Beef Cattle Selection

1. Beef Cattle Selection California State Standards Animal Science Pathway D5.1 Evaluate a group of animals for desired qualities and discern among them for breeding selection.

2. Objective: Students will be able to evaluate beef cattle for breeding, critique four beef heifers and generate a set of reasons for an Angus Heifer class. • Question of the Day: • What hybrid did we “create” in class yesterday? • What pure bred (inbred) did we “create” yesterday?

3. How would you choose only 4?

4. Beef Cattle Basics Female= Cow (older than 3 years) Heifer (Younger than 3 years) Male= Bull

5. Evaluating Breeding Beef Cattle 3 traits to evaluate: • Conformation/ Soundness • Volume/Capacity • Muscling

6. Conformation • The skeletal and muscular structure of an animal. Good conformation Bad conformation

7. Conformation • Includes: • Feet and Legs • View from front, back, and side • Topline

8. Which is Correct? 3 1 2

9. Topline

10. Volume/Capacity • Who can hold the most water? • Length of body • Depth of side • Spring of rib

11. Which one has more capacity? 1 2

12. Muscling • Where do you see muscle on a beef heifer? • Stifle • Round/ Quarter • Overall width and depth

13. 1 2

14. Check for Understanding • What are the 3 traits we are evaluating for in breeding beef cattle? • A) Muscle, Fat, Conformation • B) Structure, Capacity, Soundness • C) Conformation, Capacity, Muscle

15. Checking for Understand What are the 3 things we look for to show us capacity? A) Length, Weight, Width B) Length, Depth, Spring of Rib C) Spring of Rib, Width, Depth

16. Checking for Understanding Where are two places to look for muscling? A) Leg & Stifle B) Stifle & Round C) Round & Loin

17. Place this class of coffee cups! 2 1 3 4

18. Correct Placing 2 -1 -3 -4

19. Set Your Paper Like This… 1 2 - - + + 3 4 - - + +

20. Activity • Using the qualities we just discussed (conformation, capacity, and muscling), please place the following 4 Angus heifers first through last and then give an explanation using comparisons. • Example: Placing: 4-1-3-2 4 was the most capacious and had the best feet and leg structure. Additionally, she had the straightest, most level topline and was the widest at her stifle. 1 was also very capacious and had a level topline, however she was slightly more cow-hocked from behind and narrower at her stifle, so she went second. 3 was no where near as capacious as 1 or 4 because she was shallower through her ribs, even though she was level through her topline and stood on square feet and legs. 2 simply couldn’t compare with the class. She was the lightest muscled as shown through her quarter and has the least capacity since she was short bodied and narrow from topline to the bottom of her rib. • Important: you MUST include your explanation!

21. 1 2 3 4

23. Please Type In Your Placement Using your whiteboards , please write out your placing. Start your class off with heifer that showed the best confirmation, capacity, and muscle and end with the heifer that had the lease confirmation, capacity, and muscle. EXAMPLE : 1234 or 3241

24. Give a reason WHY you placed the cups 2-1-3-4 2 1 3 4

25. 7 Minute Wrap Up - Reasons • Using your notes, explain WHY you placed the animals in that order. • Make sure you use the three key terms: • Confirmation • Capacity • Muscle

26. Pair Share Please turn to your partner and read your reasons out load. Did you and your partner have the same outcome?

27. Class Discussion / 7 Minute Wrap Up Did you and your partner have the same placing's? What did your partner add in their reasons that you did not have in yours? Did you place the class right?