From the Farm to the Table

From the Farm to the Table

Did you know that on average an American eats 62.4 pounds of beef per year? That's a lot of beef, and so few of us really pay attention to what we're eating. So I'm going to walk you step by step from the farm to the table.

The first order of business is obviously the birth of the cow. After birth the mother spends about twenty minutes encouraging the baby to stand as well as cleaning him when he falls. After the twenty minutes when he is finally on his feet he starts searching for mom's utter for his first meal. After many rounds around mom trying to locate the utter the farmer picks up the calf and has the mom follow him. He takes them to a stall in the barn with fresh hay so they can bond and the baby can have its first meal. The next day the cow is cleaned and fluffy and goes out to the pasture to meet the other cows on the farm and soon becomes a part of the herd.

When they are no longer calves they don't drink mom's milk but get fed forage, grain, silage, and supplements. Forage, is the grass that is out in the pasture, it's the best food option for the cows. If lush green pasture is not available they feed their cattle hay. The type of hay fed to them depends on the geographical location on the farm. Timothy hay is found in northern states where as fescue is used in southern states. Grain supplies energy for the cattle. Commercial grains are usually made of corn, oats, barley or a mixture. Outs are the preferred grain choice because they are the easiest for the cattle to digest.

Farmers feed the individual cow about four to eight pounds of grain per day. Next is silage. Silage is basically chopped up grass or corn. Farmers typically use this while in drought to replace grain and hay. Last is supplements, supplements are used when pasture grass and grain do not provide enough nutrients, such as sulfur, salt or protein. The supplements include trace mineral, salt block licks, and seeds. The most common seeds used are cottonseed and lupin. Supplements are fed in addition to forage and grain.

Cows don't live forever as we all know but I'm sure you're wondering just how long farm cows get to live. The highest quality beef comes from animals that are under three years old. Now old cows can produce highly acceptable beef if properly fattened and processed. Calves can be slaughtered as well depending on the calf itself and its feeding regime; calves are best slaughtered between three and sixteen weeks of age.

When sold to a slaughter house the cow is transported by trailer to the slaughter house. After unloading the cattle they are placed on a conveyor belt. From here they move down to a man with a stun gun which renders the animal brain dead. At this point chains will be attached to his rear legs and lifted up. The animal is then moved to another station and another man will stick a