Beef breeds are cattle which are prominently selected and bred for meat production. Beef cattle are prized for their ability to lay down muscle and grow to a large size. They are usually of Bos Taurus or Bos Indicus origins, or a combination of both (composite breeds).

Two of the more popular beef breeds are Angus and Brahman

Angus

Other Names /also known as: Black Angus, Aberdeen Angus.

Origin: Scotland. Developed in the early 19th century in north east Scotland.

Use: Beef production, Angus are a breed renowned for their excellent meat quality, marbling and high yielding carcasses.

Colours and characteristics: They come in solid black, though a small amount of white is permitted on the underline. They have a smooth hair coat and are polled. They are a moderate-sized, muscular breed.

A very popular beef cattle breed due to their good carcase quality and their propensity to have well-marbled meat. Angus cows calve easily and are popular in crossbreeds due to their exceptional carcass quality, also being a polled breed they can be used in crosses as a genetic dehorner. They mature early for a European breed.

They do well farmed in areas of high rainfall, and on good quality pastures. Though they can be farmed in lower rainfall areas. They mature early, have high fertility and stayability (this is a female’s ability to continue to bear calves). Females have ease of calving, produce good quality milk right up until weaning and are excellent mothers.

Brahman

Origin: Brahmans are considered a breed of Zebu (which is the name given to Bos Indicus cattle). Brahman cattle were developed in American from cattle that were imported from India. Three principle strains of Zebu were brought into America to develop the Brahman: the Guzerat, the Nelore and Gir. They gave the breed the name Brahman to preserve their Indian heritage. There are more Brahman cattle than any other breed worldwide (Simmental is the second most populous breed).

Use: Used in beef production especially in hotter, tropical or subtropical climates.

Characteristics: They are characterised by the hump on top of the shoulders and neck. They are a large framed muscular breed. Bulls usually weigh between 1600 to 2200 pounds and cows between 1000 to 1400 pounds.  They have a short, glossy coat that comes in a variety of colours from light to dark grey, red and black. They usually have black skin. They have a long mobile tail, loose folds of skin, large droopy pendulous ears and shielded eyes.  All these characteristics help in making the Brahman more adaptable to hotter climates. The short glossy coat helps reflect the sunrays, black pigmented skin helps repel the sun and prevent sun burn and skin damage (cancer eye is very rare in the breed), the long mobile tail helps swish away insects, they have a larger number of sweat glands than other breeds and the loose fold of skin help in increasing the body’s surface areas which helps in cooling. They also produce an oily secretion which has a strong odour from their sebaceous glands which is believed to repel insects.

They have pendulous ears and shielded eyes which help to prevent dust and dirt from blowing into their ears and eyes –which makes them more adapted to dry, dusty environments.
They have excellent feed conversion ratios and can utilise low quality feed. They calve easily as the calves are small at birth. Female Brahmans are exceptional mothers that are very protective of their young, they are quite capable of defending them against predators.
They are however slower to mature than British or European breeds and generally are regarded as having better quality meat.

Brahmans are very intelligent and can be docile and calm if they have good handling. They learning quickly from the handling they receive (good or bad). Due to their hardiness, insect resistance and ability to cope in extreme weather conditions they are a very popular breed choice in crosses. The resultant calves have very high hybrid vigour, no other breed has better hybrid vigour than Brahmans. There are a number of Brahman cross synthetic breeds or composite breeds which now exist all over the world, such as the Brangus (Angus –Brahman), Simbrah (Simmental -Brahman), Braford (Hereford –Brahman).


This is an extract from the ebook "Cattle Breeds" written by staff at our school.

To learn more about beef cattle, consider enrolling in our beef cattle course