Cattle Farming
Beef is raised in many of the most sensitive and important ecosystems around the world, including the North America’s great plains, the Brazilian Amazon.
There are many ways beef production—when sustainably managed—can achieve conservation benefits. Grazing maintains the health of grasslands, improves soil quality with manure, and preserves open space and wildlife habitat. Additionally, carbon is sequestered in the grasses and soils of grazing lands. Beef production also provides social benefits by sustaining livelihoods and community vibrancy in rural areas where grasslands dominate.
Tips for Beef Cattle Farming for Beginners
- You cannot wear a farm out in grass. The longer you use it the better it gets.
- The way to restore a worn out farm is through maintaining the number of livestock which the available forages will allow. Increase herd size only as forage quantity and quality permit.
- Beef cattle farming for beginners starts with planning your pastures. Begin with a soil map (available from local Soil Conservation Services Office); perform soil contamination testing to determine the minerals and trace elements which may be lacking; apply sufficient fertilizer, other minerals and elements to get the desired results and seed the pasture to the appropriate forages for the type of soil and climate.
- Don’t try to produce pastures on poor land without fertilizer (limestone, nitrogen, phosphate and potash). It won’t pay off.
DAIRY COWS
Dairy cow has been genetically selected to produce up to 12 times the amount of milk needed to feed her calf. Producers have maximized productivity, but the cows unquestionably suffer poor welfare as a result. Producing such vast quantities of milk in one lactation cycle is so taxing and stressful that dairy cows are typically kept only for three or four years (or three cycles of pregnancy, birth, and lactation) before they are slaughtered.
VEAL CALVES
In order for a dairy cow to produce milk, she must give birth to a calf. While most female calves are kept with the herd to be used for milk once they mature, male calves typically are separated out to supply the veal or beef industry. Right after a dairy cow gives birth to her calf, farmers take the calf away from the mother. In the case of male calves used for veal, until recently, most were confined in small, solitary stalls for 16 to 18 weeks until slaughter.
BEEF CATTLE
Cattle raised for meat are usually on range for their first six to seven months of life. This initial ability to walk around, socialize, and eat the food most readily digestible for cows means that these animals start off with better lives than many other farm animals, such as pigs, chickens, and dairy cows.Whether cattle raised for meat start their lives on the range or inside a barn, however, they end up on a feedlot for their last six months before being sent to slaughter.