Facts About Beef Cows

The next time you sit down to a juicy steak, thank the beef cow. These cows, specifically bred and raised to produce meat, also give rise to a number of other useful products. While beef cows now serve a single purpose, domesticated cattle once had three roles. People used them for work, milk and their meat.

  1. Growth

    • Beef cattle are born big, with an average calf weighing about 80 lbs. They grow quickly in the first year, weighing about 400 lbs. by the time they are 6 months old and hitting about 700 to 800 lbs. by the time they reach 1 year. They subsist on their mother's milk alone for about their first 3 or 4 months until they need additional nutrients from grass or feed. Even when they begin to eat grass, they often continue to feed off mother's milk for more than 6 months. They hit puberty by the time they reach 12 to 16 months old. Beef cattle head to feedlots when they are about 1 year old, then move to a packinghouse once they weigh at least 1,000 lbs.

    Diet

    • Hay and grass are the main staples of beef cow diets, which also sometimes include feed supplements. Calves are born with a simple stomach, containing only one chamber, but it develops into a ruminant stomach by the time the calf is 6 weeks of age. Cow ruminant stomachs have four chambers, which makes it possible for them to eat hard-to-digest grass. Cattle chew the grass, or cud, after it is partially digested in the stomach's first chamber when the grass moves back into their mouths. Cows often end up eating whatever is in front of them, which can cause problems when fields contain broken wire, metal and other sharp objects.

    Meat

    • Beef cows that reach the 1,000-lb. mark usually make about 430 lbs. of meat. Packinghouses process the cow carcasses into different meat cuts, ranging from an array of different steaks to roasts, stew meat and ground beef. Beef cow owners often implant cattle with estrogen to make the feed more efficient and improve the cattle's meat output, ending up with less fat and more lean cuts, according to University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. The University says some consumers fear the estrogen implants are hazardous to human health, but a steak from implanted cattle only contains 1.9 ng of estrogen, only slightly higher than the 1.2 ng found in a steak from cattle without an implant and far below the 2,724 ng found in a serving of coleslaw.

    Other Products

    • In addition to meat, beef cows produce a variety of materials. Cow hides create artificial skin used for burn victims, as well as leather for clothing, shoes, boots, upholstery and other items. Cattle bones and horns create gelatin, used in a variety of food stuffs like ice cream, yogurt and marshmallows, as well as photo film. Some glue and fertilizer also come from cattle bones. Beef cow fat, or tallow, is an ingredient in candles, chewing gum and soap. Beef cow parts also give rise to perfumes and cosmetics, paints, plastics and a variety of medications.

    Warning

    • All cattle can be hazardous to humans, with 108 human deaths in the United States attributed to cattle from 2003 to 2007, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All deaths except one were from blunt force injuries. A total of 33 percent of the deaths were to people working with cattle in contained areas, 24 percent were to people herding cattle, 14 percent were while loading cattle and 14 percent while feeding cattle. While the report did not break down statistics for beef cows only, it did offer a beef cow example. One death by a beef cow involved a 65-year-old Missouri woman who was stomped and butted by the cow while the woman was trying to remove a dead newborn calf from the pasture.