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Home / What Is the Most Profitable Beef Cow to Raise

What Is the Most Profitable Beef Cow to Raise

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

In addition to managing resources, new producers must ask themselves, What do I demand to get started? This question involves considerations for the type of animals a producer wishes to raise as well as where to discover these animals, how to select them, and what equipment will be needed for the operation. Producers too need to consider how they volition feed their animals and what wellness care practices they will utilize to go along the animals healthy. Savvy producers will let markets identify the type of animals they should raise in order to generate a profit. This fact sail may be used as a guide for beef cattle producers just getting started in the industry to acquire:

  • How to decide what type of animal you should raise
  • About the unlike breeds and how to select the right one for yous
  • Where to purchase your animals
  • What to look for as the ideal characteristics
  • What equipment y'all'll need to raise your animals
  • How to brood and heighten your beef cattle
  • What to feed and how to care for your animals' health
  • What it takes to market your animals

What Type of Animals Should I Enhance?

The first thing to determine when starting a new beef cattle enterprise is what type of animals to enhance. This decision should straight reflect the markets a producer has available to sell beef cattle and consider the resource available on the farm and the producer'due south individual 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 cull to breed females to produce calves to sell for breeding stock or market animals. Other producers may prefer to purchase weaned animals, besides known as feeders, to raise to market place weight.

Producers should start past determining if they wish to raise purebred or commercial stock. A purebred operation typically raises animals of one breed. Frequently a purebred performance will have all registered animals that can likewise be sold through purebred sales. A commercial operation may have unregistered purebred animals, or they may have crossbred animals. Crossbred animals take the benefit of hybrid vigor, which is simply the ability of crossbred offspring to increase in productivity over the average of the breeds that were role of the cross. This ways that a crossbred dogie could grow faster, or a crossbred female could produce more milk for its offspring.

Selecting a Breed

Each livestock brood has different traits for which they are recognized. Breed associations can provide information on those traits and help y'all narrow your conclusion regarding what breed or breeds fit all-time with your operation. Beefiness cattle breeds are often divided into maternal (cow) and terminal (sire) breeds. Maternal breeds are typically moderately sized and recognized for their power to raise salubrious calves. Concluding breeds are generally a scrap larger in their size and usually used for meat production. In addition to these two classifications, composite breeds of cattle also exist.

Composite breeds are cattle breeds that are generally made 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, blended breeds have been established and are recognized by their pedigree. Many breeds exist in the United States. The more common breeds are listed in the tabular array beneath.

Maternal

  • Angus
  • Hereford
  • Shorthorn
  • Reddish Angus

Last

  • Charolais
  • Gelbvieh
  • Limousin
  • Simmental
  • Maine Anjou

Composite

  • SimAngus
  • Maintainer
  • Braford
  • Beefmaster
  • Limflex


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


Hereford Photo credit: Michelle Kunjappu, PA Beefiness Producers Working Group


Photograph credit: Michelle Kunjappu, PA Beef Producers Working Grouping


Photograph credit: Dave Hartman, Penn State Extension

Where Tin can I Purchase Animals?

Animals tin can be purchased through several unlike ways. Many sales are held across the country throughout the year and may offer only one breed, a diverseness of breeds, or even crossbreds for auction. Another selection would be to locate reputable breeders and purchase directly from their farm. A wide variety of animals may be available at a local auction befouled; however, let the heir-apparent beware. Animals sold through this venue are more likely to take health issues.

Cull convenance males that will complement the outstanding traits in your females and improve their weaknesses. E'er use the best bull you can beget to better the genetics in your herd. The male has a nifty influence on your herd considering his offspring could remain in the herd for a number of years.

Be conscious of selecting and keeping proficient productive females that volition produce and wean one calf per year without aid and maintain their body condition without becoming overly thin or fatty.

Pick Principles

There are two methods to select livestock: animal performance and visual appraisal. Animals should commencement be selected on performance (east.g., how well calves abound or how much calves weigh at weaning), and so the higher-performing animals should exist evaluated visually.

Performance selection 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 calf, age of the dam, nativity weight, and weaning weight. Weaning weights are typically adjusted to 205 days of age.

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

Commercial producers can utilize performance data when selecting a new balderdash. More information on expected progeny differences tin can be plant by contacting breed associations.

Visual animal appraisal evaluates aspects such as structural definiteness, muscling, body capacity, and breed character. Evaluating structural correctness allows producers to place animals with defects that are non apparent through performance evaluation.

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

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

These depicted bulls exhibit the ideal characteristics of convenance males .


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


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

Equipment Needs

After the appropriate animals are chosen for the operation, the equipment necessary to maintain those animals must be gathered. Beef cattle operations can be low input just still need a diverseness of equipment. Basic equipment includes feeders, water tubs or watering systems, and wellness care equipment. Considering safety is a business when managing these large animals, beef cattle operations should likewise have equipment for treatment cattle.

Feeders

Feeders should be used to prevent animals from eating off the ground. Well-designed feeders will as well foreclose animals from wasting feed past spilling it onto the ground. There are potential health concerns when cattle eat off the ground, including parasite infections; still, feed costs represent the primary input cost on any beef cattle performance and as such, feed waste is a driving factor for feeders.


Feeders tin can be simple like racks to hold round bales. Photograph credit: Bigstock.com

Many different sizes and styles of feeders are available for beef cattle. Some feeders can arrange feeding both hay and grain, while others may be designed to feed just hay or only grain. Producers should be certain that all animals have access to the feeder if feeding at specified time frames. If animals have free-selection access to the feeders throughout the mean solar day, smaller feeders can exist used.


Feeders may besides include simple troughs to hold supplemental poly peptide, 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 Beefiness Producers Working Group

Beef cattle of all classes should e'er have admission to a expert-quality mineral mix formulated for their production needs. Near producers provide beefiness cows and grazing cattle costless-option minerals when on pasture, while others limit-feed minerals daily in a grain mix.

Fenceline-style feeders allow producers admission on ane side to identify 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 area. Producers should be conscientious non to contaminate feeders with manure-covered footwear.

Larger operations often feed hay in the class of large round or foursquare bales. Many styles of hay feeders exist, but the inverted-cone-style feeders are often recommended for beef cattle as they usually waste the to the lowest degree amount feed waste product.

Water

Water is perhaps the about important nutrient because it impacts feed consumption. Poor-quality water or not enough water tin can subtract feed intake and result in decreased fauna operation. Producers can supply water using anything from buckets to troughs to automatic watering systems. Every bit with feeders, many different styles are available. The cardinal is that water should be fresh, clean, and available at all times.


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


Permanent leap improvements tin provide a year-round water supply for beefiness cattle on pasture. This organisation has boosted crushed rock around information technology to prevent backlog mud aggregating in the surface area. Photo credit: Melanie Barkley, Penn State Extension


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

Pasture Systems

Many beefiness cattle, especially mature cows and bulls, graze pastures throughout the bound, summer, and fall. Producers should pay shut attention to pasture top in an try to maximize forage utilization. Pastures should be subdivided to provide an adequate amount of forage for the grazing fourth dimension, often four to v days. Animals should be moved to a new section of pasture by the time forage has been grazed downwardly to four inches in top. Rotating pastures ensures the nutrients from manure are spread out and that cattle utilize available resources efficiently. Continuous grazing can cause provender stand damage in overused or high-traffic areas and encourages weed growth in other less-desirable areas of the pasture.

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

Pastures should also provide admission to water. This ranges from temporary systems that move with the animals to permanent systems. Many producers choose to install underground systems that can be accessed throughout a pasture organization to reduce the labor of hauling water. Depending on the arrangement and region, it may be necessary to admission electricity to heat waterers in cold months.

Health Intendance Equipment

Routine health care employs practices to prevent affliction. Mutual 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 band expander tool, and a drench syringe or deluge gun. Tagging is considered a wellness care slice of equipment because tagging is important to identify treated animals.

Producers may also wish to dehorn their cattle to forbid horn growth. This is oft performed with an electric dehorner before long after the horn buds intermission through the skin. Dehorning prevents time to come injury to other animals and handlers.

Hoof trimming is another health care equipment item. Hoof trimming is non considered routinely necessary in most beef cattle operations. In addition, most beef cattle must exist put in a tilt tabular array in order to have their hooves trimmed for the safe of both the trimmer and the animal. Therefore, many first cattle producers will contact a professional person should hoof care exist necessary.


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

Other Types of Equipment

Larger equipment may be used by beef cattle operations to allow producers to handle or manage animals more efficiently. Producers tin apply a scale to monitor animal growth performance at weaning and other times throughout the year. A scale should as well be used to weigh animals to calculate the right dosage for medication treatments. Three types of scales are often used by livestock producers: beam, dial, and digital.


Equipment for beef cattle product should include these items necessary to maintain herd health, like this drench for deworming animals. Photo 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 tin also help monitor weights at critical times throughout the twelvemonth, such as convenance, weaning, and so on. All scales should exist tested to ensure accurateness. Simple scales can be placed in line in a treatment system.

Handling system equipment allows producers to more efficiently handle animals. It functions by gathering animals into a grouping pen 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 organization contain the animals while producers perform tasks. Gates can function by sliding dorsum and along or up and downwardly like a guillotine.


A head catch in the chute restrains the cattle for necessary procedures, while ensuring the rubber of both the cattle and the homo handlers. Photo credit: Dr. Tara Felix, Penn State Extension

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


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

Reproduction and Breeding Seasons

Gestation length for beef cattle is about nine months, varying slightly amidst breeds and sires. Notwithstanding, the typical gestation length for about cows ranges from 282 to 288 days.

Cattle will cycle throughout the year. Withal, managing a defined breeding flavor will help improve the efficiency of the cow herd and marketability of the calves. Near productive cattle operations maintain a unmarried breeding season. While many operations breed animals to calve in the spring when weather is warming up, some may choose to calve in the autumn to take advantage of a less saturated dogie marketplace. Purebred cattle used for seedstock are ofttimes bred to calve early in the year, January or February, so that those animals can enter the breeding herd at heavier weights.

Estrus cycles and age at puberty vary slightly amidst breeds. If convenance heifers (females that have not calved before), they should weigh at least 65 to 70 pct of their mature weight past the beginning of the breeding season with a target of 85 percent of their mature weight at calving. Generally, it is expected that heifers will meet this weight and exist prepare to breed betwixt 11 and 15 months of age. It is also advisable to breed heifers i bicycle ahead of mature cows and so that they take additional time to rebreed the following flavour.

Some producers will have this a step farther 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 same time about a month later. This synchronization is necessary for an efficient and effective bogus insemination process and is about often accomplished with the use of a CIDR, although feed additive protocols exist for heifers. The CIDR contains hormones and is inserted vaginally into the females. Many protocols are available for synchronization and outset producers are advised to work with their veterinarian to establish their own on-subcontract protocol.

In virtually instances, cattle give birth outdoors and, thus, calving season is timed to start when weather warms upwardly and grass is available on pasture. However, some producers adopt to breed earlier in the breeding season in order to market place at specific times in the summertime or fall. In other situations, producers may breed earlier and so that calves are older and heavier while on pasture.

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

Signs of Impending Calving

As a moo-cow nears her fourth dimension to give nascency, she exhibits several signs that the birthing procedure will brainstorm. Shortly earlier calving, the udder will begin to tighten. This tightening is the udder filling with colostrum. Colostrum is the offset milk and it contains antibodies that assistance protect newborn calves from disease.

When the cow is ready to requite birth, the muscles effectually her hips will begin to relax and may announced every bit if they are sinking. The vulva changes color and is virtually apparent with lighter skin colors. For example, a light pinkish colour will alter to a darker pinkish color. Perhaps more noticeably, the vulva will slap-up. The udder will feel full and tight at this indicate. The cow volition also refuse feed and move away from the herd.

The get-go sign that the female is in labor is the appearance of the water bag. Within a short period of fourth dimension, the front end feet and nose of the newborn should appear. This will progress as the female pushes to expel the newborn. Once the calf is built-in, the mother should begin licking to dry out off the newborn and encourage the calf to stand and nurse.


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

Typically, most beefiness cows calve on pasture and require little assistance. If assistance is required, inexperienced producers should consult a veterinary or an experienced producer for assistance. Assistance may be required if a dogie has not been delivered within half dozen hours of the water handbag actualization or if the moo-cow is institute straining and the h2o pocketbook appears to have already been ruptured. Always use caution when trying to work with or around laboring cows or cows that have recently delivered. Dams will defend their young well confronting predators but may turn this aggression on an unsuspecting man trying to tag or examine a new calf too.

Pay shut attention to newborns for the first couple days after birth. Mothers should exist attentive to newborns and willing to stand for newborns to nurse. Newborns should stretch when they stand and appear alarm. Newborns that weep for their mother or blitz to nurse as shortly as they get up likely are non receiving enough milk. Weak calves may require feeding with a tube. Consult a veterinarian or an experienced producer for assist.


A good beef cow should immediately tend to her calf without interference. Photo credit: Wendall Landis, Penn State Beef Barn Director

Feeding and Nutrition

All animals require water, protein, carbohydrates and fats (to provide energy), vitamins, and minerals in their daily diet. These may come from a variety of sources but should exist balanced to meet nutritional requirements. Nutrient requirements alter throughout an animal's lifetime and reflect its stage of product: growth, maintenance, breeding, pregnancy, or lactation (milk production).

Forages such as pasture and hay oft meet requirements for mature animals, but they may not meet requirements for fast-growing animals. Therefore, additional protein or energy sources may demand to exist added to the ration to meet requirements of young, rapidly growing cattle.

Boosted protein requirements may be met with better quality hay or through sources such as soybeans, soybean meal, or distillers grains. Additional free energy requirements may be met with a variety of grain sources, simply 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 10 inches tall. Animals should rotate out of a pasture by the fourth dimension the provender has been grazed down to four inches. This not only provides loftier-quality feed for the animals but also helps maintain healthy plants.

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

Health Problems

A good indicator of healthy cattle is their body condition. Body status for beef cattle is scored on a 9-betoken scale with one being emaciated and nine beingness obese.

Breeding females should be maintained at an average body condition score of five to vi. Animals with decreasing body condition scores, or that are losing weight, indicate a potential health outcome.

The kickoff step to keeping animals healthy is to preclude diseases from entering the subcontract. Implementing biosecurity practices can help proceed diseases off the farm. Whatever new beast that arrives at the farm—and animals that leave the subcontract and return—should be quarantined from other animals for three to 4 weeks. In addition, irresolute shoes and wearable afterwards visiting locations where yous had contact with other cattle tin can help prevent bringing diseases to your farm. Visitors to the subcontract should be asked to either disinfect their shoes or wear plastic dispensable boots.

All producers should form a relationship with a veterinary. This veterinary-client-patient human relationship allows the veterinarian to become familiar with your farm direction practices and your animals and to more quickly address any health issues within your herd.

Internal and External Parasites

While nigh beef cattle systems do not experience production losses directly as a outcome of parasites, it is partly because they are very like shooting fish in a barrel to treat and forbid in beefiness cattle. Broad-spectrum antiparasitics tin can be applied as a pour-on or an injectable production. Many beef cattle producers choose pour-on products because they are easy to apply and fairly constructive.

Additional internal parasites that may affect beef cattle include worms and coccidia. External parasites that may touch on beef 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 keep them healthy. Photograph credit: Melanie Barkley, Penn Land Extension

Abortion Diseases

Perhaps more disquisitional than the parasites themselves are the impacts they may have on reproductive operation. Several parasites that affect cattle can cause abortions. For example, anaplasmosis causes an anemia so severe that cattle may abort. It is nigh commonly spread by bitter insects like ticks; however, because it is a bloodborne illness, humans may play a office in infecting cattle by reusing contaminated needles and castration and dehorning equipment.

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

Several other diseases may also cause abortions in cattle. Some of the common diseases that cause abortions can be prevented with a vaccine for viruses like bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) and infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR). Work with your veterinary to institute a good vaccination plan for your beef cattle herd.

Pes Health

A major reason for implementing biosecurity measures is to prevent highly contagious, hard-to-eradicate problems such as hairy heel wart, also known every bit digital dermatitis. Many beef cattle producers are noting an increase in the prevalence of digital dermatitis in herds across the state. Digital dermatitis is difficult to eradicate and tin can cause severe lameness. If your herd becomes infected, it is time consuming and expensive to treat infected animals and eradicate the affliction. Treatment requires hoof trimming and antibiotics, thus veterinary oversight is required.

In addition to digital dermatitis, human foot wellness can be impacted by poor nutrition. Cracked 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 bachelor for beef cattle. When choosing a marketplace, you lot must decide whether your operation will focus on selling alive animals or marketing meat. Many producers in the eastern United States focus on directly marketing of their beefiness cattle as freezer beef or retail beefiness cuts due to the access to consumers. Alternatively, many larger producers may focus simply on selling finished cattle to a large meat packer.


Left: Many beef producers choose to sell beef past the side or the quarter. Photograph credit: Dr. Tara Felix, Penn State Extension

Right: Steaks are a pop consumer pick, only selling private cuts requires a proper license. Photo credit: Dr. Tara Felix, Penn Country Extension

Keep in mind that country laws prohibit a producer from selling meat unless the beast was candy in a USDA-inspected facility. Therefore, the producers ofttimes sell calves live and the customer would brand cut arrangements with the processing facility. Many producers likewise provide the service of delivering the animals to a local processing facility.

Other options for beef cattle include marketing convenance stock, feeder calves to the feedlot, or market place animals for inferior shows. Breeding stock are typically purebred animals and may be marketed direct from the farm and through a registered sale. Many states operate a bull examination, assuasive producers to pay to have their bulls adult alongside other young bulls and enter a larger sale at the end of the test. Work with your local extension educator to determine the all-time markets for your operation.

Conclusion

Raising beef cattle tin be a rewarding farming enterprise. Very few beefiness cattle operations are identical to one another, allowing producers a variety of opportunities to develop a program that uniquely suits their lifestyle and farming enterprise. This brief introduction just touches on a few of the aspects to think almost when considering a beef cattle enterprise. Before offset your own enterprise, seek the communication of your extension educator or experienced beef cattle producers in your area.

For more than data well-nigh beefiness cattle, visit Penn Land Extension Beefiness Cattle

Many opportunities be for beef cattle producers. This publication covers basic concepts related to raising these animals. New and outset producers should seek further information on not only bones production practices simply as well nutrition, reproduction, and health in society to produce high-quality, healthy animals.

Then You Want to Raise Beef Cattle? This fact sheet may be used as a guide for beef cattle producers just getting started in the industry to larn:

  • How to decide what type of animate being y'all should raise
  • Almost the dissimilar breeds and how to select the right one for y'all
  • Where to purchase your animals
  • What to wait for as the ideal characteristics
  • What equipment you'll need to heighten your animals
  • How to breed and heighten your beef cattle
  • What to feed and how to care for your animals' health
  • What it takes to market your animals

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