Oklahoma State Animal Science Beef Breeds

Resource

Agronomical Facts

Cattle and Calves

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Bovines in History

• Cows were kickoff domesticated near 5,000 years ago. Modernistic domestic cattle evolved from a single ancestor, the aurochs (pronounced or oks). Prehistoric paintings on cave walls assistance united states of america run into what the aurochs looked like.
• Cattle are herd animals. In ancient times, herd animals were the easiest animals to domesticate. Herd animals follow the lead of a dominant fellow member. These natural leaders are the first to cantankerous streams, gullies and other obstacles, showing the others the manner. Herd animals stay close together and move together.
• The kickoff cow in America arrived in Jamestown in 1611.

Beef Cattle and the Oklahoma Economic system

• The beef industry generates more income than whatever other agricultural enterprise in our state. In 2005, Oklahoma'due south cattle and calf population was 5.4 meg.
• The cattle and calf industry is the most assisting agricultural enterprise in Oklahoma. In 2005 cattle and calves contributed $2.two million to the Oklahoma economy.
• In 2005 Oklahoma ranked number five in the nation in the number of cattle and calves.
• Oklahoma City'due south Stockyard Metropolis is the home of the largest stocker/feeder cattle marketplace in the globe. Since information technology opened in 1910, more than 102,000,000 head of livestock accept passed through its iron gates.
• Bovine is the scientific name for beef or dairy cattle. A balderdash is a mature male bovine. A sire is a bull used for breeding and is not usually used for meat.

About the Cow

• Both male and female cows are born with horns (except polled breeds). Sometimes the farmer has the veterinary remove the horns.
• A male person is called a "bull," and a female is called a "moo-cow."
• A heifer is a young female that has never given nativity, and a cow is an older female that has given nativity.
• Cattle are ruminant animals. They take stomachs with four compartments that allows them to eat grass and hay. Some experts call back a cow's digestive system adult equally information technology did for survival. Since bovine animals are hunted animals in the wild, it must swallow quickly and eat equally much as possible. The grasses the animal eats are stored in the 2nd breadbasket until it finds a rubber place to eat. Then the animal brings up the food, the cud, to chew. A cow spends vi hours eating and eight hours chewing its cud each 24-hour interval.
• A cow has a long tongue that feels like sandpaper. It helps pull in the grass and hay that she eats.
• The ears of a moo-cow are much larger than those of humans. They help transfer estrus. Breeds that originated in warmer climates have larger ears and looser peel to help their bodies get rid of heat. Some cattle tin even use their ears to fan themselves in warm weather. Loose skin also protects the cattle from insect bites.
• Cows use their tails to swat flies.
• A female cow has an udder that produces milk after she has given birth to her first calf.
• Cows can smell odors upward to 5 miles away.
• Cows face up north or due south to graze. They do this all over the world. Wild deer likewise display this behavior.
• Cattle are social animals. They all sit downward before it rains and huddle together in a circle formation during blizzards.

Raising Cattle

• People who raise cattle commonly have one balderdash for every 25 cows. During the breeding season, the bulls are placed in a pasture with heifers and cows.
• The time the bulls and the females are together is chosen a breeding season. A breeding flavor usually lasts iii to four months. One time breeding season is over, the bulls are moved to another pasture until the adjacent breeding season. The bred females will then take a nine-month (285-day) gestation flow. Gestation is the menstruum of time that begins when the cow is bred and ends when she gives birth to her calf.
• A grouping of calves all born in the same flavor to cows belonging to 1 producer is chosen a calf crop.
• Most beefiness calves are born either in the fall or the jump. Ranchers try to arrange it that way because grazing is better at those times of yr, and the weather is non and so harsh. They as well try to time the birth of calves so they are ready for marketplace at the time when market prices are best. Dairy cattle are born yr-round so the supply of milk will be constant.
• Cows are checked often, 24-hour interval and nighttime, during calving flavour. Many ranchers bring cows into sheds and barns during calving time. That way the rancher can lookout man the cows and help them give birth if necessary.
• The boilerplate calf weighs between 75 and 95 pounds at birth.
• After the calf is several days old, it is moved into a pasture with its mother. The female parent cows are given actress feed such as hay and cattle cubes to keep them healthy.
• Calves are normally weaned at 7 to nine months of age, when they counterbalance between 400 and 600 pounds. By this fourth dimension the calves do not demand milk considering they tin can eat grass and drink water .
• After weaning, heavier calves (600-650 pounds) may be sold straight to feed lots.
• Most calves weaned in the fall weigh betwixt 350 and 450 pounds. These lighter calves are classified as stockers and volition exist grazed on lush wheat pastures across Oklahoma until they reach feeder weights betwixt 600 and 750 pounds in March or April of the next year. At that fourth dimension they go to commercial feed lots to be fed to an adequate slaughter weight of nearly 1200 pounds.
• About of the calves produced in Oklahoma are sent to feed lots spread beyond western Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas.

Cattle and the Environment

• Cattle graze on land that can't be used for anything else considering the terrain is likewise steep or hilly for edifice houses or too rocky or dry for growing food crops.
• The hooves of cattle aerate the soil when they walk on it, allowing more oxygen to enter the soil and helping grasses and plants grow ameliorate. Grazing cattle also printing grass seed into the soil and fertilize it with their manure.

Cattle Breeds

• Nosotros go meat from beef cows and milk products from dairy cows. Although females from all cattle breeds produce milk and meat, some cattle are better at giving milk, and some are better at providing meat.
• Cattle come in many different colors. The color depends on the breed. The cattle you see on Oklahoma ranches come in all colors. Angus cattle are black; Herefords are red with white faces; Jerseys and Limousin are chocolate-brown; Charolais are white with pink noses; Holstein cattle are white with black spots.
• There are over 70 breeds of cattle raised in the United states of america. These breeds are classified in two categories, Bos Indicus and Bos Taurus. Bos Indicus breeds usually have slick hair coats and a larger crest (or hump) backside the head on the neck. Bos Indicus cattle are also more tolerant of estrus and insects. Many cattle classified as Bos Indicus have Brahman ancestry. Bos Taurus accept long thick coats and a smaller crest. Considering they have longer hair, they do not tolerate hot and boiling environments.
• Of the cattle breeds common in Oklahoma, Angus, Hereford and Limousin are Bos Taurus, and Brahman and Brangus are Bos Indicus.
• The fastest steer is the Corriente, used in rodeos.

Cattle Ranching

• Since grazing animals must move around, ranches are normally larger than farms. Cattle cannot stay in 1 place but must exist moved from pasture to pasture to give the grass a gamble to grow back.
• Ranching was adult by the Spanish. They brought the commencement cattle to the New World and taught ranching to the people who lived in the area we at present know as Mexico. Some of these cattle escaped and ran wild on the plains of Texas. These feral cattle were the ancestors of the wild longhorns that tin can now be seen in Oklahoma'due south Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge and on other individual and public lands.

Nonfood Products from Cattle

• More than 100 medicines used by humans come from cattle.
• One cowhide can produce enough leather to make 20 footballs, xviii soccer balls, 18 volleyballs or 12 basketballs.
• NFL footballs are made of cowhide. Nearly 3,000 cowhides are required to make footballs for one flavour.

Other Products

• adhesives
• medicines
• footballs
• volleyballs
• basketballs
• soccer balls

• Facts almost Beef
• OSU Livestock Breeds Website

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Source: https://oklahoma.agclassroom.org/resources_facts/agfacts_cattle/

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