Livestock 101By: Kaila Wussow and Deanna

Zernicke

Parts of a Beef

Parts of a Pig

Parts of a Sheep

Cuts of Beef

Cuts of Pig

Cuts of Sheep

Q and A on Beef

What is the gestation period for a cow?-The gestation period for a cow is 9 months.

When is a calf weaned?-The calf is weaned at 6-8 months old.

What is the mother called, what is the father called, what is the baby called?

-The mother is called a cow, the father is called a bull, the young baby is called a calf, a female that is 2 year old id a heifer, and a castrated male is a steer.

Q and A on Pigs

What is the gestation period for a sow? -The gestation period of a sow is 114 days (3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days).

How many piglets can a sow have on average?

-A sow can give birth to a litter containing 7 to 12 piglets, about twice a year.

How much does a piglet weigh and how fast can it grow?

-A baby pig, or piglet, weighs about 1.5 kilograms at birth and will double its weight in just 7 days.

How many teeth does a mature pig have? -A mature pig has 44 teeth.

Q and A on Pigs continued…

What is giving birth to baby pigs called?

-Giving birth to baby pigs is called farrowing.

When are pigs weaned?-Pigs are weaned when they are two to four weeks

old.

What is the mother called? What is the father called?

-The mother is a sow, and the father is a boar.

Q and A on Sheep

What is the life expectancy of a sheep?-About 10-12 years

What is the gestation period for a sheep?-146-147 days

What is the average body temperature of a sheep?

-102-103°F is the average body temperature of a sheep. What are the mothers called? What are the

fathers called? What are the babies called?-The mothers are called ewes, the fathers are called

rams, the babies are called lamb, the 1 year old sheep are called yearlings, and a castrated lamb is called a weather.

Facts on the Beef Industry

The U.S. beef industry is worth an estimated $175 billion with cattlemen conducting business in all 50 states and operating 800,000 individual farms and ranches.

There are 1.4 million jobs attributed to the beef industry. America’s demand for beef has increased more than 15

percent since 1998.   Consumer beef spending has grown $14 billion compared

to the 1990s according to CattleFax.  The cattle industry is a family business. Eighty percent of

the cattle businesses have been in the same families for more than 25 years; 10 percent fore more than 100 years.

Facts on the Pig Industry

Approximately 116.5 million hogs were processed in the US in 2008.

23.4 billion pounds of pork were produced in the US in 2008.

US per capita consumption in 2008 was an estimated 46.5 pounds, retail weight.

The US is the world’s largest pork exporter, with a 39 per cent market share in 2008.

The US had 67.22 million hogs and pigs on feed.

Facts on the Sheep Industry

Australia is the second largest exporter of lamb and mutton after New Zealand. New Zealand produced 56.7 per cent and Australia produced 36.7 per cent of the world's lamb, mutton and goat exports in 1998.

Australia is the world's largest exporter of live sheep, exporting around 5 million sheep in 1999, principally to countries in the Middle East.

The sheep industry produces many and varied products from lamb chops served in fine dining restaurants to lanolin. Estimates of retail lamb and wool, wholesale pelts, variety meats, meal, tallow lanolin, and retail sheep cheese sales revealed that $774.6 million in production generates an additional $1.9 billion in multiplier effects, summing to a total economic impact of $2.7 billion.

The U.S. sheep industry is finding itself amidst an encouraging time: lamb prices are at an all-time high, the wool market is the highest it’s been since 1989