A0245B 4-H Dairy Beef Reference Guide
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#OLLEGEOF!GRICULTURAL3CIENCESs#OOPERATIVE%XTENSION ( $AIRY 2EFERENCE "EEF 'UIDE 0ROJECT .AME !DDRESS .AMEOF#LUB ,EADERS.AME .AMEOF0ROJECT #ONTENTS 3ECTION'ETTING3TARTED 3ECTION/BSERVING#ALF"EHAVIOR Introduction .......................................................................................1 How Calves Behave ........................................................................34 How to Use Your Reference Guide .................................................1 Purpose of 4-H Dairy Beef Feeder Project .....................................1 3ECTION+EEPING#ALVES(EALTHY Project Options ..................................................................................2 What Makes Calves Sick? ..............................................................36 What Do You Need? .........................................................................2 3ECTION1UALITY!SSURANCEAND%THICS 3ECTION+NOWLEDGEAND3KILLS#HECKLIST Good Production Practices for Quality Assurance ....................40 Dairy Beef Project Requirements ....................................................3 Meat Quality ....................................................................................41 Required Dairy Beef Activities, Years 1 and 2 ...............................4 Ethics .................................................................................................42 Required Life Skills Activities, Years 1 and 2 ................................4 Four Areas of Livestock Ethics ......................................................42 Required Quality-Assurance Skills and Activities, Years 1 and 2 ......................................................................................5 3ECTION4HE2OUNDUP Additional Dairy Beef Activities, Years 3 and Beyond ................5 What Do You Need to Do and Have? ..........................................44 Additional Life Skills Activities, Years 3 and Beyond .................6 Loading and Unloading Calves ....................................................45 Additional Quality-Assurance Skills and Activities, Years 3 and Hoof Trimming ................................................................................45 Beyond ................................................................................................8 Fitting Your Steer .............................................................................45 Showing Your Steer .........................................................................47 3ECTION"ACKGROUND)NFORMATION Being a Good Sport .........................................................................50 Why Do We Raise Dairy Beef? ......................................................12 Questions from the Public .............................................................50 What Do We Call Cattle? ................................................................12 The Sale .............................................................................................50 The Dairy Beef Industry in the United States .............................12 3ECTION+EEPING (2ECORDS 3ECTION"REEDSOF$AIRY#ATTLE Why Keep Records? ........................................................................52 Major Breeds ....................................................................................15 Kinds of Records .............................................................................52 Breed Characteristics ......................................................................15 3ECTION"EEFAND"Y 0RODUCTS 3ECTION3ELECTING0ROJECT!NIMALS Beef ....................................................................................................57 Naming External Parts of a Calf ...................................................18 Other Products from Beef ..............................................................58 Things You Need to Know .............................................................18 Selecting a Calf ................................................................................20 3ECTION$AIRY"EEF-ANAGEMENT3CHEDULE Deciding How Much to Pay ..........................................................22 Dairy Beef Budget ...........................................................................23 !PPENDIX!(OWTO4IEA1UICK 2ELEASE+NOT When You Get Your Calf Home ....................................................24 !PPENDIX"2ESPIRATORY$ISEASESOF#ATTLE 3ECTION#ARINGFOR9OUR$AIRY&EEDER#ALF Housing Needs ................................................................................27 Keeping Your Calf Clean ................................................................28 !PPENDIX#3AMPLE-EDICATION#HART How Cattle Digest Food .................................................................28 Feeding Your Calf from One to Seven Weeks of Age .................28 Feeding Your Calf from Seven Weeks of Age until the Roundup ...........................................................................................30 Nutrients ..........................................................................................30 How Much Will Your Calf Eat? .....................................................32 Monitoring Your Calf’s Progress ..................................................32 Exercise .............................................................................................32 'ETTING 3TARTED )NTRODUCTION (OWTO5SE9OUR2EFERENCE'UIDE Welcome to the 4-H dairy beef feeder project! Your Your reference guide is designed to fit into a three- 4-H dairy beef project can be an unforgettable ring notebook with your project record books. learning experience. You will do many things You will receive only one reference guide for your that will help you undergo personal growth and entire 4-H career, so take care of it! It contains a develop skills that will help you become a more checklist of things you should do and learn to responsible person. Skills you learn from raising complete your project. The things to do and learn a feeder calf will be valuable in the future and are grouped into sections about dairy beef feeder will carry over into other aspects of your life as a calves. Each section includes: 4-H’er. We hope you will have fun, too. • Objectives for that lesson This book will teach you most of the things • Information about dairy beef calves and how to you need to know in order to raise a 4-H dairy care for them beef feeder project. Included are skills and in- • Words to learn formation to learn and activities for you to do. • Ideas for presentations and talks Some activities everyone should do and others • Suggested activities you may choose to do. You should complete eight • Things to talk about with your leaders and activities per year. Sixteen of these activities are other 4-H’ers required and should be completed in the first two years of the project. After the first two years, eight 0URPOSEOFTHE ($AIRY"EEF&EEDER0ROJECT activities should be selected from the suggested In the dairy beef project, you will learn the funda- activities lists in this book or you can create your mentals of being a good beef producer and build own activities with the help of your leader. Do as skills that will prepare you for life. Some of the many of the activities as you can by yourself, but things you will learn about dairy beef manage- be willing to call on others for help. As you get ment are: older and advance through the dairy beef project, you should select more advanced activities to • Why people raise dairy beef cattle accomplish. Your parents and project leaders will • How to select a project dairy beef calf be happy to teach you all they know about raising • How to feed and care for your calf dairy beef calves! • How to keep your dairy beef calf healthy • Normal cattle behavior • The parts of a dairy beef steer • The importance of quality assurance 'ETTING3TARTED • How to fit and show a dairy beef steer 3. Breeding Cattle—care and management of beef • How to keep records cattle raised for breeding purposes. This in- • How to prepare for the roundup cludes: a. Selecting and managing one or more heifers Working with your dairy beef project and tak- to breeding and calving age or ing part in 4-H activities will help you develop b. Managing of cows and calves (not recom- personally and build skills for living. These skills mended for beginning 4-H members). include: You will be responsible for caring for your dairy • Being a leader beef calf. If you choose to take a market steer or • Being a citizen beef breeding project, you will need a different • Learning communications reference book. • Developing personally • Relating to people 7HAT$O9OU.EED • Behaving ethically Before purchasing a dairy beef calf make sure you • Developing values have everything you need to properly manage it • Preparing for a career and keep it healthy. You will need: 0ROJECT/PTIONS • An interest in dairy beef cattle Three basic kinds of 4-H beef projects are: • A place to keep your calf • Equipment for feeding, watering, and handling 1. Dairy Beef Calves—selection and feeding of cattle one or more dairy beef calves to feeder weight • Money to purchase and care for your calf of 400 to 800 pounds. • Support from your parents and leaders 2. Market Steers—selection and feeding of one or more feeder steers from 400 to 800 pounds to market weight. +NOWLEDGE AND3KILLS #HECKLIST $AIRY"EEF0ROJECT2EQUIREMENTS out a “4-H Livestock Record for Intermediate Your dairy beef project has three major parts. and Advanced Projects.” • The Knowledge and Skills Activities Checklist 1. Caring for one or