Cattle feeding

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This article contains weasel words, vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. Such statements should be clarified or removed. (March 2009)

The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (March 2009)

Different cattle feeding production systems have separate advantages and disadvantages. Most cows have a diet that is composed of at least some forage (grass, legumes, or silage). In fact most beef cattle are raised on pasture from birth in the spring until autumn (7 to 9 months). Then for pasture-fed animals, grass is the forage that composes all or at least the great majority of their diet. Cattle fattened in feedlots are fed small amounts of hay or straw supplemented with grain, soy and other ingredients in order to increase the energy density of the diet. The debate is whether cattle should be raised on diets primarily composed of pasture (grass) or a concentrated diet of grain, soy and other supplements. The issue is often complicated by the political interests and confusion between labels such as "free range", "organic", or "natural". Cattle raised on a primarily forage diet are termed grass-fed or pasture-raised; for example meat or milk may be called grass-fed beef or pasture-raised dairy. However, the term "pasture-raised" can lead to confusion with the term "free range", which does not describe exactly what the animals eat.

Contents 1 Country Specific 1.1 Canada 1.2 United States 1.2.1 Style of Feeding 1.2.2 Use of Growth Stimulants 1.2.3 Hormone Implants 1.2.4 USDA label 1.3 Rest of World 2 Grass Fed 3 Corn Fed 4 Health and Nutrition 4.1 Fats 4.2 Antibiotics 5 Disease 5.1 E. coli 5.2 Mad Cow Disease 5.3 Campylobacter 6 Environmental concerns 7 Taste 8 See also 9 References

[edit] Country Specific

[edit] Canada

The majority of beef cattle in Ontario are finished on a corn (maize)-based diet, whereas Western Canadian beef is finished on a barley-based diet. This rule is not absolute, however, as producers in both regions will alter the mix of feed grains according to changes in feed prices. Research by the Ontario government claims that, while Alberta beef producers have organized a successful marketing campaign promoting Alberta's barley-fed beef, corn-fed and barley-fed beef have a similar cost, quality, and taste.^[1]

[edit] United States

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (U.S.D.A.) there are approximately 25,000,000 to 33,000,000 head of fed cattle that move through Custom and Commercial Cattle Feedyards annually. A "Cattle on Feed Report" is available for producers and consumers to view on a semi-annual basis provided by the U.S.D.A.

The fed cattle enterprise is a fairly large industry where millions of dollars move through these Custom and Private cattle feeding facilities every year. The business of feeding cattle is based on a commodity market mechanism. Both the corn and the cattle are bought and sold via commodity market prices. This makes for huge variations within the final outcome of profit and loss within the enterprise. However, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) provides producers with price protection in the form of Options or Hedges preventing much loss and volatility with the final outcome of the cattle feeding enterprise. Additionally, forward contracts and pre-paying for feedstuffs counteracts the variables in both raw commodities.

[edit] Style of Feeding

There are many segments of the USA cattle business.

1. Seed stock, where producers breed for improved genetics
2. Cow/calf, where ranchers and farmers raise cows and calves for commercial production
3. Stocker/grower, where producers place light weight calves on pasture, wheat or corn stocks
4. Grow yards/back grounding facilities, where high forage diets are fed to light weight feeder calves weighing 350 pounds (160 kg) to 500 pounds (230 kg) to be fed to the weight of 750 pounds (340 kg) to 900 pounds (410 kg) pounds
5. Custom/Commercial Finishing yards, where cattle are fed to harvest at the weight of 1,000 pounds (450 kg) to 1,500 pounds (680 kg) pounds. Once the fed cattle are sold for harvest they are shipped for processing and distribution to the consumer.

[edit] Use of Growth Stimulants

Antibiotics are routinely added to grain feed as a growth stimulant. Cattle consume 70% of the antibiotics in the United States.^[2] This practice widely contributes to the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including MRSA.^[3] Where MRSA once was contained to rare cases in hospitals, it is now becoming community-acquired due to its emergence in the feedlot^{[citation needed]}. This could in future pose a public health threat.

[edit] Hormone Implants

American regulators permit hormone implants on the grounds that no risk to human health has been proved, even though measurable hormone residues do turn up in the meat we eat. These contribute to the buildup of estrogenic compounds in the environment, which some scientists believe may explain falling sperm counts and premature maturation in girls. Recent studies have also found elevated levels of synthetic growth hormones in feedlot wastes; these persistent chemicals eventually wind up in the waterways downstream of feedlots, where scientists have found fish exhibiting abnormal sex characteristics.^[4]

The F.D.A. is opening an inquiry into the problem, but for now, implanting hormones in beef cattle is legal and financially irresistible: an implant costs $1.50 and adds between 40 and 50 pounds to the weight of a steer at slaughter, for a return of at least $25. ^[5]

[edit] USDA label

The United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) released a revised proposal for a grass fed meat label claim for its process-verified labeling program in May 2006. ^[6] The Union of Concerned Scientists, which in general supports the labeling proposal, claims that the current revision, which contains the clause "consumption of ... grain in the immature stage is acceptable", allows for "feed harvesting or stockpiling methods that might include significant amounts of grain" because the term "immature" is not clearly defined. ^[7]

On October 15, 2007 the USDA established a standard definition for the "grass fed" claim which requires continuous access to pasture and prevents animals from being fed grain or grain-based products.^[8]

[edit] Rest of World

This article is missing information about Europe, Australasia, Africa, Asia, etc.. This concern has been noted on the talk page where it may be discussed whether or not to include such information. (March 2009)

[edit] Grass Fed

Grass fed or pasture-fed cattle, grass and other forage compose most all or at least the great majority of the grass fed diet. The debate is whether cattle should be raised on diets primarily composed of pasture (grass) or a concentrated diet of grain, soy and other supplements. The issue is often complicated by the political interests and confusion between labels such as "free range", "organic", or "natural". Cattle raised on a primarily forage diet are termed grass-fed or pasture-raised; for example meat or milk may be called grass-fed beef or pasture-raised dairy. However, the term "pasture-raised" can lead to confusion with the term "free range", which does not describe exactly what the animals eat.

[edit] Corn Fed

Cattle in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are typically fed corn, soy and other types of feed that can include "by-product feedstuff". As a high-starch, high-energy food, corn decreases the time to fatten cattle and increases yield from dairy cattle. These cattle are called corn-fed or grain-fed. In the United States, most grass fed cattle are raised for beef production. Dairy cattle are usually supplemented with grain to increase the efficiency of production and reduce the area needed to support the energy requirements of the herd. A growing number of health and environmental proponents in the United States such as the Union of Concerned Scientists advocate raising cattle on pasture and other forage. Some^[who?] claim that the adoption of a grass-fed beef production system would dramatically increase the amount of land needed to raise beef.

[edit] Health and Nutrition

[edit] Fats

Most grass-fed cattle are leaner than feedlot beef, lacking marbling, which lowers the fat content and caloric level of the meat. Meat from grass-fed cattle also have higher levels of Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) and the Omega-3 fatty acids ALA, EPA, and DHA.^[9] While the research on CLA is unclear with regard to humans, it has shown many positive effects in animals in the areas of heart disease, cancer, and the immune system^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Antibiotics

Less intense population density is sometimes cited^[who?] as a reason for decreased antibiotic usage in grass-fed animals. However, bovine respiratory disease, the most common cause for antibiotic therapy has risk factors common in both forms of production (feedlot and pasture finished).^[10]

In dairy herds, grazed cattle typically have a reduced need for antibiotics relative to grain-fed cattle, simply because the grazed herds are less productive^{[citation needed]}. A high-energy feedlot diet greatly increases milk output, measured in pounds or kilograms of milk per head per day, but it also increases animal physiological stress,^{[citation needed]} which in turn causes a higher incidence of mastitis and other infectious disease, more frequently requiring antibiotic therapy.

There are two distinctions between the clinical and nonclinical use of antibiotics in cows. Clinical use of antibiotics refers to the treatment of cows due to sickness. However, corn-fed cattles draws attention to the nonclinical use of antibiotics. Antibiotics are used to promote growth and treat sick cattles, yet the cattles would not get sick if it was not fed a corn based diet that subjects them to diseases caused by malfunctioning of their rumen. ^[11]

[edit] Disease

[edit] E. coli

Escherichia coli, although considered to be part of the normal gut flora for many mammals (including humans), has many strains. Strain E. coli 0157:H7 is associated with human illness (and sometimes death) as a foodborne illness. A study by Cornell University ^[12] has determined that grass-fed animals have as much as 80% less of this strain of E. coli in their guts than their grain-fed counterparts, though this reduction can be achieved by switching an animal to grass only a few days prior to slaughter. Also, the amount of E. coli they do have is much less likely to survive our first-line defense against infection: stomach acid. This is because feeding grain to cattle makes their digestive tract abnormally acidic; over time, the pathogenic E. coli becomes acid-resistant.^[13] If humans ingest this acid-resistant E. coli via grain-feed beef, a large number of them may survive past the stomach, causing an infection.^[14] Since the Cornell study in 1998 many groups^[which?] have contested the results. A study by the USDA Meat and Animal Research Center in Lincoln Nebraska(2000) has confirmed the Cornell research.^{[15][dubious – discuss]}

[edit] Mad Cow Disease

Meat and bone meal can be a risk factor for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), when healthy animals consume tainted tissues from infected animals. People concerned about Creutzfeld-Jacob disease (CJD), which is also a spongiform encephalopathy, may favor grass-fed cattle for this reason. In the United States, this risk is relatively low as feeding of protein sources from any ruminant to another ruminant has been banned since 1997.^[16] The problem becomes more complicated as other feedstuffs containing animal by-products are still allowed to be fed to other non-ruminants (chickens, cats, dogs, horses, pigs, etc.). Therefore, at a feed mill mixing feed for pigs, for instance, there is still the possibility of cross-contamination of feed going to cattle.^{[citation needed]} Since only a tiny amount of the contaminating prion begins the cascading brain disease, any amount of mixed feed could cause many animals to become infected.^{[citation needed]} This was the only traceable link among the cattle with BSE in Canada that led to the recent US embargo of Canadian beef.^{[citation needed]} No cases of BSE have been reported so far in Australia.

Soybean meal is cheap and plentiful in the United States. As a result, the use of animal byproduct feeds was never common, as it was in Europe. However, U.S. regulations only partially prohibit the use of animal byproducts in feed. In 1997, regulations prohibited the feeding of mammalian byproducts to ruminants such as cows and goats. However, the byproducts of ruminants can still be legally fed to pets or other livestock such as pigs and poultry such as chickens. In addition, it is legal for ruminants to be fed byproducts from some of these animals.^[17] A proposal^{[weasel words]} to end the use of cow blood, restaurant scraps, and poultry litter (fecal matter, feathers) in January 2004 has yet to be implemented,^[18] despite the efforts of some advocates of such a policy^[who?], who cite the fact that cows are herbivores, and that blood and fecal matter could potentially carry BSE.

In February 2001, the USGAO reported that the FDA, which is responsible for regulating feed, had not adequately policed the various bans.^[19] Compliance with the regulations was shown to be extremely poor before the discovery of the Washington cow, but industry representatives report that compliance is now 100%. Even so, critics^[who?] call the partial prohibitions insufficient. Indeed, US meat producer Creekstone Farms alleges that the USDA is preventing BSE testing from being conducted.^[20]

[edit] Campylobacter

Campylobacter, a bacterium that can cause another foodborne illness resulting in nausea, vomiting, fever, abdominal pain, headache and muscle pain was found by Australian researchers to be carried by 58% of cattle raised in feed lots versus only 2% of pasture raised and finished cattle.^[21]

[edit] Environmental concerns

In arid climates such as the Southwestern United States, livestock grazing has severely degraded riparian areas, the wetland environment adjacent to rivers or streams. People^[who?] have long recognized that riparian zones and rivers are the lifeblood of the western landscape,^{[citation needed]} being more productive and home to more plants and animals than any other type of habitat^{[citation needed]}. Scientists^[who?] refer to riparian zones as hotspots of biodiversity, a characterization that is particularly apparent in arid and semiarid environments^{[citation needed]}, where such zones may be the only tree-dominated ecosystems in the landscape^{[citation needed]}. The presence of water, increased productivity, favorable microclimate, and periodic flood events combine to create a disproportionately higher biological diversity than that of the surrounding uplands.^[22]

[edit] Taste

The cow's diet affects the flavor of the resultant meat and milk. A 2003 Colorado State University study^[23] found that 80% of consumers in the Denver-Colorado area preferred the taste of United States corn-fed beef to Australian grass-fed beef, and negligible difference in taste preference compared to Canadian barley-fed beef.

Grass-fed beef is not standardized. Most is leaner than conventional feedlot beef, but some is equally marbled due to carefully managed grazing, excellent pastures, and improved genetics. Another technique for producing well-marbled grass-fed cattle is to keep the animals on pasture for two years or more. Most pasture-based ranchers dry-age the beef for 7–21 days, enhancing the flavor and tenderness of the meat.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

• Free range
• Fodder
• Hay

[edit] References

1. ^ "Virtual Beef Newsletter - Corn or Barley for feeding Steers". Omafra.gov.on.ca. 2004-08-20. http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/beef/news/vbn0804a3.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-08. 
2. ^ Mellon, M et al. (2001) Hogging It!: Estimates of Antimicrobial Abuse in Livestock, 1st ed. Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists.
3. ^ Our Decrepit Food Factories. New York Times Pollan December 16, 2007
4. ^ Pollan, Michael. (2002). Power steer. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/31/magazine/power-steer.html?pagewanted=7
5. ^ Pollan, Michael. (2002). Power steer. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/31/magazine/power-steer.html?pagewanted=7
6. ^ Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA (2006-05-12). "United States Standard for Livestock and Meat Marketing Claim, Grass (Forage) Fed Claim". The Federal Register. http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/E6-7276.htm. Retrieved 2006-08-02. 
7. ^ Clancy, Kate (presumably 2006-08-02). "What's At Stake?". Union of Concerned Scientists. http://ucsaction.org/campaign/8_2_06_grassfed_standard/explanation. Retrieved 2006-08-02. 
8. ^ "News room - Agricultural Marketing Service". Ams.usda.gov. 2008-10-31. http://www.ams.usda.gov/news/178-07.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-08. 
9. ^ http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/food_and_environment/greener-pastures.pdf, p. 58
10. ^ The medicine and epidemiology of bovine respiratory disease in feedlots. Australian veterinary journal Cusack 2003 vol:81 iss:8 pg:480-487 [1]
11. ^ Pollan, Michael. 2002. This Steer's Life. The New York Times Magazine March 31: 44-.
12. ^ Russel, James B. Rumen Microbiology and Its Role in Ruminant Nutrition. (Ithaca, NY: self published, 2002.)
13. ^ Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma. (New York: Penguin Press, 2006.) 82.
14. ^ Russel, J.B., F. Diez-Gonzalez, and G. N. Jarvis, "Potential Effect of Cattle Diets on Transmission of Pathogenic Eschericia coli to Humans" Microbes Infect 2, No.1 (2000) :45-53
15. ^ Tony Scott Klopfenstein, T., et al. 2000 Nebraska Beef Report,:39-41 PFD at eatwild.com
16. ^ "2004.01.26: Expanded "Mad Cow" Safeguards Announced To Strengthen Existing Firewalls Against BSE Transmission". Hhs.gov. 2004-01-26. http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040126.html. Retrieved 2009-11-08. 
17. ^ "Mad Cow USA | Center for Media and Democracy". Prwatch.org. http://www.prwatch.org/books/madcow.html. Retrieved 2009-11-08. 
18. ^ Organic Consumers Association
19. ^ "FDA Not Doing Enough to Prevent Mad Cow Disease?". Organicconsumers.org. 2001-02-26. http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/cnn22602.cfm. Retrieved 2009-11-08. 
20. ^ [2]^{[dead link]}
21. ^ Bailey,G. D.,B. A. Vanselow,et al.(2003). "A study of the Food Borne Pathogens: Campylobacter, Listeria and Yersinia, in faeces from slaughter-age cattle and sheep in Australia." Commun Dis Intell 27(2):249-57
22. ^ Kauffman,, J. Boone, Ph.D.. "Lifeblood of the West". http://www.publiclandsranching.org/htmlres/wr_lifeblood_west.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-08. 
23. ^ Wendy Umberger, Dawn Thilmany and Amanda Ziehl, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, Colorado State University. 2003. "Consumer Tastes & Preferences: What Research Indicates". http://dare.agsci.colostate.edu/aft/curriculum/3.1_cons_prefs.ppt