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Cattle
- 2 reasons to raise them: beef and dairy
- most every breed has polled strains
- Ed's opinion - don't need horns on cows/sheep/goats
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Bull
- male bovine
- intact
- used for breeding
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Cow
- female bovine
- usually already has given birth
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Heifer
- female bovine
- hasn't yet given birth
- under 2 years
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Calf
- young bovine
- either male or female
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Steer
- castrated male
- raised for beef
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Ox/Oxen
- male castrated at an older age
- used for draft purposes
- heavy front end on animal, which is a secondary sex characteristic (why castration delayed)
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Gestation
- 283 days = 9 months
- bigger breeds are a little longer, up to 290 days
- smaller breeds, like Dexters, are 273 days
- will accept anything between those on a test
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Colostrum
- mother's first milk - contains antibodies to give calf immunity
- yellow color, milk turns white when colostrum is gone
- important that the calf gets up and feeds in the first 8 hours of birth to receive colostrum
- after 12 hrs, pH changes in calf's stomach, openings become smaller, can no longer absorb antibodies
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Life span of females
- beef - 5.5 years
- dairy - 2.3 years
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Commericial agriculture
- concerned with high production
- extreme farming
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Farming in the desert
- eg Saudi Arabia
- one method - center pivot irrigation
- - long metal arm pivots over a well to disperse water in a HUGE area
- - helps grow alfalfa for the cows
- - working right now
- - Saudi government is looking to shut it down as they are running out of water
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Beef Cattle
- raised/bred to produce meat
- eat to produce muscle that makes up the meat
- make about 5,000 lbs milk in 7 months
- turned out to pasture
- range herds can take a week to get together
- calves have passive immunity for about 6 months
- at about 7 months, calves are gathered, weaned, taken from mothers
- males are castrated, weights checked
- vaccinated & turned out to pasture in a different one from mom
- this is the most strenous day of their lives other than harvest day
- moms rebred 75-100 days after calving
- become pregnant & go to pasture
- if they don't become pregnant (referred to as "open"), they are slaughtered
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Angus
- most popular breed in the world
- originated in Scotland
- comes in black & red
- naturally polled - born without horns
- produce some of the best beef
- can be labeled as Angus if it has >= 25% Angus blood in it
- has gene that causes fat to develop inside the muscle as opposed to around it like other breeds
- - fat keeps the meat juicy & tender when cooked
- pro:
- - calves born small with little stress to mom
- - get more $ at market because Angus is premium meat
- con:
- - excitable
- - high strung
- - don't herd well; don't stay together
- - difficult to raise on open ground
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Hereford
- from england
- good milkers
- good mothers
- easy to handle
- come with/without horns
- best way to get rid of horns = breed them out of your herd
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Xbred Hereford & Angus
- get best qualities of both breeds
- ideal is to get black coat w/ white face - called "Black Baldies" (BB)
- black hide is highly coveted as a sign of Angus heritage
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Heterosis
- hybrid vigor
- f1 generation when you cross two pure bred together
- Angus/Hereford cross = Black Baldie
- A + H = 1 + 1 = 3 (not 2, because of hybrid vigor gives an added advantage)
- f1 is better generation than original
- if you add a 3rd breed, eg f1 + Charolais, would be f2
- 3 cross breeds are good, but 4 is not effective
- some farmers will go to generation f2, then go back to original & cycle through
- X breeds used to maximize profits
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Shorthorn
- from England
- beef or dairy
- red white or roan
- polled shorthorn or shorthorn
- good animal to use in xbreeding
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Highland
- from Scotland
- bred for looks
- do well in real rough pasture
- HUGE set of horns = dangerous to work with
- don't grow very quickly, so cost more to raise
- grass fed
- more of a novelty breed
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Belted Galloway
- usually known as the "Oreo Cookie Cow"
- cute to look at
- miserable to handle
- big kickers
- novelty breed
- slower growing
- grass fed
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Devon
- from England
- in style now
- not a huge # around
- nice animal to handle
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Simmental
- considerably bigger than Hereford/Angus
- concept was to get more meat
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Charolais
- from France
- has gene that causes double muscle
- extreme size
- got bad reputation as killers because calves were too big and cows died in birth
- vets had to do c-section
- bred down in size
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Chianina
- semen was brought over for artificial insemination (AI)
- calves were big - 100 lb at birth
- calving was hard
- at 8 months, they were 1000 lbs, but big frame, no muscles
- kept longer to get muscle
- at 2 years, 4200 lbs - huge animals
- bu the time they had appropriate mass for market, they were way to big for processing plant
- could not hang meat high enough, so it hit the ground and was condemned
- too large to fit in shipping boxes, so popularity waned
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Brahman
- from India, South America
- market price dramatically reduced because of head
- liked because they were resistant to heat, insects
- have a gene which allows their whole body to twitch at the same time when hit by fly
- cross bred with LOTS of other breeds
- they like warm, tropical areas
- parasite indifference
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Dexter
- Ireland
- novelty breed
- smaller breed - mature weight 700 lbs
- fairly quiet
- tendency to put on weight
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Holstein/Brown Swiss/Hereford cross
- produced a beef cow breed Hayes Converter
- eat forage well
- udder stayed up tight
- ruggedness, size & production of Holstein
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Kobe beef
- more about the method of raising the cow than anything else
- it is from a Wagyu (Japanese breed), which is a composite of Brown Swiss and others
- cows raised as individuals
- brushed every day
- fed the very best feed and quite a variety
- males are castrated
- near harvest, they are fed beer - high carbs
- groomed & massaged just before death, they are totally relaxed and adrenaline doesn't build up in muscle
- niche market for people who have the means to pay for it
- even a poorer cut of meat can go for $50 or more a pound
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Cuts of beef
- chuck
- rump
- prime
- if you have 1000 lb cow, have about 560 lb after remove horns, hide
- about 430-440 lb get sold
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Chuck
- - roast, steak, hamburg
- - front end of animal, also includes the neck
- - fat & muscle, a lot of bone
- - can be tough but flavorful
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Rump
- - top round, bottom round
- - back end of animal
- - not a lot of flavor
- - can be tough
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Prime
- - T-bone, porterhouse, tenderloin, filet mignon, sirloin tips
- - front of hip to shoulder (spine)
- - 20% of animal is prime cut
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Box beef
- shipping beef
- more productive to fit beef into boxes than to ship it hanging
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Dairy cattle
- calves taken from mom at 12-24 hours, sometimes immediately
- because calf drinks all the milk, none left for the dairy farmer
- mom forms bond with calf & gets adrenaline rush when calf taken away later
- - prevents let-down of milk & cow gets sick
- calves are weaned at 6-8 weeks
- - water is added to milk gradually over 4-5 days until they are drinking just water
- can do earlier
- - question is rumen development
- - not quite developed enough to process feed until then
- moms are milked daily - make 25,000 lb mik in 10 months (more physical stress than beef cattle
- after parturition, milk production goes up to peak production - feed her higher protein
- cows work harder & hader to get to peak milk production - lots of calories
- just after peaks, cow is forced to get pregnant again - under a lot of stress
- some ranchers scale back onmilk production, which may add another year to their life
- - the stress of this life eventually takes it's toll
- - cows have a short life span leading this type of life
- shouldn't see a fat dairy cow
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Milk
- butterfat is cream - where the money is in milk production
- price of milk farmers get has only gone up $2 per 100 lbs since 1976
- milk processors control the price of milk
- milk perishable - has to be processed w/in 72 hrs; farmers can't keep milk until price goes up
- farmers get more efficient at getting milk from cows, put more milk into market, drives price down
- whole milk - ~ 3.25%
- antibiotics in milk
- - people could be allergic
- - processor won't pick up
- - can't even make cheese with it
- - if it does get into truck, farmer pays for all milk already in truck
- raw milk
- - not pasteurized
- - pasteurization destroys vit D
- - need to be certified to sell
- somatic cell count
- - WBC count in milk
- - if high, somewhere in herd many w/ low grade infection or one w/ massive infection
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Robotic milking
- 98% of cows will walk in to stall & robotic milkers attach to teats
- grain is automatically fed to cow in stall while she is being milked
- sensors tell robotic milker when cow is dry
- some cows get wise & leave stall to return immediately
- - robotic milker reads the # of the cow
- - realizes that this cow was recently milked
- - does not give feed
- - does not milk
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Holstein
- originally from Germany
- sometimes called Holstein Fresian
- in Europe, called Fresian - true Fresian is a little heavier
- most popular
- most productive
- extremely efficient
- produce 2000 lb/yr; 8.25 lb/gal
- largest breed - goes hand in hand with highest production
- colors
- - black/white & red/white
- - red/white more more heat tolerant than black/white
- weight - 1400-1500 lb
- downside
- - don't produce a lot of butterfat
- - ~ 3.6% avg for breed, individual may be more/less
- calves ~ 90+ lb at birth
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Jersey
- mini-cooper of cows
- most efficient - more milk for less feed
- smallest
- 2nd most popular
- avg 16,000-17,000 lb milk/year
- known for butterfat content - ~ 4.5%
- tend to to produce high carotene content - skim milk will appear yellow
- - carotene makes milk healthier for you
- when processed for meat, fat will be yellow
- popular in upstate VT, NY - used for cheeses, yogurts
- produce high protein count for cheese
- calves ~ 45lb at birth
- biggest downside - nervous, high strung
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Guernsey, Ashford, Jersey
colored breeds usually produce more butterfat than Holstein
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Guernsey
- Ed's favorite - can do no wrong
- from Channel Island - Isle of Guernsey
- 5th most popular
- Essex Co, MA - highest population of Guernsey per sq mi at one time
- - they were estate cows cared for by indentured servants mostly from Scotland; 1 for 3-4 cows
- - in 60s, tax laws changed - no longer could write off cows
- bred to be pretty, not to deal with stress of everyday life
- very sweet
- produces high butterfat, high carotene
- milk was called Guernsey Gold
- very few of this breed left
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Brown Swiss
- from Switzerland - known as Brown Cow
- good, quiet, couch potato cow
- easy to work with, mellow
- built strong, rugged
- see in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan
- high protein - good for cheese
- 4th most popular
- bad feet/legs - won't move to eat, won't produce milk, won't stay around
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Ayrshire
- from Scotland
- good amount of milk, decent protein & butterfat
- 3rd most popular
- see in ME, VT for cheeses
- good feet, legs
- smaller than Holstein, larger than Jersey
- high-strung, tough to handle
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