How Long Do You Raise a Beef Cow

Raising beefiness cattle for profit can be a satisfying enterprise. However, there are a number of management skills that each beefiness producer should have to be successful. Each livestock enterprise has dissimilar resources: land, labor, capital, feed, and direction. To heighten beef cattle sustainably, you lot must manage these resources.

In addition to managing resources, new producers must inquire themselves, What practice I need to get started? This question involves considerations for the type of animals a producer wishes to enhance as well as where to notice these animals, how to select them, and what equipment volition exist needed for the operation. Producers likewise need to consider how they will feed their animals and what health care practices they will use to keep the animals healthy. Savvy producers volition allow markets place the type of animals they should raise in order to generate a profit. This fact sheet may be used as a guide for beef cattle producers simply getting started in the industry to learn:

How to decide what type of animal you should raise
Nigh the different breeds and how to select the right one for you
Where to purchase your animals
What to wait for as the ideal characteristics
What equipment you lot'll need to raise your animals
How to breed and enhance your beef cattle
What to feed and how to care for your animals' wellness
What it takes to market your animals

What Blazon of Animals Should I Raise?

The first thing to decide when starting a new beef cattle enterprise is what blazon of animals to raise. This decision should directly reflect the markets a producer has bachelor to sell beef cattle and consider the resource available on the farm and the producer's private goals.

Beef cattle may exist used to produce meat or generate seedstock (breeding animals). The intended markets may dictate what brood or breeds are best suited for the operation. Some producers choose to brood females to produce calves to sell for breeding stock or marketplace animals. Other producers may adopt to buy weaned animals, too known as feeders, to raise to market weight.

Producers should start past determining if they wish to heighten purebred or commercial stock. A purebred operation typically raises animals of one breed. Oftentimes a purebred operation volition take all registered animals that can also be sold through purebred sales. A commercial functioning may have unregistered purebred animals, or they may accept crossbred animals. Crossbred animals have the benefit of hybrid vigor, which is just the ability of crossbred offspring to increase in productivity over the boilerplate of the breeds that were part of the cantankerous. This means that a crossbred calf could abound faster, or a crossbred female could produce more than milk for its offspring.

Selecting a Brood

Each livestock brood has unlike traits for which they are recognized. Breed associations can provide data on those traits and help y'all narrow your decision regarding what brood or breeds fit all-time with your operation. Beef cattle breeds are often divided into maternal (cow) and concluding (sire) breeds. Maternal breeds are typically moderately sized and recognized for their power to raise good for you calves. Terminal breeds are generally a scrap larger in their size and unremarkably used for meat production. In addition to these two classifications, composite breeds of cattle also exist.

Composite breeds are cattle breeds that are mostly fabricated up of maternal and terminal breeds and often combine genetics for specific environments or markets. While many producers use both maternal and terminal breeds in their systems, composite breeds take been established and are recognized by their pedigree. Many breeds exist in the United States. The more than common breeds are listed in the table beneath.

Maternal

Angus
Hereford
Shorthorn
Red Angus

Last

Charolais
Gelbvieh
Limousin
Simmental
Maine Anjou

Composite

SimAngus
Maintainer
Braford
Beefmaster
Limflex

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

Hereford Photograph credit: Michelle Kunjappu, PA Beef Producers Working Group

Photo credit: Michelle Kunjappu, PA Beefiness Producers Working Grouping

Photo credit: Dave Hartman, Penn Land Extension

Where Can I Purchase Animals?

Animals can be purchased through several dissimilar means. Many sales are held across the land throughout the twelvemonth and may offer only ane breed, a variety of breeds, or even crossbreds for auction. Another pick would be to locate reputable breeders and purchase directly from their farm. A broad variety of animals may exist available at a local auction befouled; nonetheless, let the buyer beware. Animals sold through this venue are more probable to take health problems.

Choose convenance males that volition complement the outstanding traits in your females and amend their weaknesses. Always use the best bull y'all tin can beget to ameliorate the genetics in your herd. The male has a great influence on your herd because his offspring could remain in the herd for a number of years.

Be conscious of selecting and keeping expert productive females that will produce and wean one calf per yr without assistance and maintain their body condition without condign overly thin or fat.

Choice Principles

There are two methods to select livestock: animal operation and visual appraisal. Animals should offset be selected on performance (east.1000., how well calves grow or how much calves weigh at weaning), and then the higher-performing animals should be evaluated visually.

Performance choice principles evaluate measurable traits such as birth weight, weaning weight, yearling weight, or meat yield and quality.

Producers who evaluate growth traits should adjust weaning weights to account for the sex of the dogie, age of the dam, nativity weight, and weaning weight. Weaning weights are typically adapted to 205 days of historic period.

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

Commercial producers tin can employ performance data when selecting a new bull. More than data on expected progeny differences can exist found past contacting breed associations.

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

Purebred producers who raise registered stock should become familiar with breed characteristics associated with the breed they raise, such as:

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

These depicted bulls showroom the ideal characteristics of convenance males .

Angus balderdash. Photo credit: Michelle Kunjappu, PA Beefiness Producers Working Grouping

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

Equipment Needs

After the appropriate animals are called for the performance, the equipment necessary to maintain those animals must be gathered. Beef cattle operations can be depression input just still demand a variety of equipment. Basic equipment includes feeders, water tubs or watering systems, and health intendance equipment. Because safety is a concern when managing these large animals, beef cattle operations should as well accept equipment for handling cattle.

Feeders

Feeders should be used to foreclose animals from eating off the ground. Well-designed feeders will also prevent animals from wasting feed by spilling information technology onto the ground. There are potential health concerns when cattle eat off the footing, including parasite infections; however, feed costs represent the principal input price on whatever beef cattle operation and as such, feed waste is a driving factor for feeders.

Feeders tin exist simple like racks to hold circular bales. Photo credit: Bigstock.com

Many different sizes and styles of feeders are bachelor for beef cattle. Some feeders can conform feeding both hay and grain, while others may be designed to feed just hay or only grain. Producers should be sure that all animals take access to the feeder if feeding at specified time frames. If animals take gratuitous-option access to the feeders throughout the mean solar day, smaller feeders can be used.

Feeders may also include simple troughs to hold supplemental protein, 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. Photo credit: Michelle Kunjappu, PA Beef Producers Working Group

Beef cattle of all classes should always have access to a skillful-quality mineral mix formulated for their production needs. Most producers provide beef cows and grazing cattle gratuitous-choice minerals when on pasture, while others limit-feed minerals daily in a grain mix.

Fenceline-way feeders allow producers access on i side to place feed and grain into the feeder while animals access their feed on the other side. Walkthrough feeders allow producers to walk down the eye of the feeder. Grain can exist placed in a trough on either or both sides and hay is shared in the central walking surface area. Producers should be careful not to contaminate feeders with manure-covered footwear.

Larger operations oftentimes feed hay in the grade of big round or square bales. Many styles of hay feeders exist, but the inverted-cone-manner feeders are oftentimes recommended for beefiness cattle as they normally waste the least amount feed waste.

Water

Water is possibly the most of import food because it impacts feed consumption. Poor-quality water or not enough h2o can decrease feed intake and result in decreased animal functioning. Producers can supply h2o using anything from buckets to troughs to automatic watering systems. As with feeders, many unlike styles are bachelor. The key is that water should be fresh, clean, and available at all times.

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

Permanent spring improvements can provide a yr-circular h2o supply for beefiness cattle on pasture. This system has additional crushed stone around information technology to prevent excess mud aggregating in the surface area. Photo credit: Melanie Barkley, Penn State Extension

Simplistic bladder tank trough systems tin be easily moved depending on cattle location. Photo credit: Melanie Barkley, Penn State Extension

Pasture Systems

Many beef cattle, particularly mature cows and bulls, graze pastures throughout the spring, summertime, and fall. Producers should pay close attending to pasture height in an attempt to maximize forage utilization. Pastures should be subdivided to provide an acceptable corporeality of forage for the grazing time, often iv to v days. Animals should be moved to a new department of pasture by the time forage has been grazed down to 4 inches in elevation. Rotating pastures ensures the nutrients from manure are spread out and that cattle utilize available resources efficiently. Continuous grazing can cause forage stand damage in overused or loftier-traffic areas and encourages weed growth in other less-desirable areas of the pasture.

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

Pastures should also provide access to water. This ranges from temporary systems that move with the animals to permanent systems. Many producers choose to install hugger-mugger systems that tin can exist accessed throughout a pasture system to reduce the labor of hauling water. Depending on the system and region, it may be necessary to access electricity to rut waterers in cold months.

Health Care Equipment

Routine health care employs practices to foreclose disease. 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 ring expander tool, and a drench syringe or deluge gun. Tagging is considered a health care slice of equipment considering tagging is important to identify treated animals.

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

Hoof trimming is another health care equipment item. Hoof trimming is not considered routinely necessary in most beefiness cattle operations. In add-on, most beef cattle must be put in a tilt table in society to have their hooves trimmed for the safety of both the trimmer and the beast. Therefore, many beginning cattle producers will contact a professional should hoof care be necessary.

A bander tin can be used to castrate immature males. Photo credit: Michelle Kunjappu, PA Beef Producers Working Group

Other Types of Equipment

Larger equipment may be used by beefiness cattle operations to allow producers to handle or manage animals more efficiently. Producers can utilize a scale to monitor animal growth performance at weaning and other times throughout the year. A scale should too be used to weigh animals to calculate the correct dosage for medication treatments. Iii types of scales are often used by livestock producers: axle, dial, and digital.

Equipment for beefiness cattle production should include these items necessary to maintain herd health, like this drench for deworming animals. Photograph credit: Dr. Tara Felix, Penn State Extension

Most feeder calves and finished cattle are bought and sold on a weight basis. Therefore, considering the economics in beef systems are based on pounds of dogie to sell or weight of finished cattle, scales are an important part of cattle operations. Scales can also help monitor weights at critical times throughout the twelvemonth, such equally convenance, weaning, and so on. All scales should exist tested to ensure accurateness. Simple scales can be placed in line in a handling system.

Handling organization equipment allows producers to more than efficiently handle animals. It functions past gathering animals into a grouping pen and and so funneling them into the chute. Animals walk unmarried file down the chute, where they are held for routine health intendance or sorting. Gates at both ends of the system contain the animals while producers perform tasks. Gates can function by sliding dorsum and along or up and down like a guillotine.

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

If the beef cattle operation intends to use implants to increase growth operation of market animals, a handling system should be used. In improver, if the operation desires to brood using artificial insemination, a handling organization is a must.

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

Reproduction and Breeding Seasons

Gestation length for beefiness cattle is near 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 year. However, managing a defined breeding flavour will aid amend the efficiency of the moo-cow herd and marketability of the calves. Most productive cattle operations maintain a single breeding flavor. While many operations breed animals to calve in the spring when weather condition is warming upward, some may choose to calve in the fall to take advantage of a less saturated calf market. Purebred cattle used for seedstock are often bred to calve early on in the year, January or February, then that those animals can enter the breeding herd at heavier weights.

Rut cycles and historic period at puberty vary slightly among breeds. If breeding heifers (females that take not calved before), they should weigh at least 65 to seventy percent of their mature weight by the start of the breeding flavor with a target of 85 percentage of their mature weight at calving. Generally, information technology is expected that heifers volition meet this weight and be gear up to breed betwixt 11 and 15 months of age. Information technology is also appropriate to breed heifers 1 cycle alee of mature cows so that they have additional fourth dimension to rebreed the following flavor.

Some producers will accept this a step further and synchronize their females so that they are sure to breed the heifers at the desired time and the rest of the cows come into heat, or cycle, at the aforementioned fourth dimension about a month later. This synchronization is necessary for an efficient and effective artificial insemination procedure and is most often accomplished with the employ of a CIDR, although feed additive protocols exist for heifers. The CIDR contains hormones and is inserted vaginally into the females. Many protocols are bachelor for synchronization and offset producers are advised to work with their veterinarian to establish their ain on-farm protocol.

In nearly instances, cattle give birth outdoors and, thus, calving season is timed to start when weather warms up and grass is available on pasture. However, some producers prefer to brood earlier in the convenance flavor in lodge to marketplace at specific times in the summer or fall. In other situations, producers may breed earlier so that calves are older and heavier while on pasture.

Producers wishing to calve earlier may need to house animals in a barn, such equally a bank befouled, depending on the climate. Calving indoors can assist prevent ears from freezing and ensure calf viability in colder temperatures.

Signs of Impending Calving

As a moo-cow nears her fourth dimension to requite birth, she exhibits several signs that the birthing procedure volition begin. Presently before calving, the udder volition begin to tighten. This tightening is the udder filling with colostrum. Colostrum is the first milk and information technology contains antibodies that help protect newborn calves from disease.

When the cow is ready to requite birth, the muscles around her hips volition begin to relax and may appear as if they are sinking. The vulva changes color and is near apparent with lighter skin colors. For example, a lite pinkish color will modify to a darker pink color. Perhaps more noticeably, the vulva will swell. The udder will feel full and tight at this point. The cow will likewise decline feed and move away from the herd.

The showtime sign that the female person is in labor is the appearance of the water bag. Inside a short menstruum of fourth dimension, the front anxiety and olfactory organ of the newborn should appear. This volition progress every bit the female pushes to expel the newborn. Once the dogie is born, the mother should begin licking to dry off the newborn and encourage the calf to stand up and nurse.

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

Typically, near beef cows calve on pasture and require fiddling assist. If assist is required, inexperienced producers should consult a veterinarian or an experienced producer for aid. Assistance may be required if a calf has not been delivered within six hours of the water bag appearing or if the cow is found straining and the h2o bag appears to have already been ruptured. E'er utilize caution when trying to piece of work with or around laboring cows or cows that accept recently delivered. Dams will defend their immature well against predators but may plow this aggression on an unsuspecting human trying to tag or examine a new calf equally well.

Pay shut attention to newborns for the commencement couple days later on birth. Mothers should exist attentive to newborns and willing to represent newborns to nurse. Newborns should stretch when they stand up and appear alert. Newborns that cry for their mother or rush to nurse as soon equally 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 beef moo-cow should immediately tend to her calf without interference. Photo credit: Wendall Landis, Penn State Beefiness Befouled Manager

Feeding and Nutrition

All animals crave water, protein, carbohydrates and fats (to provide energy), vitamins, and minerals in their daily diet. These may come up from a multifariousness of sources simply should exist balanced to run across nutritional requirements. Nutrient requirements change throughout an animal's lifetime and reverberate its phase of product: growth, maintenance, breeding, pregnancy, or lactation (milk production).

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

Boosted poly peptide requirements may be met with better quality hay or through sources such as soybeans, soybean meal, or distillers grains. Boosted energy requirements may be met with a diversity of grain sources, but cattle are well-nigh commonly fed corn because it is often the cheapest energy source.

In virtually cases, pasture provides the almost 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 x inches tall. Animals should rotate out of a pasture past the time the provender has been grazed down to 4 inches. This not just provides high-quality feed for the animals but also helps maintain healthy plants.

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

Wellness Bug

A proficient indicator of salubrious cattle is their body status. Body status for beef cattle is scored on a ix-point scale with 1 being emaciated and nine being obese.

Breeding females should be maintained at an average torso condition score of 5 to six. Animals with decreasing torso status scores, or that are losing weight, indicate a potential health event.

The outset stride to keeping animals healthy is to prevent diseases from entering the farm. Implementing biosecurity practices tin help go on diseases off the farm. Any new animal that arrives at the farm—and animals that get out the farm and render—should be quarantined from other animals for three to four weeks. In addition, irresolute shoes and vesture after visiting locations where you had contact with other cattle tin assistance prevent bringing diseases to your farm. Visitors to the farm should be asked to either disinfect their shoes or article of clothing plastic disposable boots.

All producers should grade a relationship with a veterinarian. This veterinary-client-patient relationship allows the veterinarian to become familiar with your farm management practices and your animals and to more rapidly address any health problems within your herd.

Internal and External Parasites

While most beefiness cattle systems do not experience production losses direct every bit a result of parasites, it is partly considering they are very piece of cake to treat and forestall in beef cattle. Broad-spectrum antiparasitics tin can exist applied as a pour-on or an injectable production. Many beef cattle producers cull pour-on products because they are easy to apply and fairly effective.

Additional internal parasites that may affect beef cattle include worms and coccidia. External parasites that may affect beefiness 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 continue them healthy. Photo credit: Melanie Barkley, Penn Country Extension

Abortion Diseases

Possibly more critical than the parasites themselves are the impacts they may accept on reproductive operation. Several parasites that affect cattle can crusade abortions. For example, anaplasmosis causes an anemia and so severe that cattle may abort. It is most unremarkably spread past biting insects like ticks; withal, considering it is a bloodborne disease, humans may play a role in infecting cattle by reusing contaminated needles and castration and dehorning equipment.

There are other abortion diseases that are caused past sexually transmitted diseases. These tin include chlamydia and trichomoniasis. Buying bulls and replacement females from reputable farms or brokers and asking most the history of venereal disease tin help prevent the spread of these disorders to your farm.

Several other diseases may too cause abortions in cattle. Some of the common diseases that crusade abortions can exist prevented with a vaccine for viruses similar bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) and infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR). Work with your veterinarian to establish a good vaccination programme for your beef cattle herd.

Pes Health

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

In addition to digital dermatitis, foot health can exist impacted past poor nutrition. Croaky hooves or curved (sometimes called spooned) hooves are often a sign of a mineral deficiency. Always provide a good-quality mineral to beefiness cattle and feed co-ordinate to the label instructions.

Marketing

A number of markets are available for beef cattle. When choosing a market, you lot must decide whether your operation will focus on selling live animals or marketing meat. Many producers in the eastern Us focus on direct marketing of their beef cattle equally freezer beef or retail beef cuts due to the access to consumers. Alternatively, many larger producers may focus simply on selling finished cattle to a big meat packer.

Left: Many beefiness producers cull to sell beefiness by the side or the quarter. Photo credit: Dr. Tara Felix, Penn Country Extension

Correct: Steaks are a pop consumer selection, but selling individual cuts requires a proper license. Photo credit: Dr. Tara Felix, Penn State Extension

Keep in mind that country laws prohibit a producer from selling meat unless the animal was processed in a USDA-inspected facility. Therefore, the producers oftentimes sell calves live and the customer would make cutting arrangements with the processing facility. Many producers as well provide the service of delivering the animals to a local processing facility.

Other options for beefiness cattle include marketing breeding stock, feeder calves to the feedlot, or market animals for inferior shows. Breeding stock are typically purebred animals and may exist marketed directly from the subcontract and through a registered sale. Many states operate a balderdash test, allowing producers to pay to have their bulls developed alongside other young bulls and enter a larger sale at the finish of the examination. Piece of work with your local extension educator to decide the best markets for your functioning.

Conclusion

Raising beef cattle can exist a rewarding farming enterprise. Very few beef cattle operations are identical to one another, allowing producers a variety of opportunities to develop a plan that uniquely suits their lifestyle and farming enterprise. This cursory introduction only touches on a few of the aspects to think most when considering a beef cattle enterprise. Before starting time your ain enterprise, seek the advice of your extension educator or experienced beef cattle producers in your area.

For more than information nigh beef cattle, visit Penn State Extension Beefiness Cattle

Many opportunities be for beef cattle producers. This publication covers basic concepts related to raising these animals. New and beginning producers should seek further information on non but bones production practices but also nutrition, reproduction, and health in order to produce high-quality, good for you animals.

Then You Want to Enhance Beef Cattle? This fact canvass may exist used equally a guide for beef cattle producers just getting started in the industry to learn:

How to decide what blazon of animal y'all should raise
About the dissimilar breeds and how to select the right one for you
Where to buy your animals
What to look for as the platonic characteristics
What equipment you'll need to raise your animals
How to brood and raise your beefiness cattle
What to feed and how to care for your animals' health
What it takes to marketplace your animals

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