Feed Lot Magazine Online, Content Cattle Can Lead to More Quality Products

Where's the beef today? If the numbers are right, it's a part of nearly every meal. Consumers are reacting to improvements being made in the safety, quality, and wholesomeness of everything from hamburger to filet mignon, and are eating beef more than any other meat.

"The US beef industry is looking back down the chain from harvest to birth and instituting source-verification programs," said Robert Smith, DVM, a beef feedlot consultant and part-time professor of veterinary medicine at Oklahoma State University. "'Branded' beef products hold the industry accountable for animal care and meat quality because consumers know who produced the meat and under what circumstances it was produced."

With more and more beef producers joining quality-assurance programs developed by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and state cattle producer affiliates, better and safer beef is being produced. Alliances or marketing cooperatives, such as Nebraska Corn-Fed Beef, Ranchers Renaissance, and the Farmland Supreme Beef Alliance, put a name on the product. Consumers have responded with their pocketbooks--and their appetites. According to the USDA, per capita consumption of boneless beef reached 66 pounds in 1999.

Concerns about food safety have also had a major impact on beef consumption. Governmental regulations and proactive industry measures taken by groups like the Beef Industry Food Safety Council have greatly reduced the incidence of food-borne bacteria.

Great findings, says Dr. Smith, but all for naught unless our cattle are treated well. "Happy animals will produce better and will enable us to meet the increasing demand for beef and dairy products," he said. "Cattle deserve the best care possible, and consumers expect nothing less."

Stress--and its relationship to food safety and animal welfare--is a growing area of livestock research. Julie Morrow-Tesch, PhD, is a research leader with the USDA-ARS at Texas Tech University who is studying the behavior and physiology of feedlot cattle.

"Many of the respiratory deaths in feedlot cattle can be attributed to dust pneumonia," Dr. Morrow-Tesch said. "The level of dust on feedlots can be high, which springs the cattle's immune system into action and keeps it running on a constant basis."

Her research found that dust levels can be reduced by a simple change in feeding time. By nature, cattle want to eat at sunset. When the sun goes down and their feed bunk is empty, cattle find other methods of entertainment. In other words, they frolic in the pens and kick up dirt and manure. For practical reasons, nature and feedlot practices have not always coincided.

The alarm rings early for feed callers, with the first feeding done well before sunrise. When the clock strikes two in the afternoon, the workers have distributed the final ration and are ready to go home. Dr. Morrow-Tesch experimented with feeding times during her three-year-long study, taking away one mid-day feeding and adding one at the day's end. "If feed remained in their bunk at sunset, cattle ate and then rested," she noted. "Not only did their behavior change, but dust levels were also reduced."

In a second study in Lubbock, Texas, Dr. Morrow-Tesch used PVC pipe and cloth to give cattle access to shade, an unusual feature for most feedlots. The cattle reached their target weights 20 days sooner than did cattle without shade--a substantial savings to the producer, and a definite improvement in animal welfare.

"The cattle with shade showed fewer signs of stress. Their body temperature and respiratory rates were lower," Dr. Morrow-Tesch said. "When cattle are hot, they pant and drool; they go off feed. They're expending a lot of unnecessary energy."