Beef Cattle

CATTLE!

The famous Angus bull. Angus cattle provide great tasting meat. More specifically this is a "polled" black Angus bull. Polled refers to its lack of horns. Despite so many beef cattle breeds being very docile, polled cattle are preferred as they are less likely to do damage to chutes, fencing and each other. Some cattle that aren't born polled, have their horns burned off at a young age or saw off (doesn't hurt the animal at all) at a later age.

Black Angus Cow. This cow is very fertile and healthy. Note how much milk she is showing, her straight back and the more feminine narrow face/head. An infertile cow's spine will dip in the middle causing her a lot of problems while carrying her calf. Another factor to consider is wide hips or ("'berthin hips"). The wider her pelvic region is, the less likely she will have problems calving.

One of my favorite breeds: The Hereford. Herefords are extremely docile, easy to "handle" beef cattle.

Hereford calf feeding off its mother. Note, despite feeding the calf  multiple times a day, she still is getting enough grass for her ribs to not be showing. This is a very healthy cow.

Red Limousin (pronounced li-muh-zin) cow. This cow would be described as "horned" since she obviously has her horns. Limousin cattle come in bases of red and black and all mixtures of the two.

Limousin bull.  You can tell a Limousin bull by its heavy amount of muscling on the neck. Limousin bulls are prized herd bulls for fertility, low birth weight (ironically, a lower birth weight is often more sought after because that means less calving issues, easier time for mother to milk the first few days) and the Limousin's unmatched growth rate.

The famous Texas Longhorn. A good dress out percentage and sought after skulls, more of the longhorn is used after slaughter than any other breed. Temperment depends on the individual. I have heard stories of them using their horns and making pretzels out of steel gates! Believe it or not, long horns weight wise are the smallest of the breeds on this list. Their meat is extremely lean and for Americans wanting to cook beef and steaks quickly, will not produce quality tasting beef. It has been making a comeback with folks who understand the low fat content requires slower cooking.

I have attempted to highlight the more common meat breeds in America. There is no one size fits all for every farm in our country. Since we will be moving back to Ohio, I would be out of my mind to try breeding a Brahman into my herd since their biggest contribution to genetics is heat tolerance.On the flip side, several of the farms we have visited here in GA have the massive heat tolerant animals as their herd sires. I cannot wait to have the chance to work with cattle on our farm. They are an animal that requires a great deal of respect and the bonds built are more rewarding for it. If you take the time and move carefully around cattle, they will come to trust you and make your job so much easier. When around cattle, move slowly, no loud noises, understand their flight zones and lastly, be wary of approaching the bull during calving season. Cattle should be prized more for their ability to maintain a beautiful pasture and replenish the top soil with their manure.

      Most small farms sell their beef by the quarter or the side. It is more economical for the buyer by buying in bulk and easier on the farmer not having to track all those individual cuts like you see in stores. Some farms will permit and even prefer customers to put deposits down claiming a side of a certain cow or any cow at the farmer's discretion.  One of the greatest things about small farms is being able to go see and pick out the specific cow you want and seeing it feeding on pasture as healthy as can be. You know by the time it reaches your table, only three hands have touched it: the farmer, the butcher and yourself.

    If you are unsatisfied with your meat do to the cut, if it is too thin or too thick, to much fat in the ground beef  (or not enough for that matter) you should communicate that to the butcher and even the farmer. If you think the steaks turned out too rough and chewy, maybe you cooked them too fast. Grass fed beef needs to be cooked much slower since it is sooo much lower in fat. Be sure to communicate  with your farmer as to your likes and wants. That is another benefit of the local system. You can't tell the feedlot manager in Iowa your beef tasted sour. He has no idea which part of which cow out of which lot on which ranch your meat came from. If you love eating beef, in my opinion, there is no other way than to go with local, grassfed beef.

   Cows have a bad rap for polluting the environment and destroying the land. On a grass based system, especially management intensive grazing (moving the cattle from small paddock to paddock daily or every few days), they actually are a great benefit to the land. When we first move to this country, there was a solid 2 to 6 feet of top soil all over this land; 12 in some places. All of our intensive row crops and poor management has depleted that top soil to nothing in many areas. So how are we still producing crops on said infertile land? Ask Pfizer. Ask Monsanto. Their job is to pump all these chemicals in to the soil to raise these malnurished crops instead of working the land responsibly. By using grass to feed cattle, the grass is invigorated every time it is chewed down to a 4 or more inches (less and it struggles). Leaving grass that tall keeps the soil temperature cooler in the summer and provides a home for gazillions of bacteria to break down their waste. Manure being broken down as such doesn't give off that horrible ammonia smell that everyone thinks of when it comes to cattle. Also, cattle were made to eat grass. They won't have digestion problems that way and therefore they will not pass so much gas (methane).  Grass is also less irrigation intensive than corn. What is the number one crop in America? Corn. Where does 70% of that corn go? To cattle that cannot digest it. Imagine how much more water we would have and how much less pollution there would be if cattle were fed grass?

    Despite the mantra of modern agriculture being "everything seperated means more money for big business," everything is connected. Separating pieces of the great circle is irresponsible and greedy.

Please, if you would like to learn anything else about beef cattle or if you have any questions, let me know!