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Breeds Of Beef Cattle Terminology

Terms in this set (18)

Heterosis (Also Known As Hybrid Vigor)
__________ is the desired result from mating animals of different breeds or strains to improve characteristics in their resulting offspring. These characteristics may include but are not limited to the size, carcass yield, fertility, and longevity of an animal.

In other words, ________ is the tendency of a crossbred animal to possess superior qualities compared to those of either parent but without surpassing the dominant breed in the pairing.
Dam
The female parent/mother of an animal is referred to as the _________.
Sire
The male parent/father of an animal is referred to as the ____________.
Maternal Breeds
Cattle breeds that are known for their good mothering abilities, milk production, and fertility are known as ________.
Terminal Breeds
Cattle breeds that are known for their fast growth rates, carcass quality and meat-producing abilities are known as ________.
Progeny
A descendant (or offspring) of an animal is often referred to as the _________.
Temperament
________ is the way in which an animal tends to behave/respond to humans, a fearful situation, or their environment. There are a number of temperament traits in cattle that contribute to their welfare, including their response to handling or milking, as well as their response to challenges such as human approach or intervention during calving.
Docility (Docile)
________ is the state of being passive or calm, easily handled, obedient, and unlikely to attack.
(This trait can be brought about in a strain of animals through selective breeding, but may also occur as part of natural variation within a population.)
Marbling
________ refers to white flecks and streaks of intramuscular fat within the lean sections of meat, especially red meat.
*It is one of the main criteria for judging the quality of meat cuts.
Cutability
________ is defined as the percentage of closely trimmed, boneless, retail cuts that are produced from the four major beef wholesale cuts (the round, loin, rib, and chuck). It is an estimate of the relative amount of lean, edible meat from a carcass.
Dressing Percentage
_______ is used to calculate the percentage of a carcass that can be processed into wholesale meat cuts. It is based on the relationship between the dressed carcass weight and the live animal weight after things like the hide and internal organs have been removed.
*It can be calculated by taking (weight of the carcass / weight of the live animal) x 100.
Feed Efficiency
________ is the amount of feed an animal consumes as compared to the amount of body weight gained from that feed over a period of time. (It may also be defined as a simple measure to determine the relative ability of cows to turn feed nutrients into milk and/or saleable meat on the animal's carcass.)
Carcass
The muscle, bone and fat associated with the slaughter of an animal that is left after the removal of the head, hide, and internal organs is known as the ________.
Longevity
________ can be defined as the age in which a cow dies or is culled from the breeding herd due to her inability to continue as a productive cow and wean another live calf due to physical weakness or a lack of fertility.
Fertility
________ refers to the ability of a cow to conceive, maintain pregnancy and produce offspring within a specific time period. (Highly fertile cows establish pregnancy sooner after calving and require fewer inseminations than lower-fertility cows.)
Forages
________ are plants or parts of plants (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock, such as cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. They are a major feed component for the beef industry and are made up of grasses, hays, legumes, shrubs, and silage.
*Makes up 80% of a beef animal's diet
Dual-Purpose Breeds
Cattle breeds that are adapted for the production of both milk and meat in satisfactory proportions are known as a ________.
Dystocia
________ is defined as difficult and abnormal birthing/labor. It is typically caused by a large or awkwardly positioned fetus, by the smallness of a mother's pelvis, or by failure of the uterus and cervix to contract and expand normally.
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