A sketch illustrating a beef animal fills the screen, featuring labeled body parts. A small image of a beef animal appears in the right corner.
It’s important to know the words used by beef producers. When you know and use the right words, the people who own beef cattle will be able to understand you. So, when selecting beef cattle, you should know the proper terms used in the industry.
A woman leads a black beef animal, pausing to stand beside it with a stick.
Beef cattle need to move athletically, have sufficient body capacity to digest feed, and good muscling to provide meat. Reproductive females must also have good conformation and capacity to carry and deliver a healthy calf. Therefore, important items to consider when selecting ideal beef cattle include body structure, muscling, structural correctness, and reproductive soundness.
Using the stick, she points to various body parts of the cattle.
The neck of beef cattle should be moderately long. The shoulder should be well muscled and smooth. The chest should be wide, indicating body capacity and overall productiveness. Adequate width between front and hind legs also indicates good body capacity and muscling.
A diagram displays different types of beef cuts, interconnected with sketched beef cattle at the center.
Muscling and meat are the most valuable parts of a beef animal. The most expensive cuts of meat come from the loin and round, or rump, of the animal. The loin and round should be long, wide, and level, so they appear strong at the top.
The same woman stands beside a brown beef animal, gesturing with a stick to various muscles and body parts as narrated.
The round of beef cattle should be deep and wide from a rear view, with the widest part about midway between the tail and hock.
Proper muscling for male and female beef cattle is slightly different. Males should have thick, heavy, and long muscling in the forearm areas as viewed from the rear and side. Good width between the hind legs, both standing and walking, is also preferred. Thickness and length in the back, loin and round areas indicate good muscling in the highest priced wholesale cuts. If muscling is thick and bulging in one area of an animal’s body, the animal is usually heavily muscled throughout.
The woman, now with a black beef animal, focuses on the front legs, guiding its movement to illustrate alignment. Different body parts are highlighted in sync with the narration.
Muscling in females should be long, smooth and of moderate thickness. Females should have a longer, more athletic appearance than the highly muscled male. Their body cavity should also be deep and wide to accommodate the growing calf.
The legs of beef cattle should be squarely set under the four corners of its body. The angle between the stifle, hock, and pastern in the hind leg should be at the proper angle. If it’s not, movement could be hindered. One way to check for proper angle is watch an animal walk. If the rear foot is placed in the track of the front foot when moving forward, it’s usually structurally correct.
With more than 50% of the weight of an animal being on the front legs, it’s also important that the front legs are at an ideal angle. The ideal angle for the shoulder in relation to the ground is 45 degrees.
From the front, animals whose hooves are faced forward are ideal. Pasterns of ideal beef cattle should be at a proper angle, so they can also easily hold the animal’s weight. Also, in most ideal beef cattle, the line between hooks and pins on the rump should be nearly level.
The woman directs attention to the neck muscles of a brown beef animal, transitioning to an image of her standing alongside a a black heifer.
A mature steer should show a burly, masculine head with coarse hair, a heavy jaw, and heavy muscling in the neck and shoulders.
A female should show femininity, with a lean, refined head and a long, narrow neck. Her overall body shape should be slightly angular, and the shoulders should be moderately muscled and clean.