LOVELOCK - Public perception of the beef industry necessitates beef cattle producers actively addressing beef consumer concerns about food safety, antibiotic use, and animal care and welfare.
Every livestock producer must realize they are raising animals that one day will be consumed as human food. A healthy old cow is certain to become food when she is placed on the to-be-sold list. A bull has the same fate when he fails to meet the breeding demands of the owner.
Meat products from mature marketed cows and bulls, or "non-fed cattle," represent about 20 percent of the total beef production in the U.S. Contrary to popular belief that all non-fed cattle to ground beef are ground into hamburger, packers save and sell 89 percent of the rounds and 40 percent of the top sirloin butts from non-fed cattle to be sold and consumed as steak.
Also, revenue from sales of cows and mature bulls may account for 30 percent of a producer's annual income.
Beef quality assurance programs address several details that are important to the non-fed animal market including drug and chemical residue-avoidance, reduction of injection-site damage in back and rump muscles, reduction of tissue damage from bruises, and excessive fat trim.
According to the NCBA's National Market Cow and Bull Quality Audit, two extremes in carcass defects account for the greatest revenue losses and are the most frequent findings for the mature non-fed cattle presented at slaughter: too thin or too fat.
Inadequate muscling, or low muscling scores were found in 67 percent of cows and 15 percent of bulls at slaughter.
To help solve this area of quality inconsistencies, cattle producers are encouraged to consider various strategies for marketing their adult cattle. Prices for slaughter cows and bulls are traditionally lowest in October to December and highest in February to April.
For thin, inadequately muscled cows, one marketing option is to develop a feeding plan that improves their body condition before selling.
Short-term feeding plans range from 30 to 100 days. For thin cows detected in the fall, one suggestion is to feed a ration developed for maximum gain for 30 days and market animals in better condition and higher weights. These thin cows will gain weight rapidly after removal of the calf at weaning time.
Another option is to feed thin animals for minimum gain through the winter followed by a maximum gain ration and market them during the early spring when prices usually increase.
Of course, the economic returns from feeding cows depend on feed costs and price at selling, so there are risks that producers need to analyze when considering whether to raise the value in their animals through holding and feeding.
In consideration of overall quality, including food safety, a quality assurance program should follow these recommendations in marketing non-fed mature cattle:
1. Prevent residues and injection-site lesions by using responsible administration and withholding times for all animal health products.
2. Reduce risk for the development of antibiotic resistance by prudent and discretionary use of antibiotics.
3. Plan for high quality products by monitoring and managing non-fed cattle and marketing them before they are too fat or too thin.
4. Reduce risk for carcass condemnations and a poor public image for beef products by monitoring the herd's health and marketing cattle with physical disorders in a timely manner.
5. Decrease hide damage through strategic parasite control methods. When branding, use sites that reduce hide damage and discourage the use of multiple brands on one animal.
6. Reduce bruises by dehorning or tipping horns, correcting deficiencies in facilities, transportation and equipment, and improving cattle-handling skills.
7. Humanely euthanize disabled, downer cattle and those with advanced cancer.
Remember to always develop good management plans that allow herd health monitoring for early stages of debilitating diseases plus cow and bull body condition with an eye toward future marketing of selected animals.
Source: "Beef Quality Assurance for Marketed Cows and Bulls," CL215, Donald E. Hansen, state veterinarian, Oregon Department of Agriculture; Cory T. Parsons, extension animal scientist, Oregon State University.[[In-content Ad]]
