Thursday, March 27, 2014

The Beef Cattle Genetics And Their Rearing

By Linda Cantrell


This practice involves the use of genetic superior breed of cattle to act as parents for the next generations to come. Profitability is the main driving force under beef cattle genetics as the farmers seek to produce better quality cattle to fetch them more money in the market. It determines the farmer ability to reach a certain set production target. Some of the examples include the Angus and Hereford.

The use of genetics to improve production is what has resulted to the existence of the Belgian Blue bull which is full of muscles and excess meat. This bull is said to have 40% additional muscles and they gain weight amazingly fast. It is an advantage to the farmers since they will fetch a lot from the market once the meat is sold.

There is however demerits to this process because it leads to the calves developing very large tongues and this may be detrimental to them. Also, due to their very large size, parturition becomes very painful hence the species have to undergo caesarian section which at time wounds the cow preventing them of bearing more calves.

There are other methods of improving production such as the use of Artificial Insemination(AI) in this method, frozen semen is usually put into the cow reproductive tract hence an offspring is produced that has the desirable qualities that the farmer desires. Uniformity of the calves is created such that they are of the same age and they have the same genetic makeup. In the market, those that express the trait of uniformity fetch a higher price hence more advantageous.

Hybridization is a form of genetics of this species that accelerates production. Here, two of them are chosen for this process. The requirement of these species is that they should have different traits that are desirable. The main aim is to produce an offspring of desired qualities. The resultant is a hybrid that has high quality beef compared to the other breeds that have not been genetically engineer.

A group of offspring that are genetically similar can be produced from the cells of a particular organism and this is what is called cloning. This results to their production have desired qualities and this is an overall advantage to the farmers who are in love with rearing of cattle especially this particular species.

Though a good and beneficial practice, cloning has its drawbacks. The animals that result from cloning generally appear to be oversize; they lack strength and often fall sick and may end up dead. This factor leads to some farmers despising genetic modification in their animals due to these deaths.

Generally, genetics of beef cattle is more focused on economic benefits. It reduces the rate at which the animals falls sick . Since many people can now afford to buy meat., it has been argued that cattle genetics is necessary to meet the growing demand of meat and also be of great profit significance towards the farmers. However, a genetic process that is viewed to be very detrimental to the animal health should be avoided.




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