Beef senior study guide.docx

**Health** - Temperature: 100-102.5 degrees Fahrenheit (calves: 101-103) - Heart rate: 60-70 beats per minute - Respiratory rate: 8-16 breaths per minute **Nutrition** **All feeds include six basic nutrients: protein, carbohydrates, lipids,** **minerals, vitamins and water**....

**Health** - Temperature: 100-102.5 degrees Fahrenheit (calves: 101-103) - Heart rate: 60-70 beats per minute - Respiratory rate: 8-16 breaths per minute **Nutrition** **All feeds include six basic nutrients: protein, carbohydrates, lipids,** **minerals, vitamins and water**. **Protein** o Provides essential amino acids. o Are essential in livestock feeding because they are needed throughout life for growth and repair. o Helps to form the greater part of muscles, internal organs, skin, hair, wool, feathers, hoofs and horns. o Contains carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) (in common with fats and carbohydrates) but also contains a fairly constant percentage of nitrogen (N) (about 16 %). **Carbohydrates** are used as energy to enhance movement for body functions, growth, fattening, reproduction, etc. o Represent the largest part of an animal\'s feed supply. o Usually the fibrous part of the diet. o Include sugars, starch and cellulose. o Composed of carbon (C), oxygen (O) and hydrogen (H). **Fats are a concentrated source of energy, up to 2.25 times as much energy per unit** of weight, as do carbohydrates. o Form cholesterol, steroids (including some hormones) and other body compounds. o Found in every cell in the body. o When absent from the diet, affects (among others) the condition of the skin and hair. o Composed of carbon (C), oxygen (O) and hydrogen (H), but contain much larger proportions of carbon and hydrogen than do carbohydrates. o Other functions: - Energy reserves - Protection for vital organs - Insulate the body **Minerals** are needed in nearly all parts of the body but are found primarily in bones and teeth. o Make up important parts of many organic materials including blood. o Affect heartbeat, which depends upon mineral balance to maintain its regularity. o Involved in nerve transmission. o Divided into two groups based on amounts needed by the body: 1. Macro minerals 2. Micro minerals (or trace minerals) **Vitamins** are required for health, development, and metabolic reactions. o Needed only in small amounts but are essential for life and health o Divided into two groups: 1\. Fat-soluble **Water** is the most important nutrient. Accounts for 70% or more of the composition of most plants and animals. o Functions of water in the body are: - Controls body temperature. - Enables living plants and animals to hold their shape. - Is involved in the transport of nutrients and waste throughout the body. - Helps in the digestion of feeds. Is a major (by volume) part of all body fluids. **Common Forages for Beef Cows** Cool-season perennials -- most growth occurs in spring and fall. o Tall fescue o Bluegrass o Orchard grass o Perennial ryegrass o Clover (legume) o Alfalfa (legume) o Birdsfoot trefoil (legume) o Lespedeza (legume) Warm-season perennials -- most growth occurs in summer. o Bermudagrass o Switchgrass o Flaccidgrass Winter annuals -- must be planted each year. Most growth occurs in early spring and late fall. o Annual Ryegrass o Cereal grains -- rye, oats, wheat, barley o Arrowleaf clover (legume) o Crimson clover (legume) Summer annuals -- must be planted each year. Most growth occurs in late spring and summer. o Pearl millet o Tifleat millet o Sorghums -- forage sorghum, sudangrass, sorghum -- sudan hybrids. **Digestive System** **Ruminant Defined** An animal with four distinct compartments in its stomach, which swallows its food essentially unchewed, regurgitates it, chews it thoroughly and reswallows it. o Examples include cattle, sheep, goats Four Compartments of the Ruminant 1\. Reticulum -- honeycomb -- 5% of capacity 2\. Rumen -- paunch -- 80% of capacity 3\. Omasum -- manyplies -- 7% of capacity 4\. Abomasum -- true stomach -- 8% of capacity **Functions of the Compartments** Listed in the order that feed passes through them: **Reticulum** (nicknamed the hardware stomach): o To furnish additional storage space and hold foreign materials such as nails and wire which may cause serious damage to the other body organs if they pass through the digestive system. o Often a magnet is fed to ruminants to catch and hold this foreign material in the reticulum. ** Rumen** o Largest compartment; capacity of 40 to 60 gallons in mature cattle. o Serves as a storage area for feed. o Millions of bacteria and protozoa break down the feed in the rumen. o Bacterial action is the reason ruminants can digest large quantities of roughage and live on a much lower protein diet than a monogastric. o The rumen does not develop in the young until they begin to eat solid food (as they are weaned). ** Omasum** o A muscular section that squeezes out the water from the feed before it enters the abomasum **Abomasum** (the true stomach) o Digestive juices begin chemical changes to break down the proteins, carbohydrates and fats into simpler substances which can pass into the small intestine for further digestion and absorption into the blood stream. ** Regurgitation** o During the process of eating, ruminants chew their feed just enough to make swallowing possible. After consuming their feed, it is brought up from the rumen and chewing is completed. **Meat** Beef: More than two types of grades: Quality grades, reflect differences in eating quality of meat based on: o Marbling scores -- amount of fat interspersed in the muscle. o Maturity scores -- reflects age of animal at slaughter. Types of quality grades for beef are: o Prime -- Superior marbling, proper carcass conformation and adequate maturity.  Found in fine restaurants and gourmet stores  Beef of this grade is not economical for the meat packer because the cattle are required to get very fat to obtain enough marbling and only a small percentage of cattle meet the conformation standards. o Choice -- Most economical and most desirable carcass grade.  Adequate marbling and carcass conformation are required. o Select -- May be referred to as \"no-roll\" since it isn\'t stamped with the USDA grade.  Must have slight marbling.  Meat is inspected but not marked with a stamp as Prime and Choice, so it can be sold under store names. o Standard grade -- Usually older animals and thin animals.  Minimum marbling or below average carcass conformation fit into this category. o Commercial -- Includes designations of: cutter, canner and utility.  Usually processed into lunch meats, soup and canned meat products. o Cull -- Not acceptable for human consumption. ** Yield grades** o Identify carcasses for differences in cutability (the lean yield of a beef carcass) or yield of boneless, trimmed retail cuts. Yield grade is determined by the following measurements:  Hot carcass weight  External fat (measured as back fat over the 13th rib)  Percent heart, kidney and pelvic fat  Rib eye area o Types of yield grades: 1\. Moderately Abundant 2\. Slightly Abundant 3\. Moderate 4\. Small 5\. Slight  Yield grade 1 being the leanest, heaviest muscled carcass and yield grade 5 being the lightest muscled fattest. **Dressing percentage** is the percentage yield of chilled carcass in relation to the weight of the live animal. o Dressing percent depends on the quality grade of the animal.  Prime -- 62%  Choice -- 60%  Select -- 59%  Standard -- 57% o Example -- a 1000 lb prime steer would produce a 620 lb carcass. (The head, feet, hide, internal organs and some fat trim make up the rest of the 380 lbs).  **Signs of a Sick Calf** - - Poor Appetite - Droopy Ears - Rapid, noisy breathing - Dry, crusty or runny nose - Gaunt gut - Limping - Patchy haircoat - Diarrhea - Swelled, tight left side **Good Management for Disease Prevention** Be alert for signs of disease and conditions which can cause stress and strain. Provide clean, disinfected quarters, free from draft. Provide adequate ventilation and plenty of sunlight. Provide proper drainage of holding areas, barns, free stalls, etc. to help maintain the driest area possible. Protect them from the sun, rain and wind without overcrowding. Practice rigid sanitation and manure removal procedures. Provide a well-balanced diet. Get accurate diagnosis of health problems immediately so that treatment can be provided. Avoid unnecessary stress and strain. Buy disease-free stock from healthy herds. Isolate new animals for a period (to be sure they are healthy) before introducing them to your herd. Follow a set vaccination program. Be cautious of visitors from other operations as they may carry disease pathogens on shoes and clothing. Dispose of dead animals immediately.  **Reproduction** Estrous: 21 days Gestation: 10 months Nursing: 7 months Stocker: 4 months Feedlot: 4 months Processing: 1 month Conception to plate: 26 months **Breeding** April and May for spring calving. January and February for fall calving. Heifers are bred beginning 30 days before the older cows. o Gives the producer more time with them at calving and gives them a better chance to rebreed as 2-year old's suckling their first calf. Breeding season management o Most beef cows are pasture bred, where bulls run with the cows during the breeding season. o Yearling bulls should not be pasture bred to more than 10 females in a 90-day breeding season. A high level of reproductive performance required and a goal of 90% calf crop should be set. **Artificial Insemination (AI)** The process of collecting semen from a bull and manually placing or depositing into the cervix of a cow. Requires high levels of management. Lower calf crop percent will result if attention is not given to: o Heat checking o Semen quality and handling o Insemination technique; for example: is the technician properly trained? Synchronization of estrus (a recurring period of sexual receptivity and fertility in many female mammals; heat) with a prostaglandin (cyclic fatty acid compounds with varying hormone like effects, notably the promotion of uterine contractions.) or steroids (any of a large class of organic compounds with a characteristic molecular structure containing four rings of carbon atoms) only for those cattle producers with excellent management skills. Should be used in conjunction with AI. **Production methods** Three types of enterprises 1\. Cow-calf 2\. Stocker 3\. Feedlot **Cow-calf program** o Maintains a cow herd and produces calves, usually sold at weaning as feeder cattle. o Based on pasture which is available during the spring, summer and fall. o Principal forages (plant material, leaves and stems) are fescue, bermudagrass, bluegrass (mountains), orchard grass and clovers. o Some harvested forage or by-products (corn silage, hay, straw, crop residues) are required in the winter. o Enterprise requires much land for feed production. o Grains and supplements used only to the extent they are required to balance the ration (a fixed amount of a commodity). **Feeder cattle** o Less risk in this program and it is the safest for new producers to follow. o Calves are usually born during the winter and are sold directly off the cow the following fall (September, October) at about 6 to 9 months of age and weighing about 450-600 lbs. **Stocker cattle** o Calves or older animals maintained, often on pasture or rangeland, to increased weight and maturity before being placed in a feedlot. o Cattle fed for various periods on such feeds as pasture, corn silage, etc. o Fed for growth not finish (average expected rate of gain, 1.0-1.25 lbs/day). o Sold at some later date to a cattle feeder that places them in a feedlot for fattening. ** Feedlot** o Producer purchases stocker cattle and feeds them to market weight. o Cattle finishing requires more concentrate and less roughage than the other enterprises. o Usually requires less land and is a rather speculative enterprise. o Most important methods of finishing are: Most feedlots are in the Mid and Southwestern US where the grain is produced. BREED ID