California ranches consist of one or more of four types of operations: cow-calf, seed stock, stocker and feedlot.
A cow-calf operation maintains a breeding herd of cows, replacement heifers (young females) and bulls. Steer calves and most heifer calves are sold, but some may be selected to enter the breeding herd. Calves are sold at weaning (typically 205 days of age) or are retained for an additional forage production season as stockers. Climatic and management conditions dictate different calving seasons in different regions.
Seedstock production is a specialized cow-calf operation that produces purebred or registered cattle. The goal of seedstock production is to make genetic improvements in cattle that benefit the entire beef industry. Improvements in purebred cattle are documented through extensive records maintained by both the individual rancher and breed organizations. Seedstock are marketed as bulls and replacement females to other seedstock producers or to cow-calf producers.
Stocker operations grow steer and/or heifer calves or yearlings on rangeland or other roughage. Generally, cattle are purchased following weaning in the fall and are wintered on low quality feed until new grass can support the animals’ nutritional requirements. Stocker cattle are normally marketed or transported to feedlots at the end of the grazing season when nutritional quality of the forage begins to decline.
Feedlots are facilities designed to meet the feed, water and care requirements of large numbers of cattle held in confinement. Beef fed solely roughage feeds take years to reach market weight and condition, and land resources in the U.S. are insufficient for a forage based beef supply at the current level of consumer demand. Feedlots utilize abundant sources of feed grains and by-products to efficiently feed large numbers of cattle.
These higher energy feed sources greatly reduce the time required to reach market weights. By feeding cattle in feedlots, finished cattle weighing 1,050 to 1,150 pounds can be marketed at 18 to 24 months of age. Most of California’s feedlots are located in the lower Sacramento, San Joaquin and Imperial Valleys. Once the top cattle feeding state in the nation, California’s feedlots have declined in number over the last several decades due to overregulation and the exodus of beef processing facilities from the state.
California Cattlemen's Association 1221 H Street Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: 916.444.0845 Fax: 916.444.2194