Where Beef Cuts Come From. Click on picture for a larger version

The Angus cattle is originally from the rugged highlands of northern Scotland, in the counties or "shires" of Aberdeen and Angus. In many parts of the world today Angus cattle are still known as Aberdeen-Angus. The first Angus bulls were brought to the United States in 1873 by George Grant, a native Scotsman, for use on his ranch near Victoria, Kansas.

The Beefmaster was developed in South Texas in the late 1930s from a crossing of Brahman, Hereford, and Shorthorn cattle. Beefmasters were recognized as a pure breed by USDA in 1954. These cattle are usually red or dun colored.

The Blond D'Aquitaine comes from France. It was first brought to the United States in 1972. They are extremely lean, low fat animals.

The Brahman originated in the United States from Indian humped cattle, another type of cow, that was from India and Brazil in the late 1800s and the early 1900s. Brahman's are usually gray or red.

The Brangus breed originated in the United States when cattlemen wanted to combine the most desirable traits of the Brahman and Angus cows into one animal. Brangus cows are black in color.

The Braunvieh came from the valleys of Switzerland in the 18th century. They were first brought to the United States in 1869. They began another type of cow called the Brown Swiss breed. In 1983, the original Braunvieh was brought back to the United States.

The Charolais was developed in the area around Charolles in Central France, where the French had been keeping records on them for more than 200 years. This solid white cow came to the United States in 1934 when the Mexican Secretary of Agriculture gave Mecum Michaelis of Kyle, Texas, two Charolais bulls.

The Chiangus is a cross between the Chianina and Angus breeds.

The Gelbvieh (Gelp-fee) came from the Bavarian region of Germany. It was first brought to the United States in 1971. They are basically solid in color, a fawn to medium red shade is the most common color.

The Limousin breed is native to South Central France and was brought to North America in 1968. They are either red or black.

The Hereford comes from England. They were first brought to America in 1816 by Henry Clay of Kentucky. They are usually brownish red with a distinctive white face with white markings on the neck, chest and underbelly.

The Maine-Anjou breed comes from northwest France. It got its name from the Maine and Anjou river valleys. Fullblooded Maine-Anjou cattle are descendants of the French Mancelle and English Durham breeds. Maine-Anjou were first brought to North America in 1969.

The Red Angus breed is the red cattle in the Aberdeen Angus line.

The Salers cattle originally came from France. Salers were first brought to North America in 1972. They were originally solid red in color, but black families have been developed by breeders.

The Santa Gertrudis breed was developed on the King Ranch in South Texas. The selected combination of Shorthorn and Brahman produced this cherry red breed. It was recognized as an American breed in the USDA in 1940.

The Shorthorn breed originally came from England and was brought to the United States to Virginia in 1783.

The Simmental breed, the second-most populous in the world, originated in the Simme Valley of Switzerland, and is now on all six continents. The breed became established as a North American beef breed in 1967. Its color varies from red and white spotted to fawn or straw-colored, to dark red, to black.

The Tarentaise breed is a pure breed from France dating back to 1888. They are medium-sized cattle which were brought to the United States in 1973.

In 1493, Christopher Columbus brought Spanish cattle to Santa Domingo. These cattle became the foundation of the Texas Longhorn breed. They do not have a color standard but rather will range from light to dark and also from single to multiple colors.

Today, North Carolina has 494,000 beef cows and 1,200,000 total head of commodity (total number of cattle). There are also 33,000 cattle producers all over North Carolina. Nationally, the cattle industry is the largest part of American agriculture, with over 1 million farmers and ranchers raising beef cattle.

Angus	Charolais
Hereford	Simmental

Beef can be part of a meal, besides just as a hamburger or steak on your dinner plate. They are often combined with other chemicals to make products. Beef is used in sausage casings, blood sausage, protein extracts, margarine, shortening, chewing gum, ice cream, yogurt, candies, marshmallows, mayonnaise, cake mixes, and pasta.

You'd be surprised at how many items you use everyday that contain beef by-products. Candles, cellophane, ceramics, make-up, crayons, deodorants, detergent, perfumes, paints, plastics, shaving cream, soaps, pet foods, floor wax, leather, bandages, wallpaper, nail files, glues, combs, piano keys, paint brushes and camera film are just some of the products made with beef.

The medical world relies on many beef by-products for medicines and treatments. Medicine for many diseases such as diabetes and arthritis use by-products.

By-products also help you get where you're going. They are used in tires, glue, roads, car polishes and waxes.

All these uses for beef by-products are pretty new. Originally cows were used for milk for families with beef being less important reason to have a cow. Later cows were just used for their meat and hide for leather. The meat is still a big factor in raising cattle. Cattlemen are raising cows leaner with less fat than they were in the past because people today are much more concerned about healthy eating than they used to be.

People are eating more beef than ever before. The USDA says that people are eating about 9.2 pounds more than they did in 1980! In 1996 each person in the United States ate about 64.1 pounds of beef.

As the world's population grows and the need for food is increasing, cattle are able to make use of land not suitable for growing crops and are also able to use material that would otherwise go into landfills. Perhaps the land is too steep or hilly for building houses, or too rocky or dry for growing crops. In fact, 1.2 billion acres in America are like this; that's one-half the size of the United States not including Hawaii and Alaska.

Cattle also eat products that people don't after food is made. These are things like potato skins, fruit pits, and almond shells.

The beef industry is always working on new grazing and feeding systems that not only improve efficiency, but also protect the environment. When cattle are properly grazed, they help the land in many ways. They aerate the soil with their hooves. This means that they loosen the soil when they walk on it. This allows more oxygen to enter the soil which helps grasses and plants to grow better. If soil isn't aerated, it often develops a hard crust, which doesn't allow a lot of water and nutrients in and this can harm plants and grasses.

When cattle graze they shorten the length of grass, just as people do when they mow the lawn. This is very helpful in reducing the spread of wildfires since there is less material on the ground to burn.

Cattle also press grass seeds into the soil. This is important because grass seed needs to be surrounded by soil in order to start growing. Cattle also provide manure for the soil which is a natural fertilizer for plants and grasses.

Cattle can be found in all 100 counties in North Carolina. The most abundant area of the state for cattle is the Piedmont region. The least abundant is the Coast. The areas where there are more cattle tend to be more suitable for growing grass rather than crops.

Cattle are usually kept outdoors in pastures. They are kept loose in order to allow them to graze for food.

Cattle are strong animals. Most of the time, the heat and rain do not bother them at all. If there is really bad weather conditions such as freezing rain, cattle often go to a barn or grove of trees for shelter. If the farmer knows of bad weather in advance, cattle are given more food to keep up their energy levels.

Even though cattle are all housed the same way, the beef cow (female) and the beef steer (male) are different. A beef cow usually has her first calf at around two years of age. Then she usually has one calf every 12 months with her pregnancy lasting just over nine months. A beef cow eats her mother's milk for about seven months. After this, she gets most of her nutrients from grasses and other things such as potato peels and cotton seeds. A beef cow needs one to two acres of grass to feed her through a year. She'll eat on land that we can't use for growing crops.

A beef steer usually lives on his mother's milk and grass for around seven months. He usually eats grass for three to five months after this. Then he is fed on grain for three to four months. In about sixteen to twenty months of age, he usually reaches the right weight to sell. A beef steer gives us 459 pounds of beef to eat and other things like leather for shoes and even baseballs.

Cattle are given vaccinations just like children are to prevent them from getting sick. The vaccinations are not harmful to the animal and don't hurt the products or any person who eats the beef later. Special squeeze chutes are used to safely give the cows their vaccines.

Once meat is sold it must, by federal law, pass inspection for wholesomeness. The USDA sets the requirements and all meat is inspected. The purpose of inspection is to make sure that the person who will finally eat the meat will be safe. All meat sold is from healthy animals which were processed in clean, safe environments and are safe to eat. Beef which passes federal inspection is stamped with a round, purple mark made with vegetable dye. The number inside the mark is the official number assigned to the plant where the animal was processed. Beef can also be inspected at any processing plant, supermarket, meat market cutting rooms and restaurant kitchens.

Some beef is not only inspected, but also graded. USDA meat grading is a voluntary service. People pay a fee to the USDA for the services provided by its graders, who are highly trained specialists. A grade mark is a shield-shaped symbol with the letters USDA and the grade name. When a beef or veal carcass is graded, the grade mark is put onto the animal with a purple dye made from vegetables. The top three of the eight beef grades are U.S. Prime, U.S. Choice, and U.S. Select. These grades are found in grocery stores and come from young animals usually less than two years old.

Remember, meat inspection is mandatory. The inspection mark means that the meat is wholesome and is safe to eat. Meat grading, on the other hand, is voluntary. The grade mark indicates a level of quality.

Beef can be sold fresh, frozen and dried. Fresh and frozen are the most common ways. Dried products like jerky are also popular. In North Carolina, beef is most commonly sold fresh in grocery stores. Usually beef in the stores are packaged in Styrofoam trays with plastic wrap over it. This is so that people can see the meat.

Beef is sold to places within the United States, but also outside of it. Many foreign countries want to eat beef from the United States because it's of such high quality. Nearly 8% of beef sold is sold to foreign countries. Japan buys more U.S. beef than any other country, buying over $1.5 billion in 1996. Canada, Mexico and South Korea also buy a lot of U.S. beef. The second largest country to buy from the United States is the Russian Federation.

When live animals are moved, they are transported in special trailers that provide safe conditions for the animals. When beef is transported, it's done in refrigerated vehicles so not to spoil the meat. Originally, cattle were driven to market by drovers either on foot or horseback. You would call these drovers cowboys. Today because cattle are driven by truck, they arrive at the market much quicker and less stressed than in the past.

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All beef will also have a label for you to check. Most stores across the United States uses the same type of label for all meats. This label will tell you the kind of meat it is, the name of the wholesale cut (where the meat comes from on the cow), and the retail cut name (steak, short ribs).

There is a trick to buying beef. The leanness, marbling and fat cover of beef will affect the taste of the meat and should be looked at when buying a piece of meat. The color of the lean part of the beef should be cherry red unless it has been cured or smoked. Marbling in beef improves its flavor and juiciness. Marbling is the small flecks of fat throughout the lean.

The fat that covers the exterior of most beef is called fat cover. It keeps beef from drying out before cooking and help to hold in the meat's juices while it's cooking. Look for a fat covering of 1/8-inch or less on steaks and roasts, or trim the extra fat.

When you bring beef home, make sure that you refrigerate it or put it in your freezer right away. Most beef is already packaged and should be stored wrapped as purchased. It can be stored for one to four days after you buy it. When freezing beef, make sure that you have it in a proper freezer wrapper so that it doesn't spoil. Specially coated freezer paper, aluminum foil and heavy-duty plastic bags will work.

Beef falls into the Meat, poultry, dry beans, fish, eggs and nuts category of the food pyramid. People should eat from this group between two to three servings a day.

Beef is a complete protein which builds, maintains and repairs body tissues. It also has iron which helps red blood cells carry oxygen to body cells and tissues. Zinc, a necessary mineral for growth, and for maintaining the integrity of the body's immune system is found in beef. Beef also contains a lot of B-vitamins, which are important for digestion and metabolism, maintaining a healthy nervous system and promoting healthy skin.

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