Beef Tips

Category: March 2017

Avoid unpleasant surprises, monitor bull and estrous activity during the breeding season

by Bob Weaber, Ph.D., cow-calf specialist

Over the winter, I’ve had several discussions with extension agents and producers trying to sort out what went wrong last summer during breeding season. Although the ‘wreck’ happened last spring or summer, the high percentage of open cows wasn’t discovered until preg check or, worse yet, calving. Accurate diagnosis of the problem is difficult at this stage but the circumstances give us pause to consider our production system and the critical control points. All too often when producers and specialists talk about ‘fertility’ we gravitate to a discussion of reproductive failure in cows and subsequent culling or management strategies. It is, however, important to recognize the importance of bull fertility as well, especially in commercial operations that rely heavily on natural service sires. Continue reading “Avoid unpleasant surprises, monitor bull and estrous activity during the breeding season”

Decline in Brahman Breed Influence of Beef Calf Lots Marketed by Video Auction from 1995 to 2015

Objective: The objective was to characterize the potential change in the percentage of lots of beef calves with Brahman influence among calves originating from various regions of the United States marketed through summer video auctions from 1995 through 2015.

Study Description: Information describing factors about lots sold through a live­stock video auction service (Superior Livestock Auction, Fort Worth, TX) was ob­tained from the auction service in an electronic format. These data were collected for all lots of beef calves that were offered in 171 summer sales from 1995 through 2014. There were 80,574 lots (9,685,247 total calves) used in the analyses. Continue reading “Decline in Brahman Breed Influence of Beef Calf Lots Marketed by Video Auction from 1995 to 2015”

Steak Location Within the Semitendinosus Muscle Impacts Metmyoglobin Accumulation on Steaks During Retail Display

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine effects of steak location on muscle fiber type distribution and metmyoglobin accumulation of Semitendinosus (eye of round) steaks. Continue reading “Steak Location Within the Semitendinosus Muscle Impacts Metmyoglobin Accumulation on Steaks During Retail Display”

Coarse Marbled Beef is Juicier and More Flavorful Than Fine or Medium Marbled Beef

Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of marbling texture on trained sensory panel ratings of beef strip loin steaks of three USDA quality grades and three marbling textures.

Study Description: Top Choice, Low Choice, and Select strip loins (n = 117) were selected based on a visual marbling texture scale into fine, medium, and coarse tex­tured groups. Steaks were prepared to a medium (160°F) degree of doneness and served to groups of 8 trained panelists. Each panelist rated samples for initial and sustained juiciness, myofibrillar and overall tenderness, connective tissue amount, and beef flavor intensity. Continue reading “Coarse Marbled Beef is Juicier and More Flavorful Than Fine or Medium Marbled Beef”

Survey of Cattle Feedlot Facilities in the High Plains Region of the United States

Objective: Obtain descriptive data regarding outdoor cattle feeding facilities cur­rently used by feedlots in the High Plains region of the United States.

Study Description: Feedlots were randomly selected from an existing database con­taining contact information for feedlots located in the High Plains (Texas, Oklaho­ma, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska), with a minimum one-time capacity of 5,000 cattle. An individual electronic invitation was sent to feedlots to participate in the study. The survey was divided into 4 categories: general information; shipping and receiving area; cattle feeding pens; and hospital area. The survey was conducted during summer of 2015. Continue reading “Survey of Cattle Feedlot Facilities in the High Plains Region of the United States”

Intermittent Feeding of Tylan Reduces Use of In-Feed Antibiotics While Still Controlling Incidence of Liver Abscesses in Finishing Steers

Objective: To determine if it is feasible to control liver abscesses in feedlot cattle with intermittent feeding of Tylan, thereby decreasing overall antibiotic use.

Study Description: Treatments included a negative control group (no Tylan throughout finishing period), positive control group (Tylan fed continuously throughout finishing period), and a group that received Tylan on an intermittent basis (1 week on, 2 weeks off). Steers (n = 312, 908 ± 15 lb) were blocked by body weight, randomly assigned to treatment groups, and placed into 24 dirt-surfaced pens with 13 steers per pen. Pens were weighed every 28 days. After 119 days on feed cattle were shipped to a commercial abattoir for carcass data collection. Continue reading “Intermittent Feeding of Tylan Reduces Use of In-Feed Antibiotics While Still Controlling Incidence of Liver Abscesses in Finishing Steers”

Horn Fly Control and Growth Implants are Effective Strategies for Heifers Grazing Flint Hills Pasture

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare LongRange to an insecticidal ear tag for horn fly control and determine the impact of weight performance on stockers when fly control technologies were used in combination with implants versus no implants.

Study Description: Crossbred stockers (n = 301; 587.82 ± 35.36 lb) were completely randomized by initial weight across 15 pastures. Pastures were randomly assigned to three different treatment groups: 1) one insecticide ear tag (Corathon; Bayer Healthcare, Animal Health Division, Shawnee Mission, KS); 2) LongRange injectable (Merial Limited, Duluth, GA); and 3) untreated control group. Within each treatment group, equal number of animals were randomly given either: Ralgro (Merck Animal Health, Madison, NJ), Revalor-G (Merck Animal Health, Madison, NJ), or no implant. Body weights and fecal samples were taken on days 0 and 90. Fly counts began 2 weeks after initial treatment and continued on a weekly basis until the end of the study. Continue reading “Horn Fly Control and Growth Implants are Effective Strategies for Heifers Grazing Flint Hills Pasture”