3 modules describing on a very elementary level how to read a feed test, how to understand what animals need in their diet for nutrients, and how to balance a simple cattle ration using hay and silage.
Due to their size and anatomy, cattle are not very good candidates for general anaesthesia meaning that many procedures performed use local techniques. Most surgeries performed on these patients can be done standing with a small amount of sedation and regional and local nerve blocks. Local techniques are also used in cattle for procedures such as castration and dehorning. General anaesthesia is rarely carried out in these species.
This video from Nature offers a description of desirable traits in beef and dairy cattle.
In this video segment from Nature, learn about six different breeds of cattle.
Learn how a cow eats and digests food in this video segment from Nature.
These materials have been put together to help students and youth to learn the basics of judging and evaluating dairy cattle using various methods. This resource was designed to be used with other resources to help teach basic dairy cattle judging and evaluation. There are numerous 4-H, Cooperative Extension and Breed Association booklets freely available, referred to in the document. However, this resource differs as it is intentionally full of visual examples and videos. The objective is to provide educators with additional resources to help beginning cattle judges understand visual evaluation and comparative judging techniques, as well as breed standards, linear scoring, oral reasons and the basics of fitting and showmanship.
Diners sitting down to enjoy a burger couldn't be faulted for wondering, "Where's the beef from?" After all, just a few months ago, European consumers were dismayed to discover that many products marketed as beef actually contained large quantities of horse meat. Genetic fingerprinting, which was used to detect the imposter beef, can identify meat as a particular species or even a particular population. However, other analyses of genetic data can trace the source of a patty, McNugget, or filet, not just to a particular breed or population, but back in time. Using these techniques, scientists have uncovered the deep evolutionary origins of domesticated animals (such as sheep) and major crop plants (such as corn). Now, they've applied those techniques to cattle as well. This month, a team of researchers from the Universities of Texas and Missouri announced the results of a study focusing on the origins of breeds specific to the Americas, like the Texas Longhorn. The story told by the cows' genes crisscrosses the trajectory of human evolutionary history from wild aurochs that lived alongside Neanderthals, to Christopher Columbus and, ultimately, the American West
