I was in the fortunate position to visit the US to look at beef finishing and suckler cow units across the states of Texas, Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado recently.
My goal was to look at some of the most advanced enterprises in terms of nutrition and management. Ultimately, I was looking to understand the day to day challenges of the cowboy and how this compares to UK beef producers and most importantly, what is the relevance and transferable learnings that could be unearthed.
Breeding herds
Known in the US as cow calf units, like the UK, they are currently seeing a reduction in beef cow numbers which have fallen 9.3% over the past five years. Today’s national herd stands at 29.4m head, with Texas home to the biggest number at 4.3m.
Drought has been one of the main factors in the decline with one unit based in the vast sand hills of Nebraska, just north-west of North Platte, having culled all its cows over nine years of age and half of next year’s breeding heifers due to the extreme dry weather.
Fourth generation rancher Dan Kelly, from the Kelly Ranch said: “We just didn’t get rain last year and we couldn’t carry the numbers through the fall and winter.”
Dan’s unit runs 1200 breeding cows comprising mainly Angus genetics crossed with Simmentals where each cow with calf grazed 22 acres per year. Grazing a cow per 22-25 acres per is standard, and with above average rainfall recorded this year, animals were in good condition with most ranchers predicting higher weaning weights in their calves
Heifers are all synchronised and then AI’d to Angus bulls to calve at two years of age. Once calved, they run in groups with bulls of mixed ages with the younger bulls being leased from the breeder.
The Kelly family work closely with the University of Nebraska and have been looking at heifer weights at conception and the effect of this and what nutritional impacts are having on reaching full mature cow weights.
In Colorado, a name well-known in the UK through the Stabiliser beef breed is the Leachman Cattle Company, based at the foothills of the Rockies. Running herds of three maternal breeds of Angus, Red Angus, Stabiliser and Charolais as the terminal sire, the business sells stock and semen throughout the US. Charolais are all polled, of reduced bone but deeper bodied and of a slightly different type to the standard type of the breed used in the UK.
Feeding yards
The overwhelming scale of seeing cattle as far as your eye can see, all under the management of one business, is something that is awe-inspiring. I visited three sites, one in the Texas panhandle south of Amarillo under the employee owned Cactus Feeders; the privately owned North Platte Feeders in Nebraska and the massive Five Rivers Cattle business at their site at Kersley, Colorado.
Once you catch your breath and start taking it in, you have to remind yourself that while it’s just people and cattle, they have so much more. The US feed yards were generally started in the 1970’s and are located where they can access water and close to large slaughterhouses.
The only buildings on site are a feed mill, farm office, horse stables and the handling shed for processing cattle on arrival. Animals are mostly run in pens of 150 to 300 animals, with feeding cattle coming in from all corners of the US and Mexico at around 400kg. They are taken through to 600-700kg with surprising killing out percentages of 62.5-63%. Cattle carcases are cut between the 12th and 13th ribs to be USDA graded into four main groups with prime being best, followed by select and standard.
Management and attention to detail on these units is outstanding but is kept simple, understandable and easy to follow. One manger said they follow a system to feed, check and clean the cattle and if they improve how staff are doing their job, the performance of the cattle improves.
They start with the drinking water with people employed solely to attend to the water troughs which are emptied and cleaned every week. Cattle are fed fresh feed two or three times per day and cowboys on horseback go through each pen every day checking individual animals.
Attention to cattle feed intakes are a priority with total pen intakes recorded and detailed 24 hours per day. The time it takes cattle to clear feed bunkers is recorded, which allows the next feed ration to be adjusted to take into account weather conditions and reduce the amount of wastage. Maize makes up 60-70% of the diet, which it is heated and flaked alongside by-products from the bioethanol production, maize silage or Alfalfa with minerals and fats.
When animals arrive on site, they undertake animal health protocols and are batched in similar sizes according to their sex. From the day they enter, animals have a projected day of exit as they work on an expected performance depending on breed and weight.
A fundamental difference is the use of hormones, monensin and antibiotics. Some cattle are on what’s called an ‘All Natural’ system, meaning animals never receive any hormones or antibiotics and if any animal becomes sick and receives antibiotics it is removed from the system. Finished ‘All Natural’ cattle command a premium of in excess of £200 per head compared to the conventional price but there are mixed feelings about the system within the industry.
Apart from the pneumonia challenge faced by all, liver abscesses and brisket disease are commonly discussed. Liver abscess are reported to be found in more than 20% of full beef bred animals and in 30-40% in beef from dairy and pure dairy-bred steers. This is at a far higher level than being experienced in the UK where it is rarely discussed.
Brisket disease, (mountain sickness or pulmonary hypertension) has not only effected ranchers grazing cattle at high elevations but is also being seen in finishing animals in feed yards. It is called brisket disease as affected animals develop severe oedema in the neck and brisket, or are found dead.
Conclusions
The beef industry in the US is enjoying a real confidence boost going by current cattle pricing and although there are less suckler animals being bred, the feeling is that beef bred from the dairy herd can fill some of the void. Marbling came into the conversation several times to ensure the eating experience of US produced beef is a good one.
There are huge differences in beef production in the US and the UK, especially on government regulation and traceability as there is no national cattle identification database in the US. The UK can however learn from US beef producers on the basics of feed presentation and having a system to improve drinking water hygiene.
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