Nebraska 4-H "Aspects of Ag" - Beef

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08/31/2021 Added

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Nebraska 4-H "Aspects of Ag" - Beef Connor Biehler, Nebraska Extension Beef Systems Educator

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[00:00:13.890]Hello everyone.
[00:00:14.780]My name is Connor Biehler and I'm a beef systems educator with Nebraska
[00:00:18.590]Extension. And if you're like me and you enjoy foods such as hamburgers,
[00:00:23.690]steaks,
[00:00:24.980]cake, jello,
[00:00:26.990]or gum.
[00:00:27.950]Or you're probably wondering how I'm going to tie all these together and what
[00:00:31.340]they may have in common. These are all products of beef animals.
[00:00:36.050]So today I'm here
[00:00:37.430]to talk with you a little bit about the life production cycle of a beef animal
[00:00:42.320]and some of the products that they give to us after they've been harvested.
[00:00:46.640]Let's start off with a little bit of terminology.
[00:00:50.180]A newborn baby beef animal
[00:00:51.920]is called a calf and.
[00:00:54.140]a calf usually weighs about 80 pounds around the time of its birth. And a
[00:00:59.090]calf drinks milk from the cow which is its mother.
[00:01:03.500]And so just like you, whenever you were a baby, or if you've been around babies,
[00:01:08.180]you understand that they need milk or formula to grow.
[00:01:12.020]These baby calves are no different. So as they get older,
[00:01:16.160]a heifer is a female that is a young calf and heifers
[00:01:21.140]remain heifers until they have their first calf.
[00:01:24.830]And about two out of every 10 heifers on a ranch are kept back to be
[00:01:29.210]replacements to go into the cow herd to make more baby calves.
[00:01:33.950]And those that aren't are considered market heifer. Similar to a market
[00:01:38.810]heifer is a steer. And a steer is a male who has been
[00:01:42.830]castrated.
[00:01:44.330]And these steers are fed out for their meat and called market steers.
[00:01:49.310]And market steers and market heifers provide us with beef.
[00:01:54.770]Bulls are the adult males and bulls,
[00:01:58.490]the job of them is they are kept on the ranch to
[00:02:03.440]create more baby calves.
[00:02:05.150]They are generally kept by themselves most of the year,
[00:02:08.660]but during breeding season,
[00:02:10.160]they are turned out with the cows to breed and create more baby calves.
[00:02:15.320]And the cows are the females,
[00:02:17.270]the adult females and their job is to raise a
[00:02:22.190]baby calf and,
[00:02:24.620]allow it to grow up to either be a replacement heifer or market beef.
[00:02:30.080]And cows raise the calves and take care of them until the calves no
[00:02:34.850]longer need them and they can utilize their own feed source and
[00:02:40.070]go into a feed yard.
[00:02:42.650]So since a cow is the most popular,
[00:02:46.310]we'll go ahead and begin with her. And as we've mentioned, the females,
[00:02:50.840]whenever they were young, they're called heifers.
[00:02:52.670]And then they have their first calf and they're a cow.
[00:02:56.270]A cow is pregnant for nine months with a calf.
[00:02:59.500]And she usually gives birth to one offspring. However,
[00:03:03.310]sometimes just like humans, cows can have twins.
[00:03:08.200]And
[00:03:09.040]whenever a cow gives birth to a calf, this is called calving.
[00:03:13.300]So cows will nurse the calf on their side for about seven to eight months.
[00:03:19.060]And as we mentioned,
[00:03:20.530]some of the heifer calves are kept back as replacements to go into the cow herd
[00:03:24.610]and raise more calves.
[00:03:26.740]And then heifers and steers that are not kept are then
[00:03:31.300]marketed as market beef.
[00:03:36.390]So let's talk about the life
[00:03:38.520]in the day of a calf. Calves are generally born in between February and April.
[00:03:43.680]And during this time,
[00:03:45.060]this is called calving season. And at calving, calves usually weigh
[00:03:49.890]about 70 to 80 pounds.
[00:03:52.470]And cows will lick their offspring,
[00:03:54.990]like in this picture here upon the calf's birth.
[00:03:58.020]And this is their first moment of bonding
[00:04:00.690]and the cow showing that she's going to take care
[00:04:03.960]of the calf. Once
[00:04:06.330]calves are born,
[00:04:07.380]ranchers will identify them with either ear tags that go in their
[00:04:12.030]ear or brand that goes on their side.
[00:04:15.510]And this helps them to identify certain calves.
[00:04:18.300]If they were maybe to get separated from their mother or they need to look up
[00:04:22.530]their treatment protocols that they have had during this time.
[00:04:26.580]Ranchers will give vaccinations as well as medication.
[00:04:30.300]Just like you, calves get sick sometimes, and they need a little extra help.
[00:04:35.070]Even though they are hardy animals,
[00:04:37.020]they need a little extra help to get them going so that they feel better and can
[00:04:40.620]get back to growing properly. In the spring time,
[00:04:45.300]cows are moved out to grass pasture. As you've noticed this spring,
[00:04:49.890]everything starts to get green.
[00:04:51.870]This provides great nutrition for cows while they have calves on their side
[00:04:56.400]and so that summer calves will nurse from their mother.
[00:05:00.900]But they will also learn how to eat forage on their own.
[00:05:05.280]And they will then use this forage as they get older,
[00:05:10.170]as their stomachs acclimate to eating it.
[00:05:13.620]Sometimes producers will provide creep feed,
[00:05:18.270]which goes in a specific feeder that only the calves have access to so
[00:05:23.190]that it allows them to grow and not have to use so much of their mother's milk.
[00:05:28.110]And just like with all livestock and humans as well,
[00:05:32.820]calves, cattle need fresh water.
[00:05:35.070]Every single day water is the most important nutrient.
[00:05:40.050]So in the fall calves weigh about 500-600 pounds.
[00:05:45.120]And this is the time where they have been weaned. And after weaned,
[00:05:49.080]they go into the feedlot. And a feedlot,
[00:05:51.540]it looks something similar to this picture. And in the feedlot,
[00:05:55.800]cattle are fed one to three times per day.
[00:05:59.540]A regular diet usually consists of corn similar to this.
[00:06:04.400]This is called field corn. This is what you see.
[00:06:06.890]This is a little different than what you might eat at home.
[00:06:11.210]And then for roughage, they eat things such as hay.
[00:06:15.320]And this is just a typical hay.
[00:06:17.630]Sometimes they will also eat different forms of silage,
[00:06:22.190]and then they will also eat mineral supplements.
[00:06:26.540]Some of you might take vitamins at home,
[00:06:29.780]and this is similar to that. Whenever I was younger,
[00:06:33.020]I took a multivitamin and it just helps to keep their immune system up
[00:06:37.970]and going so they don't get run down and get sick.
[00:06:42.080]And so when cattle are in the feed yard, the number one goal is efficiency.
[00:06:47.210]And so they measure this efficiency by the amount of weight
[00:06:50.900]the cattle gain in a day.
[00:06:52.730]And cattle usually gain about three pounds per day,
[00:06:56.960]which is a very rapid amount.
[00:07:00.020]And then so during the time in the feedyard,
[00:07:03.320]the cattle have to be processed and identified and maybe treated
[00:07:08.240]potentially.
[00:07:09.410]And so they have to have the proper facilities at a feedyard to treat these
[00:07:13.760]animals.
[00:07:14.750]And these facilities such as this chute right here are designed to protect
[00:07:19.370]both the animal as well as the producer.
[00:07:22.850]So at about 18 to 20 months,
[00:07:26.000]cattle weigh about 1100 to 1400 pounds and are
[00:07:30.770]then sent off for harvest. And for this example,
[00:07:34.520]we're going to use a thousand pound beef animal just because the numbers are a
[00:07:38.120]little bit easier to work with. So in a 1000 pound beef animal,
[00:07:42.890]640 pounds or 64% is utilized as meat.
[00:07:47.840]And this includes things such as steaks, roasts, or hamburgers.
[00:07:53.150]So of the remaining 36%,
[00:07:56.720]this includes products such as the bone or the
[00:08:01.430]leather or the hair that 36% is utilized for other
[00:08:05.990]products. So say you're at lunch one day and you eat a hamburger for lunch,
[00:08:11.180]and then you go outside and you're wanting to play ball with your friends.
[00:08:15.830]We'll just know that the leather that those balls are made of comes from beef
[00:08:20.330]animals. And from one market beef animal,
[00:08:24.740]they can create 144 baseballs, 18 volleyballs,
[00:08:30.230]12 basketballs, 12 baseball gloves,
[00:08:34.550]18 soccer balls, or 20 footballs.
[00:08:40.250]There are several other products that we can get from beef animals.
[00:08:44.060]And so once again,
[00:08:45.170]we'll use the 1,000 pound animal and they
[00:08:49.940]create the 640 pounds of beef.
[00:08:53.510]And in that beef includes such as steaks,
[00:08:56.910]which would be the round steak, the filet mignon, the sirloin,
[00:09:01.320]or the T-bone or the ribeye or prime rib or flat
[00:09:06.120]iron steak. And then there are different roasts.
[00:09:09.390]Maybe you guys have eaten roasts at home.
[00:09:11.940]Those come from different parts of the animal as well.
[00:09:15.090]And then hamburger can be made from all over the beef animal.
[00:09:20.670]So the remaining portion of the beef animal includes things
[00:09:25.620]such as its fat and from the fat, they can create different products,
[00:09:29.670]such as band-aids candles, deodorant, film,
[00:09:34.830]jello, soap, pill capsules,
[00:09:38.940]shampoo, toothpaste, and vitamins.
[00:09:43.080]And the hide and hair can consist of which is the leather
[00:09:46.740]part of the animal can make things such as belts or gloves or
[00:09:51.390]luggage, paint, brushes, shoes, and boots,
[00:09:55.770]or sporting equipment like we previously talked about and the bones of the
[00:10:00.150]animal they can make things such as plates, buttons, combs,
[00:10:05.520]glue, marshmallows, piano, keys,
[00:10:09.630]sandpaper, toothbrushes, violin strings,
[00:10:13.890]and wallpaper. So that concludes the lesson. However,
[00:10:18.450]we do have a few questions in all of them,
[00:10:21.030]but one were mentioned during this presentation.
[00:10:23.880]So we'll see how much we learned today.
[00:10:26.910]How long does it take a calf from birth to be a finished market read weight?
[00:10:38.220]If you said 18 to 20 months. You are correct.
[00:10:42.980]How much of the 1,400 pound animal of market beef goes
[00:10:47.900]to the grocery store? And if you don't want to do the math real quickly,
[00:10:52.460]you can just say a percentage.
[00:10:57.710]And that's 64% of the animal,
[00:11:00.080]about 900 pounds of meat goes,
[00:11:06.020]About 900 pounds of the animal goes towards making meat or other consumer goods.
[00:11:11.840]How much does a market ready beef animal weigh?
[00:11:19.520]If you set 1100 to 1400 pounds, you are correct.
[00:11:25.490]And here in the state of Nebraska,
[00:11:27.740]where does the state rank nationally and commercial red meat production.
[00:11:38.720]If you said number one, then you would be correct.
[00:11:42.530]Thank you for joining me in this lesson today and always remember eat beef.

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Nebraska 4-H "Aspects of Ag" - Beef

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