Tag: Cattle

Calving Season

The story of a steak begins long before it finds your plate.  In fact, for this story to begin, we must rewind over two years from when you purchased that steak, to baby making season…

Farmers make careful genetic decisions to improve their herd and the quality of meat that the animals produce.  There are numbers called Expected Progeny Differences (EPDs), that help producers predict how specific traits will be passed down to future generations of livestock.  Think of these numbers like batting averages.  That number helps you predict how your favorite player will hit and gets more accurate every time he is up to the plate.  EPDs work the same way; helping producers make decisions with their accuracy improving with the more offspring an animal has. EPDs are often used if a farmer is buying a bull or choosing one to use for artificial insemination.   These predictions can be specific for birthweight, ribeye area, marbling ability, and much more.

Natural breeding is common to the beef industry, but many operations incorporate artificial insemination into their program. Artificial insemination (AI) is an incredible technology that producers can use to help improve their herd genetics.  To use AI, semen is collected from the male, frozen and can then be shipped all over the world (In fact, when I visited a farm in China, they were using semen from a bull owned by a farmer I know in South Dakota!).  AI can be a relatively low-cost option to farmers to purchase limited quantities of semen, rather than making a large investment in a bull.  AI can be very successful for many operations and allow for specific breeding choices to be made, improving livestock quality.  

So now that the cows are bred, they need to be taken care of in terms of nutrition, health and environment to ensure a healthy calf is born.  Working with nutritionists and veterinarians help ensure that the cows are getting the nutrients that they need and are cared for. 

Then, about 283 days later…. it’s baby time!  Calves are born and a whole new round of excitement begins.  It’s calving season right now, and many farmers and ranchers are keeping busy. This winter has been hard on a lot of producers and livestock.  Farmers check on the livestock day and night to ensure new calves can be dried off and warmed up.

When a calf is born, it is important for them to be able to stand up and eat.  The first milk that they receive from their mama’s is colostrum.  Colostrum contains antibodies and nutrients that are passed on to the offspring.  This first meal is vital for future health of the animal. 

It is important to care for the calves during this time, but it is also necessary to keep a close eye on the cows.  The cows need to be fed a good diet that provides them enough energy to maintain themselves, as well as helping their calf grow strong and healthy.

This is just the beginning of the story of how meat makes it to your kitchen table.  Simply having a calf turns into a big process and requires so much time and hard work; from selecting a bull, to breeding, to keeping the cow healthy, to calving.  But all that hard work pays off knowing that it is the first step in providing a high quality product for consumers.  

How much meat do cattle provide?

Have you ever wondered how many pounds of beef that cattle provide?  It’s a great question, and something that livestock producers and packers care a lot about:

More muscle (what becomes meat) per animal = More pounds of saleable product

So, how much meat do we get?

The average market weight (body weight of the animal the day that it ‘goes to market’, ie: when it is harvested) of beef cattle is around 1,400 pounds.  As the animal goes through the harvest process, the head, hide, blood, viscera (internal organs and digestive system), and hooves are removed.  At this point, what is left is referred to as a carcass. 

From here, we can calculate the dressing percent of the carcass.  Dressing percent is equal to the carcass weight, divided by the live weight of the animal.  For cattle, this value is typically around 63%, but can vary depending on how much muscle and fat the carcass has, as well as what gender and breed the animal was.  A high dressing percent means that more product is available to use.

At this point, the carcass is fabricated. This means that it is cut into large, wholesale cuts, and then into retail cuts (what you buy at the store: steaks, roasts, etc).  In the agriculture industry, the amount of actual saleable product is known as the amount of yield from a carcass.  This is also referred to as the percent of boneless, closely trimmed (much of the extra fat removed), retail cuts (yes, some cuts have bones that remain with the product, but many are removed).  The percent yield in beef animals is typically around 65%.

So lets take a look at an example:

Say a steer has a market weight of 1350 lbs.  We expect that animal to produce around an 850 lb carcass.  From here, we cut the carcass into saleable product and remove excess fat and bones.  We are left with approximately 553 lbs of meat. 

Now, it is important to remember that all the product that is removed before we reach our final retail cuts is able to be used!  Almost nothing from the animal is thrown out. Here are just a few examples of products besides meat that cattle provide us:

  • Hide: leather for furniture, car seats and clothing.
  • Bones:  Used to make gelatin, used in things like jello and gummy bears.
  • Fat:  Also known as tallow, used in production of biodiesel and in some cosmetics.
  • Intestines:  Cleaned and sanitized and then used for casing for sausages and other processed products.

I hope this post helps answers your question about how much meat that one animal can provide us, but don’t forget, they offer us so much more!