Tropical Beef Cattle Breeds

• Beef cattle breeds in tropical countries do not exist as specialized breeds
• Common breeds include Boran, Africander, Brahman, Gir, Nelore, Guzerate, Red Sindhi, Indo-Brazilian, and Ankole-Watusi
• High weaning and slaughter weight, quality carcass and meat production, and high dressing percentage are excellent traits of beef cattle
• Farmers use crossbreeding with local animals to enhance beef production
• Breed choice varies depending on location and farm needs

Key Terms

• Beef: Meat from bovines (cows, bulls, heifers, or steers)
• Fattening or Finishing: The process of fat or muscle accumulation in cattle
• Beef Cattle: Cattle bred specifically for meat production
• Dual/Multi-Purpose Breeds: Breeds used for multiple purposes, such as beef, dairy, or work
• Weaning Weight: Weight recorded for calves of the same sex, age, and management group at approximately 205 days of age, signifying calf growth and dam's milking ability
• Dressing Percentage/Yield: Ratio of dressed carcass weight to live weight, expressed as a percentage
• Birth Weight: Weight of the calf immediately after birth
• Pre-Weaning Weight: Weight measured before weaning
• Post-Weaning Weight: Weight recorded after weaning
• Yearling Weight: Combined pre-weaning and post-weaning growth measurement (320-410 days)
• Carcass Weight: Weight of the carcass after removing internal organs at the processing plant
• Carcass Grade: Evaluation of beef quality, including cutability and identifying undesirable carcasses
• Carcass Fat Thickness: Thickness measured at the 'three-quarter' position between the 10th and 11th ribs
• Carcass Loin-Eye Area: Square inches of muscle in the longissimus dorsi muscle's cross-section
• Carcass Tenderness: Assessment of meat softness and chewability indicating palatability
• Carcass Rib-Eye Area: Surface area of the longissimus dorsi muscle between the 12th and 13th ribs
• Marbling: Intramuscular fat distribution impacting flavor and juiciness
• Meat Quality: Defined by lean-to-fat ratio, appearance, smell, firmness, tenderness, and overall palatability

Carcass Traits

• Carcass traits describe beef characteristics
• Carcass quality traits includes marbling score, fat thickness, kidney, pelvic fat percentages, ribeye area, and yield grade.
• Carcass quantity traits include pre-slaughter live weight, hot carcass weight, and dressing percentage
• Example calculation: 567 kg live steer with 62.5% dressing percentage yields a 351.5 kg carcass
• Selection is a genetic tool selecting animals with good performance to reduce variability and improve herd genetics

Criteria for Selection

• High meat yield
• Quality meat
• Fast growth rate
• Foraging ability
• High feed intake
• Disease and heat tolerance

Feed Resources for Beef Cattle

• Cattle feed resources are categorized into dry, green, and high-moisture feeds based on composition and usage
• Dry feeds have low moisture content, like hays, grains, oilseed meals, straw, corn cobs, soybean and cottonseed hulls, rice, and oat hulls
• Green feeds are fresh, chopped roughages like pastures and green chops
• High-moisture feeds include high-moisture grains, haylage, silage, roots, tubers, wet by-products, fresh milk, cactus and Enset, especially in Ethiopian practices
• Feed resource availability depends on agroecology, season, land, and required fattening levels
• Natural feed resources is pasture and crop residues like maize stover and teff straw
• Cultivated feed resources consist of improved forage crops and maize grain/stalks
• Commercial protein sources include Noug seed cake, cottonseed cake, and lentil bran
• Commercial energy sources include wheat bran, ground sorghum, and maize
• Ethiopian cattle fatteners prioritize feed use based on nutritional value and the animal's physiological status
• Offer beef cattle roughage before concentrate feeds twice daily
• Nutrient components for beef cattle include energy, protein, minerals, and vitamins to support maintenance, lactation, reproduction, and growth
• Nutritional needs are determined by age, weight, breed, production level, activity, and physiological status

Factors Determining Nutrient Requirements

• Larger/older animals need more energy and protein
• Heavy-muscled breeds require higher nutrient levels
• Lactating animals/high milk producers require increased nutrient levels
• Active animals/those in rough environments require more energy
• High temperatures reduce feed intake due to heat stress
• Pregnancy and lactation increase metabolic demands
• Feeding goals are: maintenance, maintenance + production and maintenance + production + reproduction
• Excess nutrient feeding is harmless; nutrient deficiency limits animal performance

Beef Cattle Housing

• Housing protects cattle from environmental stresses and predators and using well designed systems improve health and productivity, with variance based on climate
• Key factors in housing is location with drainage, road access, and proximity to farmhouses.
• High-altitude locations require ventilation for air circulation
• East-west house direction minimizes sun and rain exposure
• Gable roofs protect against temperature stress
• Overhead shelters with enclosures are common in commercial fattening while small/medium farms use open enclosures, enhancing productivity and reducing stress
• Effective farm management requires consideration of factors like location, ventilation, orientation and rooting

Major Cattle Diseases and Their Control

• Cattle diseases are categorized into infectious (viral, bacterial, protozoal) and non-infectious
• Viral diseases includes: Rinderpest (RP), Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), Rabies, and Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD)
• Bacterial Diseases includes: Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP), and Blackleg (Clostridium chauvoei)
• Protozoan includes: diseases Trypanosomiasis, Coccidiosis, Cryptosporidiosis, and Cryptosporidium (Crypto)

Rinderpest (RP)

• Symptoms: High fever, nasal discharge, bloody diarrhea, erosion, abortion, and dehydration
• Transmission: Direct contact with secretions
• Treatment: Supportive care, isolation, and fluid therapy

Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD)

• Symptoms: Fever, vesicles, drooling, lameness and reduced milk
• Transmission: Contact with secretions and materials
• Treatment: Manage symptoms and prevent infections

Rabies

• Cause: Viral infection of the central nervous system
• Symptoms: Restlessness, aggression, paralysis, drooling, and death
• Transmission: Bites from animals

Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD)

• Cause: BVD virus
• Symptoms: Fever, ulcers, diarrhea, dehydration, reduced milk, abortion
• Transmission: Contact with animals, feed, and droplets
• Prevention: Vaccination

Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP)

• Symptoms: Fever, coughing, weight loss, breathing, arthritis
• Transmission: Droplet spread
• Prevention: Vaccination

Blackleg

• Symptoms: High fever, lameness, depression, loss of appetite, skin, stiff gait, swelling, and rapid breathing.
• Transmission: Soil-borne organisms
• Prevention: Vaccinate calves at an early age

Protozoan Diseases

• Trypanosomiasis: Fever, weakness, lethargy, anemia, and reduced fertility
• Spread/ Transmission: by tsetse flies, challenging in sub-Saharan Africa
• Treatment: Ddiminazene aceturate/ homidium chloride
• Coccidiosis: Loss of appetite, diarrhea, dehydration, abdominal pain
• Transmission: Through contaminated feed/water
• Cryptosporidiosis: causes Watery diarrhea, nausea/vomiting, fever, weight loss
• Transmission: via contaminated food/water, or contact from other hosts.
• Use antiprotozoal drugs to treat
• Cryptosporidium (Crypto): A protozoan causing calves diarrhea (Cryptosporidium parvum)
• It causes diarrhea, dehydration, nausea, fever, weight loss, and cramps

Parasites in Cattle

• Internal parasites include roundworms, tapeworms, and liver flukes infecting cattle through grazing
• External parasites include horn flies, face flies, stable flies, grubs, ticks, lice, and mites reducing weight gain and feed efficiency
• Disease control strategies include surveillance, veterinary care (vaccines, drugs for parasite control), and environmental management
• Environmental management means clean houses, ensures drainage against standing water, and use rotational grazing

Meat Production in Ethiopia

• Primary sources are old oxen, culled cows, and surplus young bulls
• Meat production isn't most farmers objective, so yields are lower that those in other African countires
• Estimated average live weight is 250 kg with a 110 kg carcass
• Meat production was 578,240 tons (2004), 749,430 tons (2010), and 597,765 tons (2017)
• It only contributes 0.2% of total meat production, 3.2 million tonnes annually representing 72% off output and 70% of red meat production
• Challenges include: low off-take rates, non-adherence to international standards, animal exports, and inconsistent trends
• Per capita consumption: Ethiopia (8 kg/year), developing (25 kg/year), and developed countries (77 kg/year)

Low consumption is due to:

• Low incomes
• High meat prices
• Non-commercial husbandry practices

Meat Export Volumes

• 3742.98 metric tons (2013/14)
• 4758.63 metric tons (2014/15)
• 4741.28 metric tons (2015/16)
• 4891.23 metric tons (2016/17)
• 4428.50 metric tons (2017/18)
• Meat processing is slaughtering and converting carcasses into consumable products
• Ensure that meat is marketable, safe, and attractive to consumers

Slaughtering Process for Beef Cattle

• Stunning: rendering unconscious
• Suspension: hanging by limbs in the back
• Bleeding: cutting carotid artery for blood removal
• Skinning: removing skin and organs
• Splitting: cutting meat into products
• Meat processing improves shelf life, flavor, and safety, and may include physical, technical, chemical, or biochemical processes
• Salting increases the water capacity by up to 5% to avoid microbial growth,
• Curing utilizes salt and nitrite to enhance
• Smoking uses surface smoke to improve flavor, appearance, and preservation
• Drying reduces water activity to prevent bacterial growth
• Meat canning involves hermetically sealing meat after heating and ensuring food safety, destroying spores and helping to avoid botulism
• Symptoms of botulism: Muscle weakness, double vision, breathing difficulties, and paralysis