So Many Questions, So Little Time.

With the greater part of the population in the United States being removed from the farm, agricultural knowledge isn't something most people need on a day to day basis. Asking questions is often the only reliable way that consumers can learn about how cattle are raised. We love any questions we receive and always enjoy explaining our processes and reasoning to genuinely interested individuals. These four questions below are probably the most frequently asked from people wanting to learn more about how we raise cattle.

What Breed of Cattle do you Sell?

This question arises from people who have heard about Certified Angus Beef. CAB is a branding for beef that requires a steer or heifer to meet certain criteria such as having a 10-16 inch rib-eye area and superior muscling(1). This branding has caused a higher demand for Angus beef, which is why we are often asked if we raise Angus cattle(1). The answer to the question is sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. We usually buy our beef-type cattle in the fall and fill our slatted floor barn with them each year. These beef-type cattle are the type of cattle that are almost exclusively branded as CAB.

We also raise a significant number of dairy-type cattle year round in the other barns. Michigan is in the top 10 ten states for dairy production, coming in at number 5 in 2016(2). This means we always have a large supply of dairy-type calves from all of those dairies. A large supply of calves means that they need somewhere to go so a lot of them, specifically the bull calves, end up in feedlots. In fact, we are about 20 minutes from one of the largest dairy farms in Michigan, Green Meadow. This abundant supply of dairy-type calves means it makes a lot of sense for us to feed them and if we were in a non-dairy producing state you would see that same logic applied to beef-type calves instead.

Are Your Cattle Grass-Fed?

This question is one of our favorites because it addresses a commonly thought of "healthier" label on a package of beef. For some reason, many people will automatically think that grass-fed beef is healthier for you than grain-fed beef. The truth of the matter is that, when compared, both types of beef are about as equally healthy for you. For an interesting look into this argument here is an article about a study done on the differences between grass-fed and grain-fed beef.

When this question is directed at us our answer is "No" but that's not the whole story. The major feed-product that we use is corn. We actually use corn four different ways in our rations: dry corn, high-moisture corn, corn silage, and corn distiller's grain. Corn is often thought of as the big-bad-wolf in animal feed (dog food for example) but it is actually a grass! We use the entire corn plant to feed our cattle so they are eating the stalk and the grain. Each different way we use corn has its own nutrient breakdown, which is why we are able to include a variety of corn products into our rations. Each ration we use is specifically formulated to meet the needs of the cattle at each life stage. We honestly wish someone would formulate our meals with such care! So while our cattle are not grass-fed, they are fed a diet created to perfectly match their nutritional needs.

Do You Use Antibiotics?

The simple question to this question is "Yes" but that answer will cause a consumer unfamiliar with animal practices to balk away from our product. In every group, there will always be a sick animal. When everything goes right we treat that one animal and that's the end of it. When situations don't go the way we want them to it's very hard to tell a steer that he needs to get up, eat, and drink every day in order to live.  A steer will sit in the same spot and literally dehydrate himself to death if he doesn't feel well and by treating this steer, we can keep him healthy enough to stay hydrated and continue eating so that he has a better chance of survival.

The only times we use feed-grade antibiotics (antibiotics fed in the feed to a pen of cattle) is when everyone in a pen is looking like they're sick or when we bring a group of cattle from all different places together into one pen. Often times during wet, humid weather the overall cattle health will go down. Everyone will have snotty noses and a cacophony of coughing will be heard across the farm. This is rarely a problem for the biggest steers but can be a fatal situation for the younger calves. If a whole pen of calves looks sick we will put an antibiotic in their feed for a couple days. The rate and duration of the antibiotic-fed have to be approved by a vet each time we do this, that is the law. The same law applies when we make the decision to treat pens of new calves who were bought out of the sale barn and commingled in our pens. Introducing a little bit of sickness from each farm these calves originated from can cause an outbreak if we do not stay on top of it.

The main reason why we choose to utilize feed-grade antibiotics and use them for treatment is that catching a large number of calves individually over and over again is extremely stressful for those calves. The stress isn't just limited to the calves we treat, every time we move cattle (healthy or not) we are introducing some amount of stress into their environment. When a large percentage of those cattle are sick the additional stress can cause them to feel even worse, increasing the risk of death. That is why the smarter solution is to use feed-grade antibiotics in those situations.

We buy all of our antibiotics from our veterinarians and work closely with them to make sure we are using the correct antibiotics for each pathogen we treat for. We always follow the label instructions on dosage and withdrawal times so there is never a risk of a steer being butchered that has antibiotic reside in the meat. Each carcass at the processing plant is tested for antibiotics and we have never had an animal test positive at that time. Often once a steer reaches a certain size, about 800 pounds, they will not receive another dose of antibiotics during their lifetime. This is mainly due to the fact that they have a certain amount of immunity built up and enough reserves to fight off most pathogens by themselves.

Do You Use Hormones?

First things first: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS HORMONE FREE MEAT. All animals have naturally occurring hormones that regulate many different bodily functions and processes. Without hormones animals wouldn't exist, much less function and the same goes for humans. So, a package of hormone-free meat at the store really means no additional hormones were given to the animal while it was growing. It is also illegal to give poultry and pigs additional hormones. Hormone-free labels on either poultry or pork are just a marketing scheme by the companies selling them.

That being said, we do give our cattle additional hormones while they are growing. They come in the form of small pellets that we place with a special gun and needle in the ear between the skin and the cartilage. The hormones in these implants are equivalent to the ones the cattle are already producing in their bodies. We use these growth stimulants to make the cattle more efficient in converting their feed into body mass and to improve their carcass characteristics. Better feed efficiency means we can grow more cattle on less feed in a shorter amount of time, which is better for us and the environment. To read more about implanting beef cattle this is an extremely well-written article that gives a more in-depth explanation of the whole process.

The main worry with implanted beef is that the additional hormones will affect our bodies in a negative way. This worry is completely unfounded, implanted beef has less than one nanogram more estrogen than non-implanted beef. The table below compares implanted beef to different foods that you wouldn't necessarily think of as having estrogenic activity. It is easy to see that the amount of additional estrogen in implanted-beef is nothing your body doesn't already handle from all of the other foods you eat.

Hot Topics

We've definitely touched on some hot topics in the food industry. As livestock producers, we often feel that the food retail industry is against us. With a new label coming out every couple of months that may or may not have any meaning it's impossible to cater to everyone. What we know we can do is raise our cattle in the best environment we can provide to produce a tasty and safe product for everyone to enjoy.

References

1. Certified Angus Beef LLC. (2017). Who We Are. Retrieved from Certified Angus Beef: https://www.certifiedangusbeef.com/brand/specs.php

2.Statista. (2017). Top 10 milk producing U.S. states in 2014 and 2016 (in million pounds). Retrieved from The Statistics Portal: https://www.statista.com/statistics/194968/top-10-us-states-by-milk-production/