1
Q
General Features of Beef Cattle
A
- highly adaptable
- limited agility
- gregarious social structure
- ruminants
- herbivorous
- promiscuous males (multiple females to one male)
- extroverted receptivity display by females
- precocial development of young (young grow up quickly because many behaviors are hardwired and don’t need to be learned)
2
Q
Production Stages
A
- breeding
- gestation
- calving
- weaning
- growing
- finishing
3
Q
Breeding
A
- mostly naturally (cow-calf op)
- 20-50 cows; bull inseminates females over time
- can also collect semen for AI in purebred ops
- rangeland: natural service
4
Q
Gestation
A
- mama cows and calves together on pasture until calves weaned at 400 lbs
5
Q
Weaning
A
- can put flap rings in calves’ nose that stops them when they try to get to teats
- in the past, used fenceline weaning – physical separation of cow and calf by fence, but very stressful for calf (vocalizing, separation anxiety)
6
Q
Beef Calves vs. Dairy Calves
A
- beef calves can stay with moms; dairy calves can’t
- likely bcs of microbial situation
- dairy: more manure contamination; higher stocking density
- beef: low stocking density on ranch; manure dispersed, so unlikely to lie down in feces and contact pathogens
7
Q
Cow Calf Operations in US
A
- 740,000 ops
- 50 mama cows and their calves on avg
8
Q
Feedlot Operations in US
A
- 1400 feedlots
- tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of cattle
- want to finish them
- prepare for slaughter by putting on IM fat, not SQ fat
- marbling of meat for flavor (higher marbling = higher grading)
9
Q
A
10
Q
Grading
A
- lowest level = select (burgers); least marbling
- then choice
- top level = prime (most marbling, lot of taste
11
Q
Meat Tenderness
A
- determined by muscle fibers and their age
- if animal fully marbled and young –> tender, high grade meat
- if bull 10 yo is slaughtered, muscle fibers thick –> tough meat
12
Q
Average Lifespan of Beef Cattle
A
- 14-16 mo
- animals still young –> tender
- animals fully marbled –> taste
13
Q
Grass- vs. Corn-Finished Beef
A
- both types spend 2/3 of their lives on pasture
- grass-finished are older because it takes them longer to grow (tougher meat)
- corn-finished beef has better taste, tenderness, appearance (fat looks white instead of yellow)
14
Q
Stocker Operations
A
- grow frame and muscle
- growing stage
- pasture
15
Q
Finishing
A
- feedlot
- intramuscular fat
- 80-90% concentrates (leads to change in marbling)
16
Q
Cow-Calf Operation
A
- seed stock (purebred breeding animals) or commercial ops that produce calves
17
Q
Background Operation
A
- growing calves on forage for placement in feedlot
18
Q
Stocker
A
- recently weaned calf grazing forage prior to feedlot entry
19
Q
Feedlot
A
- cattle fed a high energy finishing diet
- pretty concentrated in terms of animal numbers
- they choose to bunch up and not spread out, but they do have a lot of space in dirt floor corrals
20
Q
Range and Pasture Systems
A
- 2/3 of beef life on pasture, whether corn- or grass-finished
- 1/2 of CA land is grazing land, mostly for beef cattle
21
Q
Feedlot Systems
A
- corn-finished
- last 4 mo of life in feedlot
22
Q
Range and Pasture
A
- soil quality and climate determine forage grown
- wide range of conditions in CA; varies w/ season, pasture or range type, and stocking rate
- change in seasonal quality of forage will cause flux in body condition
- locally accepted standards of available forage and stocking rate should be considered
- grazing beef cattle should be provided w/ supplements for nutrients that are deficient in pasture and range forage
23
Q
Feedlot Systems
A
- intensive management systems
- indoors
- open lots w/ or w/out shelter
- vast majority
- dirt floor corrals
- 130 sq ft space allowance
- they don’t use that much space
- 100-200 animals per pen, generally bunched up
24
Q
Thermoregulation
A
- facilities should give cattle opportunity for behavioral thermoreg depending on local climate
- windbreaks, shade (dome-like structure best), mounds, roofed shelter –> for temp reg
- need shade to reduce heat stress, maintain feed intake, have higher grade of meat, and finish as fast as possible, as well as have lighter meat
- costs $18 per head to put in shade
- shade more common in western states
25
Manure
- manure pack is formed in dry lot corrals
- scraped out after animals leave feedlot in 4 months and sold
- 3% slope of dirt floor to avoid water accumulation
- rainwater directed to retention pond
- stocking density in pen: 100-200 cattle
26
Floor and Ground Area
- affected by type and slope of floor or soil surface, weather, group size, feeding method
27
Feedlot Diet
- 80-90% concentrate
- 10-20% roughage
- minerals, vitamins, etc.
28
Feedlot Feeding Process
- pick up trucks do bunk calls to see how much feed leftover
- feed trucks drive by pens and feed according to bunk call
- pen riders on horses check on horses for signs of injuries, disease, coughing, behavioral aggression/discomfort
29
Unwanted Behaviors
- steers and heifers riding each other - form of bullying
- dominance hierarchy behavior; bullying behavior
- animal being bullied is taken out of pen and put into bull-off pen
- sick animals brought to hospital pen, where vet oversight present if needed
30
Agnostic Behavior
- fighting out dominance
- injuries, causes dust-ups
- unwanted behavior
31
Slick Bunk System
- want bunk to be almost empty
- not a lot of feed leftover from day before, not wiped clean
- info from bunk call goes to feed driver
32
Dirt Floor Pens
- manure turns to dust during hot dry weather
- manure turns to mud during wet weather
- appropriate drainage, use mounds
- clean pens every 3-4 months
33
Nuisance
- condition that people might find objectionable
- gas production in feedlot systems might make neighbors complain
34
Dried Manure Dust
- animals step on dust, becomes airborne
- nuisance and unhealthy (airborne pathogens)
- need to prevent that dust/mud manure pack and limit manure runoff
35
Odors, Dust, and Flies
- driven by moisture
- more dry = more dust
- more wet = more odor
- more wet = more microbes (which generate odorous gases)
- flies only breed under ideal moisture conditions (20-30% moisture in egg-laying medium)
- control moisture to control dust, odors, and flies
- can also use predator wasps (lay their eggs inside fly eggs; flies die) and/or poisons to control flies
36
Hard Surface Pens
- durable
- easily cleaned
- provide adequate footing
- manure can be handled wet (liquid manure) or dry (w/ bedding)
- manure disposal can impact biosecurity
- manure mounds implemented for dry ground
37
Solid Manure Management System
- feedlots
- use box scraper or front end loader to get out dry manure
- put that manure in mounds (long, not tall)
- turn the manure every week -- stock piling manure (for oxygen to get in)
38
Compost
- N and C at right ratio to optimize aerobic microbe growth (18 C to 1 N)
- huge microbial growth incr temperature of compost
- pathogens die in incr temp, weeds die
- compost is NOT fertilizer
- compost IS soil stabilizer
- livestock and horticulture linked
- horticulture needs soil stabilizers
39
Fertilizer
- manure is perfect bcs it has N, P, K in exact ratios needed for crop growth
- organic farms must use organic fertilizers, but the places that they get this manure from not necessarily organic
40
Social Environment and Behavior
- mixing, crowding, group composition, and competition for limited resources are part of confinement social environ
- don’t like to mix different groups of different origins to minimize fighting
- crowding animals is not good
- feedlot animals use only ½ of space provided, but if only provided ½ the space, performance goes down
- certain cattle experience these circumstances as stressful and show unwanted behaviors (fighting, bullying, agonistic behaviors)
41
Handling and Transport
- cattle shouldn’t be overcrowded during transport
- anti-slip floors, water provided
- all vehicles used to transport cattle should provide for the safety of personnel and cattle during loading, transporting, unloading
- abrupt sharp turns or stops should be avoided
- adequate air circulation should be provided and varies w/ climatic condition
42
Non-Ambulatory Cattle
- downed or non-ambulatory cattle must not be dragged
- specialized slide boards, carts, sleds can be used to transport injured cattle to treatment areas
- downed cattle w/ an unfavorable prognosis should be euthanized using an approved method
- niche market
- only slaughtered non-ambulatory animals
- unethical
- Harris Ranch called the CEO of this place
- self-policing
43
Cattle Health/Vet Care
- treatment administration
- subcutaneous (SC)
- side of the neck (lateral)
- intramuscular (IM)
- intravenous (IV) - jugular
- Oral
- IM injections can cause injection site lesions and abscesses
- if drug can be administered IM or SC, use SC
- give SC injections in neck – avoid damage to valuable meat cuts
44
Pain
- sensation of discomfort that may lead to distress and feelings of urgency resulting from stimulation of specialized nerve endings
45
Signs of Pain and Distress in Beef Cattle
- lethargy, restlessness
- lack of appetite
- incr vocalizations
- incr aggression
- guarded posture
- good at hiding injuries
- incr/shallow respiration
- abnormal appearance or behavior
- grinding of teeth
46
Respiration
- incr or shallow during summer when hot
- measure by looking at flank movements, counting for 15 seconds *4 = resp rate
- summer resp rate: 100-150 --> animal stressed, needs to cool down
- open-mouthed breathing: emergency situation, put water on cow or air on cow
47
Painful Experiences for Cattle
- lameness due to swollen joints, broken bones, hoof damage
- physical injuries
- infectious diseases
- rough handling
- handle cattle quietly
- certain research procedures
- certain management practices
- castration, dehorning, branding – painful for at least 1 day
- every animal has to have hot iron brand to prevent cattle rustling (theft)
- done to young calves
- dehorn otherwise injuries
- castrate bcs feedlots don’t want intact cattle
ANS 41
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