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A carcass grade is an assessment of quality for a culled cow or bull. The various grades are defined by the United States Department of Agriculture, and assessments are based primarily on the fatness of the cow to be culled. [1] Cows are culled from herds for a variety of reasons, including poor production, age, or health problems. [2]
Mouthing a two tooth grass-fed Murray Grey heifer prior to sale. The age of cattle is determined chiefly by examination of the teeth, and less perfectly by the horn rings or the length of the tail brush; due to bang-tailing, which is the act of cutting the long hairs at the tip of the tail short to identify the animal after management practices, the last method is the least reliable.
Countries regulate the marketing and sale of beef by observing criteria of cattle carcasses at the abattoir (slaughterhouse) and classifying the carcasses. This classification, sometimes optional, can suggest a market demand for a particular animal's attributes and therefore the price owed to the producer.
A bull is typically ready for slaughter one or two months sooner than a castrated male or a female, and produces proportionately more and leaner muscle. [24] Frame score is a useful way of describing the skeletal size of bulls and other cattle. Frame scores can be used as an aid to predict mature cattle sizes and aid in the selection of beef bulls.
Most cattle judging occurs in show rings at agricultural shows and livestock shows. [1] Judgments on cattle are ultimately based on which animal is worth the most profit. [2] [page needed] There are many fine points to cattle judging. In a beef animal, for example, it is desirable to have a large animal with muscle development. [2] [page needed]
Other than the few bulls needed for breeding, the vast majority of male cattle are castrated as calves and are used as oxen or slaughtered for meat before the age of three years. Thus, in a pastured herd, any calves or herd bulls usually are clearly distinguishable from the cows due to distinctively different sizes and clear anatomical differences.
Most beef cattle are mated naturally, whereby a bull is released into a herd of cows approximately 55 days after the calving period, depending on the cows' body condition score (BCS). If it was a cow's first time calving, she will take longer to re-breed by at least 10 days. [ 4 ]
The American Angus population in 2010 numbered about 320 000 head, with almost 300 000 breeding cows and over 22 000 registered bulls, making it the most numerous beef breed of the United States. [2]: 105 In 2021 the conservation status of the breed was reported to DAD-IS as "not at risk". [1]