Cow-Calf Operation

Cow calf producers (and stockers also) mainly graze cattle outdoors, under all seasonal conditions.

From: Low-Fat Meats , 1994

Management of forages and pastures in Lower-South: I-10 Corridor

Joao Vendramini , Philipe Moriel , in Management Strategies for Sustainable Cattle Production in Southern Pastures, 2020

Cow–Calf

Cow–calf operations make up the biggest beef cattle production system in the I-10 Corridor. After weaning, usually from July through December, most beef calves are shipped to western states for stocker grazing and eventual feedlot residence. The remaining calves, primarily replacement beef heifers, may be retained on pastures after weaning.

Warm-season perennial grasses mostly grow in mid-spring and early fall, and their chemical composition is relatively good from April to December. Forage containing about 10% CP and 52%–57% TDN will meet the requirements of dry pregnant cows (8% CP; 53% TDN), almost meet the needs of mature lactating cows (10% CP; 57% TDN), but will not meet the requirements for lactating 2-year-old cows (11% CP; 64% TDN) [31]. Dry cows grazing warm-season perennial grasses with no supplement should increase BCS from June to October (start of calving season). During winter, warm-season perennial grasses contain about 7% CP and 46% TDN, which are well below the requirements of cows nursing calves and even of dry pregnant cows. In addition, the breeding season occurs from December to March, which is the most critical period in terms of nutrient requirements because cows are at early lactation and must resume estrus to be rebred. Hence, feed supplementation is often provided during the winter season. The amount of supplement depends on the severity of the winter and the BCS of the cows. In general, mature beef cows grazing perennial warm-season grasses should be fed about 2.0–3.0   lb/day TDN of a supplement containing 12%–16% CP; whereas, young first-calf cows should be fed 3.0–5.0   lb/day TDN of the same supplement (ideally, 50% of supplemental CP derived from natural protein [37]).

Early weaning of beef calves is an effective management practice to enhance reproductive performance of first-calf beef heifers in the southeast United States [38]. Cows restore BCS promptly due to a decrease in energy requirements and start cycling due to hormonal responses from calf removal. Calves can be weaned at 3 months of age and placed on annual ryegrass pastures with 1.0% BW daily concentrate supplementation, or wintered on warm-season perennial grass pastures or hay with 2.0% BW daily supplementation.

Creep-feeding supplementation can be a feasible strategy to increase calf preweaning performance on cow–calf pairs grazing warm-season perennial grass pastures. However, the gain:feed efficiency is usually low for calves receiving significant amounts of concentrate (~1% BW/day). Conversely, calves receiving reduced amounts of supplement (1   lb/day) had efficient gain:feed ratio (1:3). In general, cow performance is usually not affected by creep-feeding supplementation.

Read full chapter

URL:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128144749000062

Cow-Calf Operation Beef Quality Assurance

Dee Griffin , in Food Animal Practice (Fifth Edition), 2009

The BQA objectives for the cow calf operation should be to do the following:

1.

Set production standards that can be met or exceeded.

2.

Establish systems for data retention and record keeping. Record keeping systems, which meet government and industry guidelines, allow validation of management activities and fulfill the program goal.

3.

Provide hands-on training and education for participants to meet or exceed the guidelines of the BQA program and realize its benefits.

4.

Provide technical assistance through cattlemen associations, veterinarians, and university staff. The veterinarian should serve as the facilitator of the BQA program and trainer of proper production management techniques that meet BQA standards.

Read full chapter

URL:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9781416035916101125

Reproductive management of beef cattle

Pedro L.P. Fontes , ... G. Cliff Lamb , in Animal Agriculture, 2020

Breeding season

One of the most important reproductive management practices for a cow-calf operation is the establishment of a breeding season. By defining a breeding season, a producer is able to develop a defined calving season to match environmental conditions and available resources to gestation and calving periods of beef females, and to ensure that they receive adequate nutrients during those times. In addition, a breeding season allows for the concentration of labor resources, and more attention devoted to cows and heifers when calving to minimize the consequences of dystocia events, and maximize calf survival. A survey conducted in the United States showed that only 34% of beef cattle operations had a defined breeding season, 11.5% of operations had two defined breeding seasons, and as many as 54.5% of operations had no set breeding season. 21

Many traditional commercial breeding seasons have the intent to place a young, growing calf on forages that are at their peak of quality and availability. Providing growing calves and lactating dams high quality forages allows for maximal calf weight gain through both increased milk and forage intake. 22 Without a defined breeding season, producers have difficulty implementing certain reproductive biotechnologies, and must monitor cows for calving throughout the year. By establishing a defined breeding season, calving activity is reduced from being year-round to a specific period of time. More calves will be available for sale at a given time, and these calves will have greater uniformity in terms of size and weight, resulting in an increase in market value. 23 Market value of calves increases as a result of an increase in the number of calves in an auction lot, resulting in greater financial income. 24

Read full chapter

URL:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128170526000045

Physiology and pregnancy of beef cattle

Ky G. Pohler , ... Michael F. Smith , in Animal Agriculture, 2020

Introduction

Reproductive efficiency has a major impact on the economics of a cow calf operation. Melton 1 reported that the impact of reproductive traits on profitability is three- to nine-times more important than other production traits. Optimizing reproductive efficiency depends upon the successful completion of the following events: (1) a heifer must reach puberty before the start of the breeding season, (2) conceive early in the breeding season, (3) calve unassisted, (4) the calf must survive to the time it is marketed, and (5) the heifer/cow must conceive in time to calve early during the subsequent calving season. Any interruption in the preceding cycle constitutes reproductive loss. The development of management strategies to increase reproductive efficiency are dependent upon an understanding of the physiological, cellular, and molecular mechanisms controlling male and female reproduction. The purpose of this chapter is to review the physiological mechanisms controlling the onset of puberty, estrous cycle, establishment and maintenance of pregnancy, parturition, and postpartum anestrus in beef cattle.

Read full chapter

URL:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128170526000033

Cattle grazing effects on the environment: Greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint

Alan J. Franzluebbers , in Management Strategies for Sustainable Cattle Production in Southern Pastures, 2020

Abstract

Perennial pastures are an important component of beef cattle production for cow–calf operations in the Southeastern United States. Greenhouse gas emissions are dominated by enteric methane (CH4), accounting for ~60% of total emissions from beef production. With significant N fertilization of pastures, nitrous oxide (N2O) emission is often the second most important greenhouse gas, accounting for ~30% of total emissions from beef production. Region-specific data on greenhouse gas emissions from beef production are lacking, and yet these data are essential to design Southern pastures for improved resource efficiency. Forages with high nutritive value can reduce CH4 emissions by grazing cattle, as a consequence of greater feed efficiency and shorter time to gain maturity. In addition, forages with significant tannins, saponins, and other biochemical components may have the potential to mitigate against enteric CH4 emission. Nitrogen fertilization of pastures often leads to greater soil N2O emission. Establishing and maintaining legumes in pastures can limit the need for external N inputs. Forage production systems that rely on farm-derived nutrients (e.g., precision litter decomposition with management-intensive grazing, application of additional manure sources, and composts), keeping brood cows healthy and productive, and getting calves to finishing weight faster are keys to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from Southern pastures. Also, significant soil organic C sequestration should be a focus to reduce the overall C footprint of animal agriculture in the region.

Read full chapter

URL:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128144749000025

An Overview of the Meat-Packing Industry and Some Perspectives on Partitioning Agents

David J. Meisinger , Graeme Goodsir , in Low-Fat Meats, 1994

C The Beef Market Chain

Auction sales, dealer trading, and direct private treaty between cow–calf producers/stockers/feedlots account for most movements of feeder cattle from one location to another. The timing of such movements is largely dependent on seasonal factors and grass-feeding economics, as well as price judgments. The popular time for many producers to sell feeder cattle is in the fall when grass stops growing, but feedlots want their inflow ("placements") spread evenly through the year. To hedge prices against seasonal variation, sellers of feeder cattle have a futures market at their disposal, but it is not utilized to the same extent as the "live beef" (finished) cattle futures market is used by cattle feedlots.

The modus operandi of cattle feeding is a complex mixture of owner-operators and custom feeding—the latter on behalf of a variety of owners, some of whom are outside investors. The economics of maximizing weight gain and optimum quality while minimizing mortality, health problems, and input costs has many variables and requires specialized management. Hazards include extremes of weather and market price variations for the duration that cattle are in a feedlot. Futures hedging is often utilized to help offset price risks.

Social behavior of cattle entering feedlots and thereafter can affect their adaptation and subsequent progress. Methods have been developed to place some cattle through preconditioning procedures to improve feedlot adaptation.

Marketing of finished cattle from feedlots is accomplished mostly by direct negotiation with packers—sometimes by forward contract arrangements (or by specific formula in instances of alliances), but usually by presenting show-lists each week, with related asking prices and some haggling. More often than not, feeders negotiate with one or more of the Big 3 packers (IBP, ConAgra, Excel) who kill over 70% of all fed cattle in the U.S. Despite earlier fears of dominance by these Big 3 (following industry rationalization and restructuring in 1980s), feedlots have maintained relatively strong bargaining power in price negotiations. The main reason for this is genuine packer competition to maximize daily kill throughputs in the multiple large plants they each operate throughout central U.S. (Corn Belt–Plains States) and beyond.

The pressure on these packers to fulfill buying programs for daily kills enables many feedlots to insist on average pricing for groups of cattle, which can often include a mixture of quality. Traditionally, packers have succumbed to such negotiation in belief that they can outwit sellers more often than not. However, the system has condoned quality inconsistency (in form of commodity trading, rather than paying for intrinsic value of individual cattle). It left the packer to sort out the mix, and find homes for all the highly variable products produced.

These feeder preferences for price averaging reflect traditional frustrations in being denied the premiums they covet for perceived quality of their cattle, and their deep aversion toward price penalties (anything below a benchmark price level set by packers, for carcass faults)—in a word, distrust of the packer.

From the packer's viewpoint, his starting point has been eroded by inability to sell beef for "premiums above the going price" in a commodity marketplace; hence his need to buy "a bit below the market" to preserve his margin for survival. Hence, the parties become adversarial and quality considerations suffer.

Read full chapter

URL:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780080918532500202

Marketing Beef Cow-Calf Production Medicine Programs in Private Practice

W. Mark Hilton , in Food Animal Practice (Fifth Edition), 2009

MARKETING THE SEVEN AREAS OF BEEF COW-CALF PRODUCTION MEDICINE

Each herd health veterinarian has areas of strength and weakness in beef cow-calf production medicine. One should use areas of strength to build a program and either learn more about those areas in which expertise is lacking or build a team of experts for assistance. The best, of course, is to do both. Veterinarians should be comfortable using a team approach to help clients solve and prevent their problems. In fact, much of what we do as beef consultants is an evolution from the Integrated Resource Management Program initiated by the National Cattlemen's Association in the mid 1970s. 2

Read full chapter

URL:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9781416035916101101

Beef Cattle

A.D. Herring , in Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Food Systems, 2014

Controlled Breeding and Calving Seasons

Farm and ranch managers make decisions, plan activities, and pay bills on a regular repeating time schedule. The challenge from cow-calf production is to make the animals reproduce annually in a timely manner. As a result, a target annual calving interval of 365 days is the goal for beef cows. The closer the calving interval is to 365 days, the easier it is to keep the cows on a repeating annual production cycle. Reproductive management for beef cows revolves around having a short and controlled calving season. It is typical that beef cows will not return to estrous activity until approximately 30 days or more after calving. Gestation length in beef cattle is approximately 283 days among many B. taurus breeds, 285 days among B. indicus–B. taurus crosses, and approximately 290 days in Bos indicus (Zebu). As a result of maintaining a 365-day calving interval, there will only be 365−285−30=50 days in which cows can breed back. The time of the year when calves are born should be based on the forage reserves in pastures (or feed costs) in order to coordinate the times of greatest nutritional requirements with the times of most available/cheapest feed costs to minimize annual cow maintenance cost. If feed resources are not adequate, cows will lose body condition after calving, and this will lengthen the postpartum anestrous period. In many harsh environments, particularly when supplemental feed cannot be offered, a very low percentage of cows may calve annually (Figure 7).

Figure 7. General relationship of body condition score (1–9 scale) of beef females and time between birth of calves (calving interval).

The length of time for the calving season is also important. Many production records for contemporary groups are based on individuals that are born within a 90-day period (individuals within this age range can be fairly compared with one another for performance traits). As a result, if all individuals within a herd (and there could be multiple herds within a ranch) are born within this 90-day window, they can be classified as a single contemporary group, provided they are all managed the same. Many people assume that the length of the breeding season will be exactly the same as the length of the calving season, but the length of the calving season will usually be 10–14 days longer because there is individual variability in gestation length. So, if a 90-day calving season is the target, then a 75-day breeding season is recommended. A 60-day breeding season should result in a 75-day calving season, etc.

Read full chapter

URL:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780444525123001303

Introduction to livestock systems

Nadia El-Hage Scialabba , in Managing Health Livestock Production and Consumption, 2022

Environmental and health impacts

Ranches face the degradation of the natural grasslands they depend upon, conflicts with other sectors over land and resource use, poor conditions for workers and, in some cases, technical inefficiencies. Extensive cow-calf operations are found in the semiarid and arid rangelands, where no other agricultural activity can be performed successfully. In marginal areas, the major problems include overstocking, inappropriate pasture planting and use and rangeland degradation.

Feeding systems, different pastures and different breeds, including preslaughter and postslaughter treatments, make it difficult to assign single quality descriptors to ranching products. Generally, greater concentrations of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) are reported in grass-fed animals, as compared with animals receiving high-concentrate diets. Finishing beef on pastures produces leaner beef cuts with less cholesterol, a smaller n-6:n-3 ratio, a greater polyunsaturated fatty acid content and similar marbling if the animals are slaughtered at similar degrees of finishing (Schor et al., 2008).

Read full chapter

URL:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128230190000106

Montana's Beef-to-School Project: Making Connections to Enhance Local Agriculture

Carmen Byker Shanks , ... Joel B. Schumacher , in Institutions as Conscious Food Consumers, 2019

Cattle Production Basics

Only a small number of Montana-raised cattle are finished and slaughtered in the state. However, producers in the United States raise and move cattle around during their lifecycles in a number of ways. Beef cattle begin on a cow-calf operation, where the producer has a herd of cows bred to produce calves that are then sold at six to ten months of age. In this cow-calf stage, cattle receive their nutrition by grazing pastures and rangeland; cow-calf operations are found across the country.

Sold calves are typically shipped for the finishing stage, generally somewhere in the Midwest or lower Great Plains, where there is widespread availability of feed grain crops, such as corn and soybeans, leading to conventional cattle feeding. In this dominant beef system, the finishing phase occurs in a feedlot where cattle grow to slaughter weight on grain or other concentrate feeds. Cattle generally reach slaughter weight between twelve and 22   months of age; most conventionally or grain-finished cattle are at the lower end of this range (Lowe and Gereffi, 2009). Cattle are then slaughtered and processed near these feedlots. Refrigerated or frozen meat is then distributed in national and international supply chains.

An alternative model is for the calves to forage on grass or hay (grass- finished) until they reach slaughter weight (USDA-SARE, 2012; UC Davis, 2004). Cattle finished in this manner tend to be older at slaughter. Grass-finished beef is generally associated with local or regional supply chains, and cattle may stay on their ranch of origin until they reach slaughter weight. Both cow-calf operations and grass-fed beef operations also supply cull cows to the market. Cull cows have either aged out of the breeding herd or are being removed for other performance reasons. They may range from two to twelve years of age.

Montana, with its vast grass and range resources, is known as a cow-calf state. Nearly all steer calves produced in Montana are sold and moved to the finishing phase, and eventually slaughter, out of state. The majority of heifer calves are sold as replacement breeding stock, and some are also sold and finished in the Midwest. A small share of Montana-raised cattle are actually finished and slaughtered in Montana. Approximately 20,000 head are processed in the state (Montana 2016 Agricultural Statistics, 2016). These may be grain-finished, grass/forage-finished, or cull cattle not in a finishing program. Of these 20,000 head, most are custom-exempt slaughtered and processed for the personal consumption of ranch families or shareholders, rather than retail. These cattle—raised, finished, and slaughtered in Montana—are the ones that are important to our B2S story.

Read full chapter

URL:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128136171000095