Beef cattle are animals produced on farms to provide meat, which is a nutritious and important food for people to include in a balanced diet.
Beef cattle are not pets. They are production animals that are specially bred to provide food for humans. Farmers manage the cattle to keep them healthy so they can grow and produce good quality meat. Cattle have been used in this way all over the world for many thousands of years.
The first cattle in Australia arrived in Sydney on the ships of the First Fleet in January 1788. The herd of two bulls and about six cows were purchased from South Africa as the ships made their way to Australia.
Beef cattle are now very important to all Australians as the beef industry provides healthy, safe food for us to eat and earns valuable export income that helps to maintain our standard of living.
How are beef cattle produced?
The beef industry relies on a constant cycle of the farmers managing their cattle herds to produce new animals that will grow and be sold at market for meat.
This cycle forms part of our food chain. We call this process breeding cattle and it describes when a bull is mated to a cow to produce a calf, forming the next generation of the cycle. It takes about 283 days from when the cow is mated until her calf is born. The calf will grow into an adult to either breed more cattle or be sold for meat.
Farmers are constantly trying to improve their beef herd to produce good quality meat that consumers will want to buy. Farmers select their breeding bulls and cows for characteristics they can pass on to their offspring. These features include good growth rates, good muscle development and an ability to produce tender meat. The aim is to breed cattle that will efficiently produce meat from grass, water and sunshine.
Turning grass into meat
Cattle are herbivores as they only eat plant material including grass, hay and grain. Cattle are also known as ruminants as they have four stomachs to help them digest fibrous (tough) plant material. The four stomachs are called the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum.
When cattle eat they only partly chew their food to mix it with saliva before swallowing and passing it into the rumen. Later, the plant material is pushed back into the mouth for further chewing. This material is called the cud. As the ground-up plant matter passes through the four stomachs and the intestines all the liquid and the nutrients are drawn out of it to help the animal grow.
When grazing green pasture (grass) a cow may eat up to 100 kilograms of plant matter in a day. The animal’s first priority is to use the energy from food to meet its daily needs for walking, eating and keeping warm. The extra energy left over is used to gain weight and grow. Farmers monitor how much the cattle eat so they have enough energy to grow and produce meat.
The Cattle Herd
Bull - a mature male animal used for breeding.
Cow - a mature female also used for breeding.
Calf - a young animal less than one year old.
Weaner - describes the calf once it has left its mother.
Heifer - a young female, before she has her first calf.
Steer - a young castrated (de-sexed) male.
Herd - a group of cattle.
Industry - producing goods to sell.
Export - to sell products to other countries.
Consumers - everyone who buys products.
Market - where products are sold.
Breeds of cattle
In Australia there are more than 40 different breeds (types) of cattle of all shapes, sizes and colours. The breeds may be suited to a particular climate. Brahman cattle cope with the hot, tropical conditions in Northern Australia and the Poll Herefords prefer the cooler Southern Australia climate.
The Brahman and Poll Hereford breeds are two of the most common breeds of cattle farmed in Australia.
Some breeds are bred to produce a special type of meat for a particular market including the Wagyu cattle that produce meat ‘marbled’ with fat, which is highly regarded in the Japanese market.
There are more than 27 million cattle in Australia and the beef industry is one of the country’s major industries.
Investigate other cattle breeds by searching the Internet or writing to Meat & Livestock Australia.
Beef cattle production Australia
Where are cattle produced?
This map shows the regions where cattle are produced in Australia. The climate is the main factor that decides where cattle are farmed. In the tropical regions of Northern Australia cattle from the tropical Bos indicus breeds are used as these cattle are better adapted to the high temperatures.
Brahman cattle belong to the Bos indicus group of breeds. Brahman cattle have short, light coloured coats to reflect the sun and black skin that protects them from sunburn. They have loose skin and extra sweat glands to keep cool.
In Southern Australia temperate breeds belonging to the Bos taurus group are used in the milder climate as they mature quickly and have a rapid growth rate. The Poll Hereford is a temperate breed.
The temperate breeds originally came from the cool climate areas of Europe, in particular Britain. The tropical breeds first came from Africa, Asia and the Mediterranean region of southern Europe.
