SIC 0212 Beef Cattle Except Feedlots

Encyclopedia of American Industries | 2005 | Copyright

SIC 0212
BEEF CATTLE EXCEPT FEEDLOTS

This classification covers establishments primarily engaged in the production or feeding of beef cattle, except feedlots. Establishments primarily engaged in raising dairy cattle are classified in SIC 0241: Dairy Farms.

NAICS Code(s)

112111 (Beef Cattle Ranching and Farming)

Industry Snapshot

In 2002 there were over 96.7 million head of cattle in the United States, down from 103.5 million in 1998. Total value of all herds for 2002 was $72.2 billion. There were 1.05 million independently owned farms and ranches producing beef cattle for breeding and for feeding in the United States at the beginning of 2002. Although dairy farmers produce 20 percent of the beef in this country, that beef is largely a by-product of the milk business and is not included in this industry classification. This category includes all activities of ranchers or beef farmers up to the time their cattle are sent to the feedlot. Issues regarding the operation and management of feed-lots are discussed in SIC 0211: Beef Cattle Feedlots.

Texas had the largest number of cattle in 2002, with 13.6 million head. Kansas and Nebraska followed with 6.7 million and 6.6 million head, respectively. Of the total number of beef cows, 11.7 million were housed in confined feedlots with over 1,000-head capacity.

The sale of cattle and calves is the largest segment of the American agricultural economy, which in turn comprises 16 percent of the gross national product. Moreover, sales of cattle and calves account for almost one-fifth of the country's farm and ranch cash receipts. Beef cattle are one of the few agricultural commodities produced in all 50 states, and the industry comprises more than 1 million businesses.

Beef has been central to America's dining habits for a long time. Recently, however, poultry has made great strides in eroding that primacy. Much of poultry's popularity has been attributed to lower prices and low fat content. The beef industry has worked hard to produce and promote a leaner product, and cites that one-third of all Americans have eaten some type of ground beef in the past 24 hours. Despite the many advances of the poultry industry, beef surpasses its competitors in both production and sales.

The United States is the largest producer of beef products in the world, although it ranks fourth in total number of beef animals. This high production rate is made possible by the high efficiency of U.S. producers. The United States is the third largest exporter of beef in the world. It is also the largest importer of beef, particularly of ground beef in frozen form. Despite a recent drop in annual beef consumption, U.S. per capita beef consumption ranks third in the world.

Organization and Structure

Because a vast amount of acreage is needed to support beef cows, cattlemen own or manage more land than any other single industry. In the meadows of Montana or the irrigated pastures of California, one acre of land supports a cow and her calf for an entire year. In the deserts of the Southwest, however, an entire section of land, or 640 acres, can support only a handful of cows.

More than 1.2 billion acres of this country are considered agricultural lands by the USDA; this comprises approximately 50 percent of the United States and twothirds of the contiguous states. Though two-thirds of this land is considered to be grazing land, 90 percent of it is unsuitable for growing commercial crops because of limited rainfall, steep slopes, rocky terrain, or poor soil. Thus, the land can only be used for pasturing beef cattle, sheep, goats, bison, horses, and wild animals.

These grazing lands are ideal for cattle, because the cattle can convert grass and other forages into high-protein food sources. The typical beef cow does not spend a single day in a cattle fattening feedlot, but instead lives on grass and hay her entire life, being retained for breeding and nursing. Her offspring may be fattened in a feedlot for 20 percent of their lives, or her female offspring may be kept as replacement females. A typical range cow loses her productivity between the ages of 8 and 10 and must be replaced.

The cow is like a factory for the beef industry: she generates more cattle. Beef cows have a nine-month gestation period and usually give birth to a single calf either in the fall or the spring. These calves are called "commercial" cattle as opposed to "purebreds," which are born from both a sire and dame of purebred ancestry. The majority of calves in this country are born in the spring and sold in the fall. The average calf weighs between 80 and 85 pounds at birth and lives on a diet of grass and its mother's milk. The calves run beside their mothers until they are weaned, which usually occurs when the calves are between six and eight months old. At this age, the calves usually weigh between 500 and 550 pounds, though there are significant variations due to management and feed conditions.

While they are still running alongside their mothers, the calves are gathered or rounded up much like they were in the early days of ranching. The calves are then branded by their owners and vaccinated...

Read all of SIC 0212 Beef Cattle Except Feedlots at HighBeam Business

Related newspaper, magazine, and trade journal articles from HighBeam Research

(Including press releases, facts, information, and biographies)

	Deceit in Spanish Civil War.(A)(Commentary)(Op-Ed)(Political Books) Newspaper article from: The Washington Times ; ...asked at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936 which of his four...calamitous "party line" on the Spanish Civil War because the Spanish Republican...the Nation magazine during the Spanish Civil War was itself betrayed by one of...
	Spanish civil war. (Frontline). Magazine article from: History Today ; ...about the Spanish Civil War. That was...US about a Spanish conflict that...Second World War, Korea and...and the wars of the Middle...Books on the war and its aftermath...Church and the Civil War by a Benedictine...interest in the Spanish Civil ...
	SPANISH CIVIL WAR VETERANS HAVE MUCH TO TEACH US.(EDITORIAL)(AMY GOODMAN)(Column) Newspaper article from: The Capital Times (Madison, WI) ; ...volunteered to fight in the Spanish Civil War, which raged from 1936...death in 1975. They know war. So it is perhaps no...immediately withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq...country, the surviving Spanish Civil War veterans are still...
	SPANISH CIVIL WAR VETS LOOK AHEAD.(Editorial) Newspaper article from: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Seattle, WA) ; ...volunteered to fight in the Spanish Civil War, which raged from 1936...death in 1975. They know war. So it is perhaps no...immediately withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq. In this country, the surviving Spanish Civil War veterans are still...
	The Spanish Civil War: Revolution and Counterrevolution. Magazine article from: Canadian Journal of History ; ...historiographical debate over the Spanish Civil War shows little sign of...S.O.E. in the civil-war period, the point at...leading authority on Spanish Socialism in the early...edited a work on the civil-war period as well...
	Dispelling myths about the Spanish Civil War.(Brief article)(Book review) Magazine article from: European Affairs ; The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 By Antony Beevor Penguin Books...language account of the much-chronicled Spanish Civil War: that it was the rarest of wars because the losers wrote most of the history...
	The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939,.(Book review) Magazine article from: History Today ; The Battle for Spain The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 Antony Beevor Weidenfeld & Nicolson...25.00 [pounds sterling] ISBN: 0297848321 The Spanish Civil War Reaction, Revolution and Revenge Paul Preston...
	eLa Guerra Marina 1936-39: the Spanish Civil War at sea. Magazine article from: Sabretache ; The Spanish Civil War was, one of the pivotal...major languages. Books in Spanish, English, French, Portuguese...reasonable knowledge of the war will be aware of the Republican...by the introduction, the Spanish Civil War definitely had a naval...
	Antony Beevor. The Battle for Spain the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939.(Book review) Magazine article from: Sabretache ; Antony Beevor. The Battle for Spain The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939, 2006, Weidenfeld and [ Nicolson, 526...notes, sources, index. Picking up a new book on the Spanish Civil War these days is usually an exercise in 'here we...
	TIME FOR REFLECTION ON SPANISH CIVIL WAR.(Local) Newspaper article from: Albany Times Union (Albany, NY) ; ...Byline: Paul Grondahl The Spanish Civil War symbolized many things...experience it was. "The war is thought of as the last...college, returned from war to lead "a kind of roustabout...war, after "some of my Spanish Civil War buddies found out...