select, standard. A (9-30 months old), B (30-42 months old)
Yield grades are
1-5
1 being very lean and heavy muscled. 5 being very fat and light muscled.
Consumer demand (beef grading)?
Low Choice, Yield grade 2
1,250-1,400 pound live weight.
Grain (corn) fed beef cs Grass fed beef
Grass fed beef: raised more humanely. No antibiotic chemicals. Health benefit. Different flavor profile. Difficult to get good marbling.
Grain fed: tastes better. Feed efficient. Less time to feed out.
Dressed weight is what?
Which is the most produced quality grade?
Which is the most produced yield grade?
Carcass weight.
Choice
2 and 3.
Two challenges in the beef industry are
Public perception and consumer satisfaction.
