Bovine Research Paper

In the US today cattle are part of everyday culture. With more than 93 million cattle in the dairy and beef industry, and tens of thousands in the rodeo business, cattle are definitely a huge part. Lately, there has been many concerns with the bovine friends along with multiple misconceptions. Rodeos may look tough on animals, and todays society is not educated well enough on the beef and dairy industry. People don’t realize that these animals are happy, healthy, and very well cared for.

According to Ohio State University, Brangus cows originated from Brahman and Angus cattle. Brangus cattle come in different colors such as red and black. The Brangus breed is actually a very muscular breed. Brangus have ears that are similar to Brahman, a little droopy. They have an appealing look, they have a smaller hump-like figure on their backs similar to a Brahman. Brangus cows can be a mix of one to three-quarters brahman, the rest Angus.

The beef industry is an important asset to United States agriculture as a whole. Over a million agricultural entities benefited from the sales of cattle and calves in the year 2000. Gross totals from sales of cattle and calves in 2000 totaled $40.76 billion accounting of 21% of all agricultural receipts making the beef sector the largest single agricultural enterprise. Direct and indirect employment in or related to the production and processing of beef supports over 1.4 million full-time-equivalent jobs in the US as well. Cattle are produced in all 50 states and their economic impact contributes to nearly every county in the nation and they are a significant economic driver (Lawerance and Otto, 2000).

The conditions in which meat livestock live in is not exactly that of a large open green field in which they are free to roam and be merry. In the Economist article, Cows down: The beef business (2008) the effects of the ill conditions cows talks of how a

“I’ve heard horse guys talk for years that if you have a good mare, you can breed her to anything,” Brett said. “If you have a mediocre mare, it doesn’t matter what you breed her to, you are going to have a mediocre colt. I think cows are the same way; you’ve got to have a good set of foundation cows that work in your environment.”

Throughout the years, cattle have been an important to the daily life of many people. Some examples that are used from cattle are the red meat that is known as beef, their skin can also serve as a protector from harmful weather and also used in clothing, also the hobby of showing cattle is widely known in the Americas. So, how does the world keep the growing demand of cattle stable?

This problem is an important issue around the world. In 2003 New Zealand even tried to put a tax on cow flatulence. In New Zealand cows and other livestock produce 34% of their greenhouse gasses. It is said that by 2030, the percentage of gas created by cows could be up by 60%. A cow is a type of animal called a ruminant. Ruminants eat their food and throw it up as cud. After they have thrown it up as cud they eat it again. Cows have four stomachs that they use for digestion and they digest similarly to humans. The stomach of a cow is filled with bacteria that helps them digest foods. Those bacteria also create massive amounts of methane. (1)

Cows generally have a lifespan of 25 years but the beef cows are slaughtered before the age of four. Many have their horns cut or burned off without any type of anesthesia or painkiller, they are also sometimes castrated by tearing their testicles from their body without any painkillers. During their lives their diet makes them susceptible to many diseases and on top of that they don't receive the proper veterinary care. Cattle in places like Montana, Nebraska, Texas, and Arizona freeze to death or die from heat stroke as the seasons pass due to neglect for their well being. Dairy cows don't fair much better in their lives. Many have large portions of their tails removed because of the false perception that it helps to keep their udders clean, and of course this occurs without the use of any type of painkiller. Calves are also torn away from their mothers only days after birth causing extreme traumatic stress to both mother and calf. Dairy cows usually only live about 5 years because their bodies give out from the neglect and living conditions. Their bodies are so run down that upon their death they can only be used for cat or dog food because humans wouldn't want to consume

Another way farmers make a living off of raising cows is selling them to be processed, where their meat is shipped to grocery stores nation wide to be sold.

Where do happy cows actually come from? Most of our minds create an image of large fields where cows and other animals are free to roam and graze. In reality, however, most farms today are actually large corporate factories, not the vast fields and red barns that most Americans imagine. These consolidated operations known as CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) are able to produce meats in high volume but have little to no regard for animal or human welfare, the environment, or food safety. CAFOs in the United States are able to produce and process these large amounts of meat year-round by providing sheltered farms for a range of livestock such as cattle, swine, and sheep. However, within these farms animals are

There are many instances in a farm cow’s life where it endures pain, starvation, neglect, and much more. For instance, cows are “raised, like pigs, on a concrete slab in a stall barely bigger than [their] body,” and stuck in two-foot by seven-foot crates to stop them from biting each other’s tails, killing, and eating their offspring (Solotaroff). These animals are confined to a small plot for their whole life unless farmers order them to exit, preventing them from grazing being free. Additionally, cows are fed inconceivable amounts of hormones and drugs, aimed to increase weight, boost milk production, and to depress them, to prevent retaliation from cows when led to slaughterhouses. Moreover, the food that the cattle consume in farms is unhealthy, to say the least. The grain they eat is littered with “[broken] light bulbs, used syringes, and the crushed testicles of their young,” which are unquestionably harmful for a cow to ingest, regardless of it having four stomachs (Solotaroff). Finally, cows are forced to exert all of their energy to allow for farm owners to receive more profit. Dairy cows involuntarily ingest hormones, allowing them to produce “nearly 22,000 pounds of milk a year,” which is “more than double of what [was] produced just 40 years ago” (Solotaroff). This equates to around 60 pounds of milk a day, or approximately 7 gallons. To maintain such a high standard of milk

When eating anything, most people check the labels to see what the food all consists of. Just like when eating hamburger, some people may want to know if the hamburger came from grass-fed or grain-fed cattle. Depending on the person, they might prefer one over the other. Some people may think that one tastes better than the other or they may just think it is healthier. Not only might the meat coming from the cattle be affected, but also the milk coming from a cow. Either way, further explanations for grass-fed vs. grain-fed cattle will be discussed in this paper.

Holy cow, I haven’t eaten any beef or any red meat in over thirteen years. When I first saw the topic of this essay to discuss the primary differences between grass fed and corn fed beef. I had thought to myself hmmm I was thinking all cows had just ate grass. I always thought cow’s were slow food because they ate grass but I wondered how so much beef was being produced so fast, but then I thought about all the chicken steroid stories. Cows are ruminants designed by nature to stay healthy and be totally sustained taking nourishment on grass and only grass. Cows, have stomachs that are designed to digest grass. But of demand and because cattle producers are so profit driven, their operations use the cheapest

The term cowboys, or vaqueros, originated as an attempt to raised and rounded up cattle in Texas. By 1860s, this cattle business, copied from the Mexicans, soon flourished with five million heads of cattle roaming freely over Texas greenlands. With the development of railroads into Kansas, Texas cattle industry was finally intertwined with the eastern markets of the nation. It all started with Joseph G. McCoy who built the first stockyard at Abilene, Kansas, to hold cattle bounded for Chicago. McCoy initiated the cattle system when he charged high prices from $30 to $50 per head. Soon, nearby towns and cities would engulf themselves in this profitable business, where they would leap up along the railroads to handle the millions of cattle driven

Beef is a popular meat amongst the North American population and is sold in many factory farms and ranches throughout the nation. From a young age, cattle are sent to slaughterhouses well before their natural lifespan. According to an organization named Last Chance For Animals, “Nearly all cows used for dairy in the U.S. are eventually slaughtered for human consumption”, (LCA).At an average of less than 5 years of age, exhausted cows are considered “spent” and sent to slaughter, and millions of them are eaten by Americans as hamburger. In a natural setting, a cow can live more than 20 years”, (LCA). Millions of cows are slaughtered every year, and are also growing in numbers. According to Farm Sanctuary, “In 2010, 34.2 million cattle were slaughtered for beef in the United States” (Sanctuary). The mass growth and selling of cow meat is largely responsible for the growth and death rate of the