How Many Chromosomes Do Beef Cattle Have

Raising beef cattle for turn a profit tin can be a satisfying enterprise. However, there are a number of management skills that each beef producer should accept to be successful. Each livestock enterprise has different resources: land, labor, capital, feed, and management. To heighten beef cattle sustainably, y'all must manage these resources.

In improver to managing resources, new producers must ask themselves, What do I need to get started? This question involves considerations for the blazon of animals a producer wishes to enhance also equally where to find these animals, how to select them, and what equipment will be needed for the operation. Producers too need to consider how they will feed their animals and what health care practices they volition use to keep the animals healthy. Savvy producers will permit markets identify the blazon of animals they should raise in order to generate a profit. This fact sail may exist used equally a guide for beef cattle producers just getting started in the industry to learn:

How to decide what type of fauna you should enhance
About the unlike breeds and how to select the right one for yous
Where to purchase your animals
What to look for as the platonic characteristics
What equipment you'll need to raise your animals
How to breed and raise your beef cattle
What to feed and how to care for your animals' health
What it takes to market your animals

What Type of Animals Should I Raise?

The first thing to determine when starting a new beef cattle enterprise is what type of animals to raise. This conclusion should straight reflect the markets a producer has available to sell beef cattle and consider the resources bachelor on the farm and the producer's individual goals.

Beef cattle may be used to produce meat or generate seedstock (convenance animals). The intended markets may dictate what breed or breeds are best suited for the functioning. Some producers choose to breed females to produce calves to sell for breeding stock or marketplace animals. Other producers may adopt to purchase weaned animals, also known as feeders, to raise to marketplace weight.

Producers should start past determining if they wish to enhance purebred or commercial stock. A purebred functioning typically raises animals of 1 brood. Often a purebred operation will have all registered animals that can likewise be sold through purebred sales. A commercial operation may have unregistered purebred animals, or they may accept crossbred animals. Crossbred animals accept the do good of hybrid vigor, which is only the ability of crossbred offspring to increase in productivity over the average of the breeds that were part of the cross. This means that a crossbred dogie could grow faster, or a crossbred female person could produce more milk for its offspring.

Selecting a Breed

Each livestock brood has unlike traits for which they are recognized. Breed associations tin provide data on those traits and help you narrow your decision regarding what breed or breeds fit best with your operation. Beef cattle breeds are often divided into maternal (cow) and terminal (sire) breeds. Maternal breeds are typically moderately sized and recognized for their power to enhance good for you calves. Terminal breeds are generally a bit larger in their size and unremarkably used for meat product. In addition to these two classifications, composite breeds of cattle as well exist.

Blended breeds are cattle breeds that are generally made upward of maternal and terminal breeds and often combine genetics for specific environments or markets. While many producers apply both maternal and last breeds in their systems, composite breeds have been established and are recognized by their pedigree. Many breeds be in the United States. The more common breeds are listed in the table below.

Maternal

Angus
Hereford
Shorthorn
Cherry Angus

Terminal

Charolais
Gelbvieh
Limousin
Simmental
Maine Anjou

Composite

SimAngus
Maintainer
Braford
Beefmaster
Limflex

Angus Photo credit: Michelle Kunjappu, PA Beef Producers Working Group

Hereford Photo credit: Michelle Kunjappu, PA Beefiness Producers Working Group

Photo credit: Michelle Kunjappu, PA Beef Producers Working Grouping

Photo credit: Dave Hartman, Penn Land Extension

Where Can I Purchase Animals?

Animals can exist purchased through several different ways. Many sales are held across the country throughout the year and may offering only ane breed, a variety of breeds, or even crossbreds for sale. Another pick would be to locate reputable breeders and purchase directly from their farm. A broad variety of animals may be available at a local auction barn; however, permit the buyer beware. Animals sold through this venue are more than likely to have health issues.

Choose breeding males that volition complement the outstanding traits in your females and meliorate their weaknesses. Always use the best bull yous can afford to meliorate the genetics in your herd. The male has a peachy influence on your herd because his offspring could remain in the herd for a number of years.

Be conscious of selecting and keeping good productive females that volition produce and wean ane calf per year without assistance and maintain their body status without becoming overly thin or fat.

Option Principles

In that location are ii methods to select livestock: animal performance and visual appraisal. Animals should first be selected on performance (eastward.g., how well calves grow or how much calves counterbalance at weaning), then the higher-performing animals should be evaluated visually.

Operation pick principles evaluate measurable traits such as nativity weight, weaning weight, yearling weight, or meat yield and quality.

Producers who evaluate growth traits should adjust weaning weights to business relationship for the sex of the calf, historic period of the dam, nascency weight, and weaning weight. Weaning weights are typically adjusted to 205 days of age.

Progressive cattle producers with registered animals can enroll their herd in breeding clan databases to obtain expected progeny differences (EPDs). These EPDs use genetic linkages to assess genetic merit for growth, carcass, and maternal traits. EPDs allow producers to evaluate animal genetics without environmental influences.

Commercial producers can utilize performance information when selecting a new bull. More than information on expected progeny differences tin can be plant by contacting brood associations.

Visual animal appraisal evaluates aspects such as structural definiteness, muscling, trunk capacity, and breed character. Evaluating structural correctness allows producers to identify animals with defects that are not apparent through functioning evaluation.

Purebred producers who enhance registered stock should go familiar with breed characteristics associated with the breed they heighten, such as:

ear length and shape
color and distribution of color
polled status
defects that disqualify animals from registration

These depicted bulls exhibit the ideal characteristics of convenance males .

Angus bull. Photo credit: Michelle Kunjappu, PA Beef Producers Working Group

Hereford bull. Photo credit: Michelle Kunjappu, PA Beef Producers Working Grouping

Equipment Needs

After the advisable animals are chosen for the functioning, the equipment necessary to maintain those animals must be gathered. Beef cattle operations can be low input but still need a variety of equipment. Basic equipment includes feeders, h2o tubs or watering systems, and health care equipment. Considering prophylactic is a concern when managing these big animals, beefiness cattle operations should likewise have equipment for treatment cattle.

Feeders

Feeders should be used to forestall animals from eating off the ground. Well-designed feeders will also prevent animals from wasting feed by spilling information technology onto the basis. At that place are potential health concerns when cattle consume off the ground, including parasite infections; however, feed costs stand for the primary input price on any beef cattle operation and as such, feed waste material is a driving gene for feeders.

Feeders tin can be simple like racks to concord round bales. Photo credit: Bigstock.com

Many unlike sizes and styles of feeders are bachelor for beefiness cattle. Some feeders tin can accommodate feeding both hay and grain, while others may be designed to feed just hay or just grain. Producers should be sure that all animals have admission to the feeder if feeding at specified time frames. If animals have free-choice access to the feeders throughout the day, smaller feeders tin be used.

Feeders may likewise include elementary troughs to hold supplemental protein, free energy, or minerals for grazing cattle. Photo credit: Michelle Kunjappu, PA Beef Producers Working Group

In confinement finishing systems, beef cattle may be fed a more complete mixed ration in a bunk. Photograph credit: Michelle Kunjappu, PA Beef Producers Working Group

Beef cattle of all classes should ever have access to a good-quality mineral mix formulated for their product needs. Nigh producers provide beef cows and grazing cattle free-choice minerals when on pasture, while others limit-feed minerals daily in a grain mix.

Fenceline-fashion feeders allow producers access on 1 side to identify feed and grain into the feeder while animals admission their feed on the other side. Walkthrough feeders allow producers to walk down the middle of the feeder. Grain can be placed in a trough on either or both sides and hay is shared in the central walking area. Producers should be careful non to contaminate feeders with manure-covered footwear.

Larger operations often feed hay in the grade of large circular or square bales. Many styles of hay feeders exist, but the inverted-cone-style feeders are often recommended for beef cattle as they commonly waste the to the lowest degree corporeality feed waste.

Water

Water is possibly the almost important nutrient considering information technology impacts feed consumption. Poor-quality water or not enough water can decrease feed intake and event in decreased creature performance. Producers tin can supply water using anything from buckets to troughs to automated watering systems. As with feeders, many different styles are bachelor. The cardinal is that water should be fresh, make clean, and available at all times.

Automatic frost-free waterers may be used on pasture or in confinement for cattle. Photo credit: Betty Cameron, Bedford County Sheep Producer

Permanent bound improvements tin provide a year-round water supply for beef cattle on pasture. This system has additional crushed rock around information technology to forbid excess mud accumulation in the area. Photo credit: Melanie Barkley, Penn Country Extension

Simplistic float tank trough systems can exist easily moved depending on cattle location. Photo credit: Melanie Barkley, Penn Land Extension

Pasture Systems

Many beef cattle, especially mature cows and bulls, graze pastures throughout the spring, summer, and fall. Producers should pay close attention to pasture acme in an attempt to maximize forage utilization. Pastures should be subdivided to provide an adequate corporeality of forage for the grazing time, often four to v days. Animals should exist moved to a new section of pasture past the time provender has been grazed down to 4 inches in height. Rotating pastures ensures the nutrients from manure are spread out and that cattle employ available resource efficiently. Continuous grazing can crusade forage stand up damage in overused or high-traffic areas and encourages weed growth in other less-desirable areas of the pasture.

A good-quality perimeter fence contains livestock inside the pasture and keeps predators out. Many producers prefer high-tensile fencing with some wires electrified. Subdivision fencing divides larger fields into smaller areas to better manage forage growth. Subdivision fencing for beef cattle can frequently be a single strand of polywire with step-in posts to reduce input costs. Nearly cattle will respect one strand if it is electrified.

Pastures should too provide access to water. This ranges from temporary systems that motility with the animals to permanent systems. Many producers choose to install surreptitious systems that can be accessed throughout a pasture system to reduce the labor of hauling water. Depending on the organisation and region, it may be necessary to access electricity to heat waterers in cold months.

Health Care Equipment

Routine health care employs practices to prevent affliction. Common practices include tagging, vaccinating, dehorning, castrating, and deworming. These practices require basic equipment such as tags and tagging pliers, syringes and needles, elastrator bands, a band expander tool, and a drench syringe or deluge gun. Tagging is considered a health care slice of equipment because tagging is important to identify treated animals.

Producers may also wish to dehorn their cattle to prevent horn growth. This is often performed with an electric dehorner presently later the horn buds break through the skin. Dehorning prevents hereafter injury to other animals and handlers.

Hoof trimming is another health care equipment detail. Hoof trimming is non considered routinely necessary in most beef cattle operations. In addition, most beef cattle must exist put in a tilt tabular array in order to take their hooves trimmed for the prophylactic of both the trimmer and the animal. Therefore, many get-go cattle producers will contact a professional person should hoof intendance be necessary.

A bander can be used to desexualize young males. Photo credit: Michelle Kunjappu, PA Beef Producers Working Group

Other Types of Equipment

Larger equipment may be used by beefiness cattle operations to let producers to handle or manage animals more efficiently. Producers can utilise a calibration to monitor animal growth functioning at weaning and other times throughout the year. A scale should also exist used to weigh animals to calculate the correct dosage for medication treatments. Three types of scales are oft used past livestock producers: axle, dial, and digital.

Equipment for beef cattle production should include these items necessary to maintain herd health, similar this drench for deworming animals. Photo credit: Dr. Tara Felix, Penn Land Extension

Most feeder calves and finished cattle are bought and sold on a weight basis. Therefore, because the economics in beef systems are based on pounds of calf to sell or weight of finished cattle, scales are an important part of cattle operations. Scales can also aid monitor weights at critical times throughout the year, such as breeding, weaning, and and then on. All scales should be tested to ensure accuracy. Simple scales can be placed in line in a handling system.

Handling organization equipment allows producers to more efficiently handle animals. Information technology functions past gathering animals into a group pen and and so funneling them into the chute. Animals walk single file downwardly the chute, where they are held for routine health care or sorting. Gates at both ends of the organisation contain the animals while producers perform tasks. Gates tin function by sliding back and forth or up and downwardly like a guillotine.

A head catch in the chute restrains the cattle for necessary procedures, while ensuring the safe of both the cattle and the human handlers. Photo credit: Dr. Tara Felix, Penn State Extension

If the beefiness cattle performance intends to utilize implants to increase growth performance of market animals, a handling system should be used. In addition, if the operation desires to brood using artificial insemination, a treatment system is a must.

An alley allows the beef cattle producers to motility several cattle at a time, making cattle handling easier and more than efficient. Photo credit: Dr. Tara Felix, Penn State Extension

Reproduction and Breeding Seasons

Gestation length for beef cattle is about nine months, varying slightly among breeds and sires. However, the typical gestation length for most cows ranges from 282 to 288 days.

Cattle will cycle throughout the yr. However, managing a defined convenance flavour will aid amend the efficiency of the cow herd and marketability of the calves. Most productive cattle operations maintain a single breeding flavor. While many operations brood animals to calve in the spring when weather is warming upwards, some may choose to calve in the fall to take reward of a less saturated calf marketplace. Purebred cattle used for seedstock are often bred to calve early in the yr, January or February, and so that those animals can enter the convenance herd at heavier weights.

Estrus cycles and age at puberty vary slightly among breeds. If convenance heifers (females that have not calved earlier), they should weigh at least 65 to lxx percentage of their mature weight by the start of the breeding flavour with a target of 85 percent of their mature weight at calving. Generally, it is expected that heifers will meet this weight and be ready to brood between 11 and fifteen months of age. Information technology is as well advisable to breed heifers one wheel ahead of mature cows then that they take boosted fourth dimension to rebreed the following flavor.

Some producers will take this a stride farther and synchronize their females so that they are certain to brood the heifers at the desired fourth dimension and the residuum of the cows come into heat, or cycle, at the same time well-nigh a month subsequently. This synchronization is necessary for an efficient and effective artificial insemination procedure and is well-nigh often accomplished with the use of a CIDR, although feed additive protocols exist for heifers. The CIDR contains hormones and is inserted vaginally into the females. Many protocols are available for synchronization and beginning producers are brash to work with their veterinary to establish their ain on-farm protocol.

In most instances, cattle give nascence outdoors and, thus, calving season is timed to start when weather warms upwards and grass is bachelor on pasture. Notwithstanding, some producers prefer to breed before in the convenance flavor in order to marketplace at specific times in the summer or fall. In other situations, producers may brood earlier and then that calves are older and heavier while on pasture.

Producers wishing to calve earlier may demand to house animals in a barn, such every bit a bank befouled, depending on the climate. Calving indoors tin can assistance forestall ears from freezing and ensure dogie viability in colder temperatures.

Signs of Impending Calving

As a moo-cow nears her fourth dimension to give birth, she exhibits several signs that the birthing process will begin. Shortly before calving, the udder will begin to tighten. This tightening is the udder filling with colostrum. Colostrum is the starting time milk and it contains antibodies that help protect newborn calves from affliction.

When the cow is set to give birth, the muscles around her hips will begin to relax and may appear as if they are sinking. The vulva changes color and is most apparent with lighter skin colors. For example, a low-cal pinkish color will change to a darker pink color. Perhaps more noticeably, the vulva will nifty. The udder will feel total and tight at this betoken. The cow will also refuse feed and move away from the herd.

The commencement sign that the female is in labor is the appearance of the water bag. Within a brusk period of fourth dimension, the front anxiety and olfactory organ of the newborn should appear. This will progress equally the female pushes to expel the newborn. Once the calf is born, the mother should begin licking to dry out off the newborn and encourage the calf to stand and nurse.

A visible water bag or feet indicate impending calving. Photo credit: Dr. Tara Felix, Penn Land Extension

Typically, most beef cows calve on pasture and require piffling aid. If assistance is required, inexperienced producers should consult a veterinarian or an experienced producer for aid. Assistance may exist required if a dogie has non been delivered within six hours of the water bag actualization or if the cow is found straining and the water pocketbook appears to accept already been ruptured. Always employ caution when trying to piece of work with or around laboring cows or cows that have recently delivered. Dams will defend their young well confronting predators but may plough this aggression on an unsuspecting human trying to tag or examine a new dogie too.

Pay close attention to newborns for the start couple days after birth. Mothers should be attentive to newborns and willing to correspond newborns to nurse. Newborns should stretch when they stand and appear alarm. Newborns that cry for their mother or rush to nurse as presently as they get up likely are not receiving enough milk. Weak calves may require feeding with a tube. Consult a veterinarian or an experienced producer for assistance.

A good beefiness moo-cow should immediately tend to her calf without interference. Photograph credit: Wendall Landis, Penn State Beef Befouled Manager

Feeding and Diet

All animals crave water, protein, carbohydrates and fats (to provide free energy), vitamins, and minerals in their daily diet. These may come from a variety of sources simply should be balanced to come across nutritional requirements. Nutrient requirements alter throughout an animal'south lifetime and reverberate its stage of production: growth, maintenance, convenance, pregnancy, or lactation (milk production).

Forages such as pasture and hay oft meet requirements for mature animals, but they may not come across requirements for fast-growing animals. Therefore, additional protein or energy sources may need to be added to the ration to meet requirements of young, rapidly growing cattle.

Additional protein requirements may be met with better quality hay or through sources such as soybeans, soybean meal, or distillers grains. Additional free energy requirements may be met with a variety of grain sources, but cattle are nigh commonly fed corn because it is often the cheapest energy source.

In well-nigh cases, pasture provides the most economical feed source for mature cows. Cattle should rotationally graze pastures to yield the best quality and quantity of grazing days. In general, animals should enter a pasture when forages are 6 to 10 inches alpine. Animals should rotate out of a pasture by the fourth dimension the provender has been grazed down to 4 inches. This non only provides high-quality feed for the animals only also helps maintain salubrious plants.

Grain supplements are most often used for growing cattle or in times of pasture shortage. Feeding grain to growing cattle increases weight gain. One common grain feeding practice is creep feeding, the practice of supplying expert-quality grain and/or hay to young calves while they are nursing. This boosts weight gains and body status, or level of fatness.

Health Issues

A skillful indicator of good for you cattle is their trunk condition. Torso condition for beef cattle is scored on a nine-betoken scale with ane being emaciated and nine being obese.

Breeding females should be maintained at an boilerplate body condition score of v to six. Animals with decreasing body condition scores, or that are losing weight, signal a potential health outcome.

The outset step to keeping animals salubrious is to preclude diseases from entering the subcontract. Implementing biosecurity practices tin help keep diseases off the farm. Any new animal that arrives at the subcontract—and animals that go out the subcontract and return—should be quarantined from other animals for three to 4 weeks. In addition, changing shoes and clothing after visiting locations where you had contact with other cattle can help prevent bringing diseases to your subcontract. Visitors to the farm should be asked to either disinfect their shoes or wear plastic disposable boots.

All producers should form a human relationship with a veterinary. This veterinary-client-patient relationship allows the veterinarian to become familiar with your farm management practices and your animals and to more quickly address whatever health issues within your herd.

Internal and External Parasites

While most beef cattle systems do not experience production losses directly as a outcome of parasites, information technology is partly because they are very easy to treat and foreclose in beef cattle. Broad-spectrum antiparasitics can be practical equally a cascade-on or an injectable product. Many beef cattle producers cull pour-on products because they are piece of cake to apply and fairly effective.

Additional internal parasites that may affect beefiness cattle include worms and coccidia. External parasites that may affect beef cattle include flies, ticks, and lice. Consult your veterinarian for more information on individual parasite species and their treatment.

Cattle should be treated for internal and external parasites to keep them healthy. Photograph credit: Melanie Barkley, Penn State Extension

Abortion Diseases

Perhaps more critical than the parasites themselves are the impacts they may have on reproductive performance. Several parasites that affect cattle can cause abortions. For case, anaplasmosis causes an anemia and then severe that cattle may abort. It is most ordinarily spread by bitter insects like ticks; however, because it is a bloodborne affliction, humans may play a office in infecting cattle by reusing contaminated needles and castration and dehorning equipment.

At that place are other abortion diseases that are caused by sexually transmitted diseases. These can include chlamydia and trichomoniasis. Buying bulls and replacement females from reputable farms or brokers and asking about the history of venereal disease can help prevent the spread of these disorders to your subcontract.

Several other diseases may also cause abortions in cattle. Some of the mutual diseases that cause abortions can be prevented with a vaccine for viruses like bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) and infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR). Work with your veterinarian to establish a good vaccination programme for your beefiness cattle herd.

Foot Health

A major reason for implementing biosecurity measures is to forbid highly contagious, difficult-to-eradicate problems such as hairy heel wart, also known equally digital dermatitis. Many beef cattle producers are noting an increase in the prevalence of digital dermatitis in herds beyond the country. Digital dermatitis is hard to eradicate and can cause severe lameness. If your herd becomes infected, information technology is time consuming and expensive to care for infected animals and eradicate the disease. Treatment requires hoof trimming and antibiotics, thus veterinary oversight is required.

In add-on to digital dermatitis, foot health can be impacted by poor nutrition. Croaky hooves or curved (sometimes chosen spooned) hooves are often a sign of a mineral deficiency. E'er provide a skillful-quality mineral to beef cattle and feed according to the label instructions.

Marketing

A number of markets are available for beefiness cattle. When choosing a market, you must make up one's mind whether your operation will focus on selling live animals or marketing meat. Many producers in the eastern United states focus on directly marketing of their beef cattle as freezer beef or retail beef cuts due to the access to consumers. Alternatively, many larger producers may focus but on selling finished cattle to a large meat packer.

Left: Many beef producers choose to sell beef by the side or the quarter. Photo credit: Dr. Tara Felix, Penn State Extension

Right: Steaks are a popular consumer choice, simply selling individual cuts requires a proper license. Photo credit: Dr. Tara Felix, Penn State Extension

Proceed in mind that state laws prohibit a producer from selling meat unless the creature was processed in a USDA-inspected facility. Therefore, the producers frequently sell calves live and the client would brand cutting arrangements with the processing facility. Many producers also provide the service of delivering the animals to a local processing facility.

Other options for beef cattle include marketing breeding stock, feeder calves to the feedlot, or market place animals for junior shows. Breeding stock are typically purebred animals and may be marketed directly from the subcontract and through a registered auction. Many states operate a balderdash test, assuasive producers to pay to have their bulls developed alongside other immature bulls and enter a larger sale at the end of the examination. Work with your local extension educator to make up one's mind the best markets for your operation.

Conclusion

Raising beef cattle can be a rewarding farming enterprise. Very few beefiness cattle operations are identical to one some other, allowing producers a diverseness of opportunities to develop a program that uniquely suits their lifestyle and farming enterprise. This cursory introduction just touches on a few of the aspects to think nearly when because a beefiness cattle enterprise. Before start your own enterprise, seek the advice of your extension educator or experienced beef cattle producers in your surface area.

For more information about beef cattle, visit Penn Land Extension Beef Cattle

Many opportunities exist for beef cattle producers. This publication covers bones concepts related to raising these animals. New and beginning producers should seek further information on not simply basic product practices only also nutrition, reproduction, and health in order to produce high-quality, good for you animals.

So Yous Want to Enhance Beef Cattle? This fact sheet may be used as a guide for beef cattle producers only getting started in the industry to acquire:

How to decide what type of brute you lot should enhance
Virtually the different breeds and how to select the right ane for you
Where to purchase your animals
What to look for as the ideal characteristics
What equipment y'all'll demand to heighten your animals
How to brood and raise your beef cattle
What to feed and how to care for your animals' wellness
What it takes to market your animals

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Source: https://extension.psu.edu/so-you-want-to-raise-beef-cattle-print