Where Does Most of the Usa Raised Beef Cattle Go
Asian-Australas J Anim Sci. 2018 Jul; 31(vii): 1007–1016.
Current state of affairs and time to come trends for beef production in the The states — A review
James S. Drouillard
iSection of Creature Sciences and Industry, Kansas State Academy, Manhattan, KS 66506, United states
Received 2016 Jun 8; Accepted 2018 Jun 8.
Abstruse
USA beefiness production is characterized by a diversity of climates, environmental conditions, animal phenotypes, management systems, and a multiplicity of nutritional inputs. The Usa beef herd consists of more than than 80 breeds of cattle and crosses thereof, and the industry is divided into distinct, but oftentimes overlapping sectors, including seedstock production, cow-calf production, stocker/backgrounding, and feedlot. Exception for male dairy calves, production is predominantly pastoral-based, with young stock spending relatively brief portions of their life in feedlots. The beef industry is very technology driven, utilizing reproductive management strategies, genetic improvement technologies, exogenous growth promoting compounds, vaccines, antibiotics, and feed processing strategies, focusing on improvements in efficiency and price of production. Young steers and heifers are grain-based diets fed for an average of v months, more often than not in feedlots of 1,000 head capacity or more, and typically are slaughtered at fifteen to 28 months of age to produce tender, well-marbled beefiness. Per capita beef consumption is near 26 kg annually, over half of which is consumed in the form of footing products. Beef exports, which are increasingly important, consist primarily of high value cuts and variety meats, depending on destination. In recent years, agin climatic weather condition (i.east., draught), a shrinking agricultural workforce, emergence of food-borne pathogens, concerns over development of antimicrobial resistance, animal welfare/well-being, environmental touch on, consumer perceptions of healthfulness of beefiness, consumer perceptions of nutrient animal production practices, and alternative uses of traditional feed grains have become increasingly important with respect to their impact on both beef production and demand for beef products. Similarly, changing consumer demographics and globalization of beefiness markets take dictated changes in the types of products demanded by consumers of USA beef, both domestically and abroad. The manufacture is highly adaptive, however, and responds quickly to evolving economic signals.
Keywords: Beef, Production Systems, Growth Promotion, Carcass Quality
INTRODUCTION
Beef production systems in the Usa are characterized by a wide range of climates, environmental conditions, animal phenotypes, management practices, and a multiplicity of nutritional inputs. In contrast to international perceptions, U.s.a. product systems are, with the notable exception of male person dairy calves, predominantly pastoral-based, with young stock typically spending relatively cursory portions of their life in confinement facilities for finishing on high-concentrate diets. Beef production at the moo-cow-calf level is widely distributed, and exists in all 50 states, spanning the range from tropical savannah to Arctic tundra, temperate plains, and mount pastures. Vast differences in geographies and climatic conditions necessitate the use of a broad spectrum of brute phenotypes that are suited to these environments, encompassing both Bos taurus and Bos indicus breeds and crosses thereof. The feedlot phase of production, which usually is between 100 and 300 days duration, is heavily concentrated within the interior of the continental USA, and relies heavily on cereal grains and grain byproducts produced inside this area every bit predominant feed resource, and feedlot cattle most unremarkably are marketed at ages ranging from xv to 28 months. Production of beefiness in the U.South. historically has been very engineering science driven, utilizing reproductive management strategies, genetic comeback technologies, exogenous growth promoting compounds, vaccines, antibiotics, and feed processing strategies, all of which focused on improving efficiency and(or) decreasing cost of beef production. In more recent years, adverse climatic conditions (i.east., draught), a shrinking agronomical workforce, control of food-borne pathogens, concerns over development of antimicrobial resistance, animal welfare, animal well-being, environmental touch on of confinement feeding operations, consumer perceptions of healthfulness of beef, consumer perceptions of food brute production practices, and alternative uses for traditional feed grains have become increasingly important with respect to their touch on on both beef production and demand for beef products. Similarly, changing consumer demographics and globalization of beef markets have dictated changes in the types of products demanded from producers of U.S. beef. Beef product systems are thus increasingly dynamic in their nature, and poised to exploit new market opportunities past altering product practices to meet changing consumer demands.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF U.Due south. Cow-CALF OPERATIONS AND FEEDLOTS
As of January 31, 2018, full United states of america inventory of beefiness cows was estimated at 31.7 million head, with cow-calf operations in all fifty states [1]. The beef cow inventory fluctuates considerably from year to year, as shown in Figure i, and can be influenced heavily by market conditions and environmental factors, such as persistent draught conditions. In the United states of america, about 320 million hectares are used for livestock grazing [ii], which is equivalent to 41% of the total state area of the continental Usa. Approximately 55% of all beef cows are maintained in the Central region of the continental Us [3], which is characterized past vast native grasslands and expansive production of row crops such as corn, soybeans, wheat, grain sorghum, and other crops. Roughly 20% of the national herd is in the Western region, ordinarily utilizing expansive land areas that are federally owned and leased to beefiness producers past government agencies. The Southeastern region, often typified past smaller production units that rely heavily on improved pastures, also is home to approximately 20% of the national herd. The remaining 5% are interspersed throughout the Northeast, Alaska, and Hawaii. Each of these regions makes use of very different systems of beef production, owing to a divergent range of climates and feed resources in each area. For instance, western herds ofttimes utilize federal lands for grazing in the bound and summertime, and cattle then are removed from federal lands and overwintered on privately-owned pastures and/or fed harvested forages until the beginning of the next grazing bicycle. By dissimilarity, operations in the Primal region frequently make use of a mixture of native grass pastures, crop residues, harvested forages, and protein concentrates to sustain their moo-cow herds.
US beef moo-cow inventory on Jan ane, from 1938 to 2018. Source: Us Department of Agriculture [1].
Feedlots, unlike cow-calf operations, are far more concentrated geographically, with over 72% of feedlot product occurring in the v-country expanse [iv] of Nebraska (xix.viii%), Texas (xviii.9%), Kansas (17.5%), Iowa (9.0%), and Colorado (seven.ane%). Concentration of feedlots in this area is largely driven by admission to cereal grains and grain byproducts that predominate the diets of finishing cattle. Other important regions for cattle feeding take developed throughout the country in response to availability of low-cost feedstuffs, particularly byproduct feeds. For case, the Washington-Idaho region is a major site for product and processing of potatoes, fruits, and vegetables as foods for humans. Cattle feeding operations have developed in response to availability of large quantities of candy food residues in this region, and represent an important means for disposal of these byproducts, thereby creating boosted value to the food chain.
CATTLE BREEDS USED FOR Beefiness PRODUCTION IN THE Usa
The Usa beef herd is very heterogeneous in nature, consisting of more than 80 breeds and crosses thereof, and reflecting the diversity of environments in which they are produced. According to the almost recent report on breed registrations past the National Pedigreed Livestock Council [five], member breed associations with the greatest number of registrations were Angus, Hereford, Simmental, Red Angus, Charolais, Gelbvieh, Brangus, Limousin, Beefmaster, Shorthorn, and Brahman. While this list gives some sense of the diversity of cattle types in the U.S., most cattle fed for slaughter really are crossbreds, with sixty% or more than having some caste of Angus influence. Dairy breeds, nigh notably Holsteins, also make upward a substantial portion of United states of america feedlot cattle, with as many as 3 to iv million dairy calves being fed in USA feedlots each twelvemonth.
U.s.a. SYSTEM FOR Beef PRODUCTION
The USA system of beef product is highly segmented, frequently resulting in several changes of ownership between the time animals are weaned and slaughtered. Seedstock operations primarily produce bulls that are used to service cows in commercial cow-dogie operations. The primary production of cow-calf operations is weaned calves, which are sold to stocker operators, backgrounding lots, or feedlots. Figure 2 illustrates the possible paths that animals may take through the beef production chain earlier beingness slaughtered. Calves from cow-dogie operations generally follow one of two paths. They tin be transferred directly to feedlots at or around the time of weaning, in which case they are referred to as "calf-feds" that remain in the feedlot for 240 days or more before being harvested. Calf-fed may make up 40% or more of the fed cattle population in the USA. The largest share of the calf population, usually sixty% or more, is first placed into a backgrounding or stocker functioning, or a combination thereof, to be grown for a period of time earlier fattened on high-concentrate diets. These animals are grown mostly using provender-based diets and then transferred to feedlots when they are a year or more of historic period, and thus are referred to as "yearlings". Stocker (grazing) and backgrounding (drylot) systems rely heavily on forages as the predominant component of the diet, supplementing protein, free energy, vitamins, and minerals as needed to optimize cattle performance. A relatively small proportion of backgrounded cattle are grown at pocket-size rates of gain using limit-feeding programs in which they are fed high-concentrate diets, similar to a high-energy finishing diet, only in restricted amounts to prevent premature fattening.
Schematic for flow of cattle through the U.S. beefiness production chain, illustrating direct entry from cow-calf and dairy operations into feedlots (blueish lines) and abattoirs (blood-red lines), or post-obit a growing phase (imperial lines) carried out in specialized facilities (calf ranches, backgrounding operations, or stocker operations).
Male calves from dairies also constitute an important com ponent of the beef cattle market. These calves are gathered from dairies at an early historic period (commonly about three days) and transferred to specialized rearing operations known as dogie ranches. Calves typically are confined to individual stalls to foreclose intermingling, equally they are highly susceptible to disease at this stage of their lives. Calves are fed a combination of milk replacers, grain, and pocket-sized amounts of forage until weaning at 40 to 80 days of age, and then transferred to group housing within the same operation. These animals commonly are sold to feedlots when they accomplish a weight of approximately 150 to 200 kg.
Choose beef and dairy animals too contribute to the beef sup ply, and nearly commonly are shipped from seedstock, moo-cow-calf, or dairy operations straight to abattoirs for harvest. A relatively small and variable proportion is sent to feedlots to be fed high-free energy diets for 50 to 100 days before existence slaughtered. The number of cull animals that are fattened in feedlots before being slaughtered varies essentially from year to year, and is largely a function of the relationships between feed costs, beefiness supply, and beefiness demand.
Male cattle in the USA are well-nigh ever fed as steers, and abattoirs apply heavy discounts to intact males or males that display advanced secondary sex characteristics. Castration effectively decreases the occurrence of undesirable social behaviors and meat quality characteristics, such as dark, firm, and dry beefiness. Muscle from steers likewise contains less connective tissue than that from bulls, and steers eolith more intramuscular fat (marbling) than bulls. Castration can occur at various times between birth and after entry into feedlots, with the vast bulk being castrated before or virtually the age of weaning. A relatively small proportion is castrated after entry into feedlots, though this practise is heavily discouraged and significant discounts are practical to intact feeder cattle due to high morbidity rates in animals that are castrated at an avant-garde age. In terms of methodology, balderdash calves are near frequently castrated surgically or by banding.
Heifers fed in feedlots constitute approximately 28% to 30% of beef supply in the Usa [iv]. Compared to steers, however, most feedlot heifers are fed intact, and while some are ovariectomized, it is far more common to feed melengestrol acetate (a synthetic grade of progesterone) to inhibit estrus beliefs.
Market place atmospheric condition at the time of weaning tin greatly im pact the historic period at which cattle are placed into feedlots. Size of the national herd is cyclical in nature, attributable to fluctuations in weather (such as extended draught periods), and fluctuating prices. When overall size of the national beef herd is relatively depression, fewer animals are bachelor, creating competition between stocker and backgrounding operations and feedlots for supply of cattle. Relationships between prices of grain and forages also tin influence age of entry into feedlots. When costs for pasture and harvested forages are low in comparison to grains, producers take incentive to grow cattle before placing them into feedlots. By contrast, when grain prices are low relative to prices for forages, a greater proportion of eligible animals may enter the feedlot directly.
Atmospheric condition also plays a very significant role in the age at which cattle are placed into feedlots. Environmental temperatures and precipitation patterns manifestly impact both quantity and quality of forages produced, so it stands to reason that adverse climatic atmospheric condition tin influence elapsing of the grazing season, and as a event the proportion of cattle that are marketed as calves versus equally yearlings. For example, several meg cattle normally are grazed on minor grain pastures in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas in the autumn and winter each year. In the absence of acceptable rainfall, poor provender yield may dictate premature termination of the grazing season, in which example cattle are transferred to feedlots to be fed. The same is true for native grass pastures that are grazed in the jump, summer, and fall. Drought conditions can force producers to market cattle early, as they frequently have limited feed reserves. Regardless of cause, the organization of merchandising cattle is very dynamic, responding quickly to marketplace conditions.
Prices paid for slaughter cattle in the U.South. are influenced by historic period, quality class, yield form, and weight. The U.s.a. quality grading system takes into business relationship age, as determined by bone ossification patterns, color of lean tissue, and the amount of intramuscular fat (marbling). Increased intramuscular fatty deposition increases class, and premiums are paid for cattle that have high intramuscular fat content. Yield class is a measure of fatness that accounts for increases in fat within the subcutaneous, intermuscular, and peritoneal regions of the carcass. Animals that deposit excesses of fat in these areas generally have poor red meat yield, and prices are discounted appropriately. Weight of carcasses too is an important determinant of value, equally carcasses that are less than 250 kg or more 430 kg are subject to substantial discounts. Given the loftier correlation between intramuscular fatty and other fat depots, securing high marketplace value requires that cattle be fed long enough to achieve sufficient (only not excessive) trunk fat, produce carcasses ranging in weight from 250 to 430 kg, and exercise and then at fewer than 30 months of historic period. Consequently, there are limitations with respect to the ability to shift cattle into different product scenarios. For example, cattle that are heavily influenced past British-breed ancestry oft are smaller framed, and therefore benefit from extended growing programs that permit for skeletal growth and muscle deposition before fattening, thereby ensuring that they achieve desired market weights at appropriate fatness. Initiating the feedlot phase likewise early on in the life of the animals tin can predispose them to premature fattening, low carcass weights, or both. This is particularly truthful for heifers, which comprise a substantial portion of the fed cattle population in the USA. Alternatively, large-framed phenotypes that are typical of breeds from continental Europe can produce carcasses with excessive weights if grown for extended periods of time earlier finishing in feedlots. These animals are well-suited to the calf-fed feedlot system in which they are placed into feedlots directly after weaning.
The segmented nature of the beef industry in the United states is an important distinction from the vertical integration commonly associated with other meat animal production systems such equally pork and poultry. While there is a relative absence of vertical integration in the beefiness supply chain, there are increasingly attempts for producers representing the various production segments to marshal vertically with other segments via supply agreements. The value of, or necessity for, vertical alignment is particularly evident with branded beef programs. For example, marketing of some branded beef products is based on the premise of no antibiotic or steroidal hormone use throughout the lifetime of the creature, requiring that purveyors have command over production methods employed through each phase of production in order to ensure compliance. This oftentimes is achieved using supply agreements that reward producers with premiums for producing animals that encounter specifications of the branded beefiness program.
USE OF GROWTH PROMOTING TECHNOLOGIES IN U.Southward. Beef Product SYSTEMS
Beef producers in the Us historically have been very engineering science driven. Examples of this include strategic supplementation of forage-based diets to fulfill beast requirements for protein, energy, vitamins, or minerals. Several key classes of growth promotants also are used widely, either as feed additives or as hormone-impregnated implants that are inserted below the peel of the ears.
Steroidal-based growth implants have been used in the The states for decades, thus making it possible to regain some of the growth-promoting effects of endogenous hormones that are lost as a event of castration. Implants employ estrogenic (estradiol or zeranol) and androgenic (testosterone or trenbolone acetate) components, or combinations thereof. Steroidal implants stimulate feed intake and protein degradation, and have dramatic impact on cattle operation and efficiency of feed utilization. Their use is very widespread, encompassing both growing and finishing phases of product. They are most heavily used in confinement operations, including backgrounding operations and feedlots. Notable exceptions are branded beef programs that disqualify their use, such equally natural, organic, or non-hormone treated cattle programs aimed at specific value-added markets.
Similarly, antibiotics have been widely used in USA cattle production systems. Ionophore antibiotics, the near common of which are monensin and lasalocid, are used widely for beef production in the USA, both for control of coccidiosis and for improving feed efficiency. Feed additive forms of tetracyclines and macrolide antibiotics take been used extensively in the United States. Starting in January, 2017, the Us Food and Drug Administration imposed new regulations that prohibit sub-therapeutic feeding of medically-important antibiotics [half-dozen], which includes oxtetracyline, chlortetracycline, and the macrolide antibody, tylosin. These drugs now are restricted for use simply in the treatment or prevention of disease, and must exist prescribed by a veterinary. Changes in the regulatory status of these compounds has spawned an unprecedented interest in alternative production methods and inquiry aimed at reducing or eliminating antibiotics from nutrient creature production systems, specially for compounds that are deemed medically of import for man health. Essential oils, minerals, prebiotics, and probiotics are amongst the many product categories that are now being evaluated as alternatives to traditional antibiotics for promotion of growth and efficiency.
Beta adrenergic receptor agonists are used extensively in diets of feedlot cattle to stimulate musculus accretion. Beta agonists are not-steroidal, and they stimulate muscle accession by increasing protein synthesis and decreasing poly peptide catabolism. The beta adrenergic agonist, ractopamine hydrochloride, was approved for use in cattle starting in 2003. Zilpaterol was approved for employ in the The states in 2008, and though more potent than ractopamine, zilpaterol it is now seldom used due to restrictions imposed past major abattoir companies. Ractopamine is administered to cattle during the last 28 to 42 days before slaughter, and though the verbal number of cattle fed ractopamine is not known, information technology is used by the vast majority of USA feedlots. A recent survey of feedlot nutritionists [vii] revealed that approximately 85% of feedlots represented in the survey use beta agonists.
Constructed progestin (melengestrol acetate) is fed to synchro nize estrus in breeding herds, peculiarly where artificial insemination is used. Information technology is estimated that fewer than 10% of beefiness females are bred past artificial insemination, so the greatest use of synthetic progestin is in feedlots, where they are included in the nutrition to suppress heat in heifers that are fed in solitude for slaughter. Feeding progestin aids in minimizing concrete injuries attributable to sexual behaviors in which animals mountain one some other, and also improves efficiency of feed utilization. Melengestrol acetate is not approved for utilize in male bovines.
THE FEEDLOT SECTOR
The most recent census of agriculture [3] reported an estimated 26,586 feedlots in the USA. Of these, approximately 61% have fewer than 100 cattle. Approximately 77% of cattle were produced in feedlots with chapters greater than ane,000 animals. These feedlots exist throughout the The states, only by far the heaviest concentration of cattle finishing occurs in the Great Plains region, which is generally characterized past a semi-arid, temperate climate that is well-suited to cattle production. Approximately ii thirds of U.s. feedlot cattle production is concentrated within the states of Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas. Logically, large abattoirs also are concentrated inside this region. Crop production in this geography is heavily dependent on groundwater from the underlying Ogallala aquifer, which is used extensively for irrigation of corn, wheat, sorghum, and other crops.
FEEDLOT FINISHING DIETS
Energy content of finishing diets, expressed as net energy for gain (NEg), typically ranges from 1.50 to 1.54 Mcal/kg. Consequently, diets of feedlot cattle consist primarily of cereal grains and cereal grain byproducts. Corn is by far the predominant cereal grain. Wheat, which generally is regarded every bit a human food ingather, frequently is used to displace a portion of corn in feedlot diets. Its use typically is restricted to certain times of the year when wheat prices are depression in comparison to corn, such as immediately following wheat harvest. Wheat and barley are, however, the predominant grains used by feedlots in the Pacific Northwest. Sorghum is an of import cereal crop produced in the semi-barren states of Kansas and Texas, and to a lesser extent Oklahoma, Colorado, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Though regarded as beingness nutritionally inferior to corn, information technology besides is incorporated into feedlot diets when economic weather favor its use.
Feedlots are opportunistic users of a broad range of past product free energy feeds. Cereal grain byproducts accept become increasingly important as staples of feedlot cattle diets, peculiarly in the interior of the continental USA where corn and sorghum production prevail. The almost important of these is distiller'south grain, which is a byproduct of fuel ethanol production from cereal grains. Distiller's grains can exist fed either as wet or dried co-products, the form of which is dictated by proximity of feedlots to ethanol production facilities. Growth of the fuel ethanol industry between 2000 and 2007 represented an unprecedented period of modify for the United states beef industry, during which traditional feedstuffs (i.eastward. grains) reached historically high prices while distiller's grains increased dramatically in affluence. This was cause for major shifts in composition of feedlot diets. Moisture corn gluten feed (approximately 60% dry out matter), which is derived as a byproduct from the production of corn sweeteners and starches, also is widely used in the feedlot sector. Distiller's grains, gluten feed, and other byproducts most unremarkably comprise between 10% and 40% of the diet dry thing for feedlot cattle. Big differentials in pricing between grain and grain byproducts occasionally dictate much greater rates of inclusion, with concentrations of byproducts reaching 70% or more of diet dry matter in some circumstances. Other byproducts are used as well, including choose potatoes or irish potato processing wastes (predominantly in the Pacific Northwest), fruit and vegetable byproducts, byproducts from sugar refining, and co-products derived from milling of wheat and processing of soybeans. Many of these byproduct feeds also contain intermediate to loftier concentrations of protein, thus making information technology possible to readapt all or a portion of the oilseed meals (soybean, cottonseed, sunflower, canola, and others) traditionally used to satisfy protein requirements of cattle. Consequently, dietary protein often is fed in excess, which has potentially of import ecology implications. Byproduct feeds typically contain more phosphorus than the cereal grains that they replace, further contributing to environmental challenges associated with confined animal feeding operations.
Forages normally constitute a relatively small-scale fraction of feedlot diets, and are used primarily to promote digestive health. Alfalfa hay and corn silage are the most ordinarily used roughages. Increased reliance on byproduct feeds in recent years has made information technology economically feasible to use low protein roughages in feedlot diets, including corn stalks, wheat harbinger, and other low-value crop residues. Forage content of finishing diets typically is in the range of 6% to 12% [7].
Production AND DISPOSITION OF BEEF
The objective of USA feedlots is to produce beef from immature cattle (<xxx months of age) with ample tenderness and with relatively loftier intramuscular fat content. The USA system of beefiness quality grading rewards feedlots for production of highly marbled beef, but likewise discourages over-fattening of cattle through classification of carcasses into one of five yield form categories. Animals that yield carcasses in higher yield grade categories (iv or v) generally incur heavy market penalties. Size of carcasses also is of import, and abattoir companies by and large apply heavy price discounts for undersized (<250 kg) or oversized (>430 kg) carcasses.
The beefiness slaughter industry in the Usa is heavily concen trated, with only 4 firms bookkeeping for more than 80% of the beef slaughter capacity. Virtually of the beefiness they process is distributed in boxed form, a significant portion of which is exported to other countries. Domestic beef product in 2017 was 11.98 million metric tonnes, approximately 10.6% (1.26 million tonnes) of which was exported [eight], either equally variety meets or as loftier-quality beef products. The largest volume consign markets for USA beefiness in 2017 were Japan (24.3%); Mexico (xviii.8%); Republic of korea (14.6%); Hong Kong (10.4%), Canada (9.two%); and Taiwan (iii.five%). Exports were roughly beginning by imports (1.36 one thousand thousand tonnes), with Canada (24.7%), Australia (23.ii%); United mexican states (xix.2%), and New Zealand (xviii.6%) making upwardly the vast majority of imported beef (and veal) products.
Per capita beef consumption of beefiness in the USA in 2017 was 25.viii kg [9], and consumption is expected to be slightly higher or stable through 2027 [10]. It is estimated that 57% of the beefiness consumed is in the form of footing products [11]. Imported products, peculiarly from Australia, are important in fulfilling the increasing demand for basis beef products.
Hereafter TRENDS IN THE Beefiness Manufacture
Domestic demand for beefiness products is expected to remain stable. Consequently, export markets are increasingly recognized as being an of import target for increasing need for United states beef products. OECD/FAO estimates of i.five% annual increases in demand for meat products through 2026 [10] are cause for optimism amid producers. Though information technology is projected that nigh of this demand will be fulfilled by increases in production of poultry products, it is likely that all meat sectors will benefit to some degree.
At that place is a growing tendency within the Usa for big purveyors of meat products to exert influence on livestock producers, encouraging them to implement product practices that are perceived as being in line with consumer interests. Among the major players are slaughter-house companies, wholesalers, grocery bondage, the hotel and restaurant industries, and others. Topics such as sustainability, animal welfare/wellbeing, environmental compatibility, traceability, antimicrobial resistance, apply of exogenous growth promotants, natural or organic production systems, and other areas are becoming increasingly mutual, and have emerged equally primal elements in marketing campaigns adopted by many major food companies. This evolution in thinking challenges conventional nutrient animal production systems, and is forcing rapid modify in production practices. As a upshot, the focal points of many inquiry programs beyond the The states have shifted to encompass these topics.
USA beefiness producers have a long history of adapting quickly to changing market signals in an effort to capture added value. Branded beefiness programs, which constitute a course of vertical integration or alignment, are relatively commonplace. Mayhap the best known of these is the Certified Angus Beef program, which since its inception in 1978 has arguably transformed the USA beef manufacture as a result of substantial premiums paid to cattle producers for producing beef that fulfills sure quality standards. In excess of threescore% of cattle fed in the The states at present have some proportion of Angus ancestry, which is testimony to the success of the programme that is now recognized globally equally being consistent with quality. Numerous other programs have been spawned in the last 40 years, with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service now listing 90 unlike federal certification programs for beef, fourscore of which were conceived in the year 2000 or later. Scores of other non-certified branding programs have appeared at the consumer level as well, touting features such as omega-3 enrichment of beef; antibiotic free; hormone-costless; organic feeding programs; grass-fed programs, and others that are distinguished by the region of production, specific producers, or other features. All are aimed at enhancing value past advertizing appealing attributes for which consumers are willing to pay toll premiums. Every bit branding programs become more prevalent, vertical alignment betwixt various sectors of the beef industry also is increasingly mutual. A form of symbiosis can develop in which large product units or consortia of producers align themselves with retail outlets, hotels, or large restaurant companies to ensure ongoing need or to capture market premiums for their products. In turn, the food companies benefit through supply agreements that guarantee availability or pricing of products that are produced to meet certain standards that can embrace beef quality, meat limerick (as in the case of omega-3 enrichment), environmental compatibility, sustainability, or production practices that exclude antibiotics and(or) growth promotants, and numerous other marketable concepts.
Traceability programs have been a topic of much discus sion for the past two decades. This discussion intensified immediately following events in December of 2003 surrounding importation of a cull dairy moo-cow from Canada that was discovered to accept been infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Several key export markets subsequently were closed to Usa beef, which had devastating fiscal consequences for beef producers and abattoir companies in the The states. Producer organizations are, for the most part, however, opposed to development of a federally-mandated traceability organization, opting instead for a voluntary system of animate being identification and traceability that is market-driven.
In Jan of 2017 the USA Food and Drug assistants fully enacted revised regulations aimed at decreasing use of medically-important antibiotics in food fauna product systems [half dozen]. Central to the new regulations is the necessity for veterinary oversight of antibiotic use. Drugs that previously were available "over the counter" now tin can be used only with the written prescription of a licensed veterinarian. Since the regulations took result, pharmaceutical companies that produce afflicted drug compounds have cited precipitous declines in demand for their products, meat purveyors and retailers have publicly announced timelines for procurement of products produced without antibiotics, and major beef producers have appear strategies that volition be (or have been) implemented to decrease antibiotic use. The "anti" antibiotic movement is thus well underway, and it has given birth to an era of research pertaining to identification of antibiotic alternatives for employ in livestock. Much of our own research at Kansas Country University is devoted to the task of finding alternative strategies for mitigation of digestive disorders or infectious diseases, but without use of antibiotics. Whether as a outcome of market pressures or regulatory changes, it seems inevitable that beefiness product systems of the hereafter are apt to use product practices that preclude apply of antibiotics.
Probiotics are becoming increasingly prevalent in the beef production chain, only especially feedlot systems. It has been estimated that approximately 60% of feedlot cattle receive some form of probiotic [7]. Oft these consist of Lactobacillus species, fed lone or in combination with Propionibacterium. Normalization of gastrointestinal tract function and competitive inhibition of nutrient-borne pathogens, such every bit E. coli O157:H7 [12], are the most commonly cited reasons for their use. More than recently, Megasphaera elsdenii, a lactate-utilizing bacteria, has been introduced into the market. Reported benefits include abstention of ruminal acidosis and the power to transition more than quickly to high-concentrate diets [xiii], as well as improved cattle performance and decreased incidence of affliction in young cattle after inflow in feedlots [14]. Anecdotal testify from commercial abattoirs has suggested information technology may likewise subtract fecal shedding of food-borne pathogens, but this result has still to be validated in a controlled research experiment.
Plants extracts as feed additives constitutes another active area of inquiry, with the notion that these compounds may be useful as substitutes for conventional antimicrobial drugs as a result of their antimicrobial activities. Several plant extracts have been studied in depth, including beta acids of hops [xv], menthol [16], eugenol [17], cinnamaldehyde [18], limonene [nineteen], and others, and their bear on on gut microflora is in some cases well documented. These compounds ofttimes emulate the actions of traditional antibiotic drugs, attributable in part to similarities in chemic construction. Similarly, heavy metals, including the trace minerals copper and zinc, have been exploited for antibody-like effects [20], specially when used in pigs or poultry, but likewise in cattle. Zinc is the antimicrobial mineral of pick in cattle due to the relative toxicity of copper, and frequently it is fed at supra-nutritional concentrations to suppress bacteria that cause foot-rot (infectious pododermatitis), or to help in combatting respiratory illness. Numerous studies have revealed that it is possible to co-select for resistance to antimicrobial drugs when leaner are exposed to plant extracts [21] or high concentrations of heavy metals [22,23], fifty-fifty without exposure to the antimicrobial drugs themselves. Given that the basis for excluding antibiotic drugs from the diets of cattle is to avoid development of antimicrobial resistance in gastrointestinal tract bacteria, information technology would seem that similar circumspection is warranted in the application of plant extracts or heavy metals as antimicrobials, in spite of the fact that they are not marketed specifically as antibiotics.
The USDA does not maintain official statistics on volumes of antibiotic-free, not-hormone treated, or organic beef. In 2012 it was estimated that over iv% of retail foods sold in the U.S. were organically produced [24]. Fruits and vegetable led the market in organic sales, while 3% of meat/poultry/fish were estimated to have been produced organically. According to the Organic Trade Association [25], sales of organic meat and poultry surged by 17% in 2016, and total sales were expected to exceed $1 billion dollars for the start time in 2017. Certification of organically produced meats is administered by the USDA, which maintains official standards for organic production practices. Currently, availability of sufficient quantities of certified organic feedstuffs constitutes a major limitation for growth of this segment of the beef industry. Several branding programs certified by the USDA Agronomical Marketing Service specify beef every bit existence "antibiotic free" or "non-hormone treated". Some of these restrict their definition to a specified production phase, while others reflect production practices employed throughout the lifetime of the brute. There is a sense that need for this market segment is increasing, only official estimates are not available. Programs for production of cattle without use of hormones, referred to as not-hormone treated cattle, are key to penetrating certain markets, both domestically and internationally. Cost of production generally is higher for any of the specialty programs compared to conventional production systems, and producers must therefore be rewarded accordingly with toll premiums.
Conclusion
USA beef supply is the product of a multi-segmented industry that is consolidating into larger and larger production units, and is increasingly characterized by vertical alignment amongst industry segments, equally well every bit with food wholesalers and retailers and the hotel and restaurant industries. The manufacture makes utilise of a broad spectrum of nutritional inputs and beast phenotypes that bridge a wide range of geographies and climates. The industry is closely tied to natural grazing resource, as well as cereal grains and cereal grain byproducts. Information technology is highly adaptive, responding rapidly to market signals that reward innovation and alignment with consumer demands. The industry makes extensive use of a broad range of technologies related to feed processing, identity preservations, and growth promotion. Complication of beefiness markets is increasing due to extensive branding efforts and development of niche markets, and need for product of beefiness representing grass-fed, non-hormone, non-antibiotic, and organic beef markets is growing steadily. Maintaining and expanding demand for USA beef likely will necessitate ongoing efforts to develop markets for export, both for diversity meats and for high-value cuts of beef.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This is contribution number xviii-601-J of the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Manhattan.
Footnotes
CONFLICT OF Involvement
We certify that there is no conflict of interest with any financial organization regarding the material discussed in the manuscript.
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Articles from Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences are provided here courtesy of Asian-Australasian Clan of Animal Production Societies (AAAP)
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6039332/
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