Beef

Commodity: Beef

You may have learned about dairy cattle, which give us milk and dairy products. But there is another group of cattle called "beef cattle." These provide food too: Beef. You may know many types of beef products by name: Hamburger or ground beef, steak, or tenderloin are some names. But there are other products made from beef cattle too. Beef is an important commodity for Minnesota. Let's learn more about it.

Beef Cattle History

The word "cattle" comes from the Old French word "chattel", which means "possession". Historians think cattle were first domesticated in Europe and Asia during the Stone Age. When an animal has been "domesticated", it no longer has to find its own food and shelter. Humans provide these items because it is either tamed for a pet, like a dog, used on a farm, or raised for meat. Beef cattle came to the U.S. when Christopher Columbus made his second trip here in 1493. The first cattle in Minnesota belonged to soldiers at Fort Snelling, which was built in the early 1820s.

Many Uses for Beef Cattle

Beef cattle may weigh around 1,100 pounds. From that, it will provide about 475 pounds of beef. But 99% of every beef animal is used. That means beef cattle also supply other products:

Beef cattle produce steaks, roasts, and hamburgers for you to enjoy at home, at school, and at restaurants.
Beef contains many important nutrients, including protein, zinc, niacin, vitamins B6 and B12, and iron.
There are 29 cuts of beef that are lean, like tenderloin, strip steak, and 95% lean ground beef.
Hides, hooves, and hair are used to make things like sports equipment, leather goods, and paint brushes. Footballs are often called "pigskins," but they are actually made from cow hide.
Fats are used to make soap, shampoo, and cosmetics.
The pancreas and liver are used to make medications for diseases such as anemia and hypoglycemia.

Raising Beef Cattle

Farmers care for their cattle through several different stages.

Beef cattle produce steaks, roasts, and hamburgers for you to enjoy at home, at school, and at restaurants.
Beef contains many important nutrients, including protein, zinc, niacin, vitamins B6 and B12, and iron.
There are 29 cuts of beef that are lean, like tenderloin, strip steak, and 95% lean ground beef.
Hides, hooves, and hair are used to make things like sports equipment, leather goods, and paint brushes. Footballs are often called "pigskins," but they are actually made from cow hide.
Fats are used to make soap, shampoo, and cosmetics.
The pancreas and liver are used to make medications for diseases such as anemia and hypoglycemia.
Cows and heifers give birth to calves. This happens once a year. Calves drink milk from their mothers. They eat grass for the first few months of their lives.

When they are 8 months old, calves no longer drink milk from their mothers. They also weigh about 500 pounds. Farmers called "stockers" or "backgrounders" buy calves at this stage. The calves are placed in a new pasture with other calves their age. The calves continue to grow as they eat grass, hay, and grain. Some cattle stay on pasture their entire lives. The meat from these cattle is called grass-fed or grass-finished.
Next, the cattle are moved to feedyards. They spend up to five months here. While in the feedyard, the cattle do not graze on pasture. Instead, they eat a nutritious diet of grasses, corn plant silage, and hay. They also eat grains like corn and wheat.
At 18 to 20 months' old, cattle are taken to packing plants. Here workers break down the cattle into meat cuts and other products. The process of harvesting is done in an approved way that helps the beef be safe for humans.
Once the packing plant is done, the beef moves to other processing places that send individual meat cuts to grocery stores or restaurants. The by-products, such as the hide or hooves, are sent to non-food processing places.

Beef Cattle Terms

There are several types of beef cattle:

Calf

A young beef animal

Cow

A female beef animal that has had a calf

Black and white crossbred Angus brood cow

Heifer

A female beef animal that has not had a calf.

Bull

A male used to breed cows and heifers

Steer

A male beef animal that can't reproduce and is used for meat only

Beef in Minnesota

Minnesota is 12th in the U.S. for raising cattle and calves. We produce about 3% of the U.S. beef supply. There are farms all over the state- 18,000 of them! Of those 18,000, 97% are family owned and managed. While there are farms all over the state, feedyards are mostly found in the southern part of Minnesota.

All those farms make a big contribution. The value of the beef produced in Minnesota in 2015 is about $1.2 billion.

Here are just a few of the family farmers who help Minnesota's beef cattle commodity so successful.

Beef Fun Facts

It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year's supply of footballs.
Cows have a stomach with four compartments. This allows them to digest foods that humans cannot digest.
The average cow moves its jaw more than 40,000 times a day.
The hide from one cow can make 144 baseballs, 20 footballs, or 12 basketballs.

More Beef Fun

Virtual Field Trips About Beef

Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom is showing you around a variety of facilities where beef is raised, harvested and utilized in a variety of ways. Learn more about Minnesota beef below!

Virtual Field Trip to Rocking K Ranch

Come with us to Rocking K Ranch in Nimrod, Minnesota. Miles & Sarah Kuschel host us on their generational ranch where rotational grazing is utilized to ensure forage for the herd throughout the grazing season. It's calving time on the ranch so we will get to see some cows and their new baby calves. The Kuschels utilize the technology of today while holding true to the traditions of yesterday.

Virtual Field Trip to Backlund Acres

Shelia and her husband started farming eight years ago. Their farm started with small and grew to where they are today. The small garden next to their home with the first plant Sheila had ever grown has expanded to them moving to a farm where they grow lots of microgreens and have livestock.

Brenny Farms Virtual Field Trip

May is Beef Month! Join us for the Brenny Farms Virtual Field Trip to Ted and Katie's beef farm in Mazeppa, Minnesota. They are both 5th generation farmers and are the owners of Brenny Farms. Beef is what is raised on the farm along with green grass. The beef cows consist of Angus and Charolais genetics. Brenny Farms is committed to being environmental stewards of the land by improving water quality and natural habitat.

Goldenrust Virtual Farm Visit

Minnesota Ag in the Classroom has partnered with Midwest Dairy to host 5 virtual field trips to celebrate Farm to School month. We want to meet farmers who are providing food that many students get to eat in their school cafeterias and food service programs.

Let’s Build a Calf – a Look at Genetics

Have you ever wondered why you have black hair but your sibling has blond hair? My eyes are blue but my mom's are brown - why is that? These same things happen with livestock. It is national beef month, so now is a perfect time to take a look at genetic traits in beef cattle with our Build-a-calf Workshop.

It’s Calving Time!

This has been a different spring for all of us but one thing that has remained the same for my family and me is calving season. Calving time is one of my favorite times on the ranch. Seeing the new life in the baby calves is such an uplifting part of the day.